“Counting the Cost…” {Luke 14:33}
Years ago, when I had the privilege to travel throughout several countries in the Middle East, there was one sight that struck me again and again. It was not unusual to see many buildings that were four stories high throughout the cities and the countryside. What was unusual for me was to see that the only story actually completed was the first floor. Imagine a four-story building whose upper stories contained only a skeletal frame of girders and floors; no walls, no windows, and no doors!
When I asked our guide about these unusual buildings I was told that such buildings were not unusual at all. “Everybody has a dream, a plan a vision here,” she said, “but nobody counts the cost. You start up a big building but before you get very far, the money runs out. Still, you have a four-story building, but you realize that it will take a while before you, or your children or your grandchildren will have the ways or the means to get up to the fourth floor!”
The folk over there are not really that much different than the folk over here. Even though most buildings here are not half-completed structures as they often appear in the Middle East, we do have a lot of dreams and plans and visions only half completed, if even begun, because they simply cost us too much. Even though they are not as obvious as a building, they are real to us. We have so much we want, wish and hope to do, but we’re not willing to risk spending the time, energy, and resources necessary to complete them, or to fulfill us.
In today’s Lesson from Luke, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He knows that his way is building up only to the cross. Many of the people following him, however, believe that Jesus is on his way to building an empire. They want a Messiah who will lead them into a new era of political peace and economic prosperity with the complete destruction of their enemies and the fulfillment of all their dreams. This is why Jesus speaks to them about counting the cost in following him. They expect worldly power and glory; he expects suffering.
So, our Lord tells his disciples then and now to always count the cost in following him, in being devoted to his way. Beloved, there is so much truth in the Gospel. We all know that even though following our Lord Jesus is to be a primary priority in our lives, his way often gets in the way of our other priorities, and we let him go. We count his way as being too costly for us. How amazing, how paradoxical, and how tragic! For you see, the more devoted we are in following our Lord Jesus, the more we realize that we do so not so much at our cost as it is his. What does love cost us? How much are we willing to pay for joy? Thanks be to God! Amen.
