The Cost of Discipleship

Text: Luke 9:51-62 ; Matthew 8:20-22

1. What has been costly for you in following Jesus?

Background: In this passage of scripture Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem via Samaria. Because of the hostile relationship between the Jews and Samaritan's, the Samaritan when finding out that Jesus was planning to go to Jerusalem and do not welcome him. So Jesus and his disciples journeyed on to another village. By this time in Jesus ministry people knew who he was and often gathered to get a glimpse of who he was. So as they journeyed he encountered these three individuals.

I think that if we are honest with ourselves this passage seems quite strange to us because instead of Jesus saying great come along he begins to give them information that would seem to discourage them from actually following him. In fact, this isn't the only passage of scripture where Jesus seems to do this very thing. Think about the story of the rich young ruler. In this story a young man comes and asks how he can inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him, "go, sell all that you have, and follow me". The man then turned away sad because he could not let go of his wealth. So why would Jesus a do this? Let's look at this passage together.

Why do you think Jesus would respond this way to those who claim that they wanted to follow him?

Trans: the first thing I want you to notice is we have three different scenarios. In each situation, we see where either a person was called to follow or volunteered for service. In each situation Christ new exactly who he was talking too. He knew their hearts and in each situation he pointed out them the very thing they were holding on too and in each case unable to let go off.

1. Luke 9:57-58

Focus: comfort

Now as I think about this scene I picture Jesus traveling through some small settlements as he is heading toward Jerusalem as Jesus is passing a person yells out...I will follow you. As almost to say hey wait for me I am coming! Now the reaction we would expect would be for Jesus to say great come along but instead he makes an odd statement. A statement that obviously discourages him from coming. Look what he says in Luke 9:58.

Jesus makes a comparison to the animals. He is basically saying look, even the animals have more comfortable living conditions than I do. I have nothing on this earth will you still follow me? I think the silence says it all because we would hope to see another verse between 58-59 where the man forsakes everything and follows him but instead it appears that Jesus and his disciple continue on while the man ,who liked, the theory of following Jesus, but not the sacrifice sadly gets left behind.

Can you think of a time where the Holy Spirit of God has spoken to your heart and instead of rejoicing in the work of God said this instead, "I'm just not comfortable doing _______" See Jesus was targeting this persons comfort level. He said leave your comfort behind and follow me. Later on Jesus told his disciples

Luke 12:22 (HCSB) 22 Then He said to His disciples: “Therefore I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat; or about the body, what you will wear.

"Jesus is making a stark comparison here. The phrase " foxes have dens and the birds of the air have nests but the son of man has no place to lay his head" is not just saying that He is homeless but also that he has less physical comfort available to him than the animals. In other words, look even the animals have a place to live do you really want to sacrifice this for me and live with less comfort than the animals?"

Application: Are you willing to leave your comfort behind for the sake of the God's mission for your life?

2. Luke 9:56-59

Focus: The obligations of traditions

This is one of those hard sayings that in order to fully understand it we must filter it through the purpose in which it was said but before we get there we must first look at burial from an ancient Jewish perspective. Burial rights were extremely important to the culture. In fact it was only under a curse that a person would be allowed to go unburied for any reason. It was considered abhorrent to the people of this day.

"Decent burial was regarded to be of great importance in ancient Israel, as in the rest of the ancient Near East. Not only the Egyptians, whose extravagant provision for the dead is well known, but also the peoples of Mesopotamia dreaded above all else the thought of lying unburied. One of the most frequently employed curses found in Mesopotamian texts is: "May the earth not receive your corpses," or the equivalent. In the same way one can measure the importance that Israelites attached to burial by the frequency with which the Bible refers to the fear of being left unburied. Thus, one of the curses for breach of the covenant is: "Thy carcasses shall be food unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth" (Deut. 28:26). Again and again the prophets use this threat, especially Jeremiah. He says, in judgment on King Jehoiakim, "He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem" (22:19)."

1. The man's father was not yet dead and he wanted to wait for an unknown time until his father had passed away before committing himself to be Jesus Disciple

2. His father was already dead and he wanted to wait until the second burial. In the Talmud which is a book containing Jewish philosophies and law there was a burial tradition in which a year after the person had passed they would take the bones and inter them in a family bone box and place them in the family tomb with the rest of the deceased family members.

"In talmudic times, burial took place in caves, hewn tombs, sarcophagi, and catacombs; and a secondary burial, i.e., a re-interment ( likkut a?amot ) of the remains sometimes took place about one year after the original burial in ossifies (Maim. Yad, Evel, 12:8). The rabbinic injunction (Sanh. 47a) that neither the righteous and the sinners, nor two enemies (Jeroham b. Meshullam, Sefer Adam ve-?avvah (Venice, 1553), 231d, netiv 28) should be buried side by side is the origin of the custom of reserving special rows in the cemetery for rabbi's, scholars, and prominent persons. "

So this man could have been putting off his calling for a year until the fulfillment of the burial ritual because of Jesus seemingly harsh response I believe the man is probably referring to the completion of this ceremony.

Either way the message is clear my calling to obedience supersedes any man made construct or tradition no matter how deeply rooted it is in your life. This man was allowing a burial tradition to keep him from fulfilling his calling to do kingdom work.

Application: How often is this true of God's bride the church. How often to we allow the traditions of the past to anchor us to the point of paralysis. When God calls we cannot answer because of our traditions. Are you willing to sacrifice tradition for the sake of obedience to the great commission to reach the world for Christ or will you be paralyzed like this man?

3. Luke 9:61-62

Situation: In this passage we see a man who volunteers to follow Jesus, but first asks if he can go home and say goodbye. From a human perspective this seems like a reasonable request, but remember that Jesus could see right into this mans heart. He could see that his words would not match his actions. It is easy to start anything, but it is much harder to finish it. In fact look at what Jesus tells the man.

Focus: The people and relationship he was leaving behind. Hadn't he come far enough?

As Jesus often did he used imagery from everyday life to convey a message that his audience could understand. So we have here a picture of a man who had made a decision to plow a field. Now before machinery this was no small task. In fact it is interesting that Jesus uses this picture of plowing as a comparison to being a disciple. So when they plowed they would take a team of oxen hook them up to a yoke and attach that to a plow. The oxen would begin walking and drag the plow behind them turning up the soil. However it was as simple as just letting the oxen do the work. The farmer would have to grab hold of the handles and bear down apply constant pressure while steering the plow in straight lines. So the picture is of a man who keeps looking behind to see how far he has come instead of where he is going.

What is keeping you from following The Savior fully?