25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even life itself—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
Read Luke 14:25-35 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
Throughout the gospels, as Jesus moved from town to town, He attracted large crowds and plenty of fans who enjoyed watching and listening to Him. However, periodically, to challenge the crowd’s motivation, Jesus would share difficult to accept ideas.
In our passage for this journal entry, let’s focus on the progression of the ideas presented in one of the times Jesus challenged the crowds that were following Him.
- Verse 26: Jesus give one of His most challenging statements regarding following Him – something that would make people really question whether or not it was worth it.
- Verse 27: Jesus then gives them the direction their life will go – the cross, which meant rejection, humiliation, as well as death. So far, we don’t see a very bright (optimistic) picture.
- Verses 28-30: Jesus then give a comparison about building a tower, and how ridiculous it is for someone to only build it half way – whether that is because they didn’t plan ahead and ran out of money, or because they became disinterested and simply stopped. This tells me that our commitment and dedication must be there until the end.
- Verses 31-32: Jesus gives a strategic thought which compares death (attacking a stronger king), vs. submission (surrendering to a stronger king).
- Verse 33: Jesus summarizes the completeness of the dedication of His true followers – that they give up everything in order to follow Jesus.
Looking at this progression, we have Jesus being the most important relationship, so important that it doesn’t matter what other people think, say, or do – even if it results in death.
We then see Jesus challenging us and saying this commitment must be complete and a half-dedicated disciple looks as ridiculous as someone who has a half-built building.
And finally we move to the idea that we face either death or submission because the enemy is stronger than we are.
We give up everything to follow Jesus, we intentionally make Him the priority in our lives, and we resolve to keep Him as our number one priority – each day.
- Verses 34-35: Jesus describes His followers as salt – something that was used for flavoring and for preservation. When “salt” (or a follower) has lost its/their purpose, they are completely useless.
To be followers of Jesus, we must be completely dedicated to Jesus, we must submit to His will and plan for us as long as we are alive, and we must live a life that shows our dedication to Him in such a way that it impacts others.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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