Often the sermons of Jesus in the Gospels appear to be constructed from memories of different talks that are joined together. As a result, sometimes they don’t seem to be immediately related. That would seem to be the case in the Gospel we hear this weekend. 

What we end up with are three distinct conditions of discipleship. 

First Jesus reminds his disciples that they must take up their Cross and follow him. This is a curious pronouncement as the idea of carrying one’s cross comes as a result of Jesus’s Death on the Cross, and not as some experience that one would consider prior to his own carrying of the Cross. This is a call to realization of the importance of martyrdom in the lives of his disciples. Each one of the twelve, besides John, and an uncertain number of others as well, carried their cross to the very end, offering their lives in martyrdom. Throughout the course of history hundreds of thousands of mostly unknown Christians have done the same. This is our call. Although here in our country we have not been challenged to put our lives on the line for the sake of the Gospel, there are many nations around us where this is indeed the case. The governments of China, Eritrea, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Vietnam routinely imprison and often execute Christians merely because of their faith. The people there know first-hand what it means to “carry their cross.” Often here we take it to mean that we have to sacrifice, or offer something up, for the sake of our faith. Jesus is calling us to do much more in order to be faithful disciples. 

Jesus instructs us that discipleship must be an all-in encounter and that one’s relationship with God supplants even our closest human relationships. But he also reminds us that the task of discipleship is not taken on lightly. 

Like any other activity of life, we must be well prepared to be disciples, as this is the only way we can be effective evangelizers. The next point Jesus makes is that discipleship is not haphazard. We don’t just fall into it. If we are going to be faithful disciples we need to be well-prepared disciples. Some Christians can recite the Bible in large sections, others might be very proficient at knowing Church teaching, and maybe even quite knowledgeable about some other aspects of piety and worship. Like one planning to build a tower we need to be prepared and have all of the necessary tools together in order to be good disciples. This would certainly mean study of the tenets of the faith, a knowledge of Scripture, and seriousness of purpose in preparing to receive the Sacraments and attend Mass. without a sense of preparation and some thoughtful considerations of why we are disciples, and how we can be better disciples, we run the risk of actually failing to be disciples. It can become so easy to fall away and become discouraged, overwhelmed and, yes, perhaps even bored. Discipleship is a life-long project that demands much of us. 

St. Luke then also adds that unless we renounce all of our possessions we cannot be his disciples. This is the last line of this passage and it is written as though this demand flows from the prior two, but it clearly does not. Renunciation of possessions is yet another condition of discipleship that we need to consider here. 

Some take this renunciation to mean total abandonment and living a life of austere poverty. We see this in the religious orders and communities within the Church. We also see this practiced among some more extreme Protestant Sects such as the Menonites and the related Amish communities. Renunciation of worldly possessions while noble, is not the call from Jesus here. What we are reminded of in the Gospel is our attitude towards the possessions of this world. While we are called to live simply there are things that we need to survive in the world and to be of service to others as well. Jesus reminds us that we are not to be possessed by our possessions or owned by our money. We need a right sense of property and wealth. The extravagant worldly lifestyle of the world is not in line with Jesus’s teaching. But even the very poor can be possessive and greedy.

Jesus calls us to a right relationship with the things of the world. 

This section of the Gospel on discipleship is a challenge for all of us today. It is harder in our time to be disciples, thus each one of us needs to exact great care in living out the life of faith.

Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.