This account is troubling. Surely Jesus does not expect us to hate our families, friends and even ourselves in order to be his followers? Maybe he didn’t really mean it? Crosses and possessions, we can understand that bit. Perhaps Jesus is making a point here about how we attach ourselves to things and to people, even to images of ourselves. Attachment can cause all sorts of suffering in our lives. If we are to grow, we move on from the comfortable. If we are to be agents of change, we let go of the familiar, and that can often be painful whether it be old rituals, a group we were once part of, friends who don’t understand. The two parables in this story remind us to think things through and weigh up the cost involved. This Kingdom of God stuff does involve sacrifice even though we would prefer to skip the bits that make us uncomfortable. It’s not so simple Jesus…. I find it difficult… and sometimes it feels like 20,000 against 10,000.
So this passage is a call to conversion and we read it from the various forms of discipleship that we are in: parenting, advocacy, political life, social work and so on. In order to achieve our goals we make sacrifices. Jesus ‘turned to them’, he is speaking from experience. Jesus’ words are harsh, but spend time with this text today, his words can be interpreted as passionate, urgent, focused and even offer us a great freedom and encouragement in whatever form of discipleship we have chosen.
No comments:
Post a Comment