The Responsibility Of Discipleship

AFTER leaving the house of the prominent Pharisee, who apparently is a member of the Sanhedrin, Jesus continues on toward Jerusalem. Great crowds follow him. But what are their motives? What is really involved in being his true follower.

As they travel along, Jesus turns to the crowds and perhaps shocks them when he says: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own soul, he cannot be my disciple." What does Jesus mean? Jesus is not here saying that his followers should literally hate their relatives. Rather, they must hate them in the sense of loving them less than they love him. Jesus' forefather Jacob is said to have "hated" Leah and loved Rachel, which meant that Leah was loved less than her sister Rachel.

Consider too, that Jesus said disciple should hate "even his own soul," or life. Again what Jesus means is that a true disciple must love Him more than he loves his own life. Jesus is thus emphasizing that becoming his disciple is a serious responsibility. It is not something to be undertaken without careful consideration.

Hardship and persecution are involved in being Jesus' disciple, as he goes on to indicate: "Whoever is not carrying his torture stake and coming after me cannot be my disciple." Thus, a true disciple must be willing to undergo the same burden of reproach that Jesus endured, even including, if necessary, dying at the hands of God's enemies, which Jesus is soon to do.

Being a disciple of Christ, therefore, is a matter that the crowds following him need to analyze very carefully. Jesus emphasizes this fact by means of an illustration. For example," He says, "who of you that wants to build a tower does not first sit down and calculate the expense, to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, he might lay his foundation but not be able to finish it, and all the onlookers might start to ridicule him, saying, 'This man started to build but was not able to finish.'"

Next time: Conclusion of The Responsibility Of Discipleship

The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived, 1991