Sexagesima Sunday 23.2.14 The cost of being a disciple
Our Lord tells us that if we are to follow Him we must be like a king going into battle and see if we have enough resources to win the battle (cf Luke 14, 26-33).
The effort in setting out for a task must be proportionate to the importance and difficulty of the task in question.
If I plan to climb a mountain, for instance, I need all the protective clothing and equipment etc.
If I plan to follow Our Lord what do I need? As far as equipment goes we do not know. In fact we do not know much at all about what the future will bring in being His disciple; except that if we trust in Him He will bring us safely to where we need to be.
This element of trust is the one key ingredient that will enable us to cope with every crisis that comes and emerge even stronger for the experience.
To leave all and follow Him is what He asks. We have romantic images of the apostles leaving their boats and walking off with Him. Later we have saints, such as St Francis of Assisi, leaving the wealth and status of his father’s house and taking on a whole new way of life.
It does not sound like the apostles and other saints did spend much time planning for the future. They just trusted Our Lord and then went with Him.
Yet Our Lord tells us not to follow Him unless we have considered what it will cost. Something of a paradox.
What He wants from us is an absolute trust and obedience, but He also wants us to understand that He is not taking us on a picnic.
There will be sufferings - thorns and thistles on the way. He wants us to be aware of this suffering, at least in a general way, so that we are not surprised by it, not giving up too easily.
The Gospel today explains how many disciples who set out do not persevere to the end. Some give up because of suffering; others give up because of false joys.
Either they find it too hard, or they find other things too easy, too alluring.
They fall by the wayside.
The only way we will persevere to the end is if we:
One: answer the call immediately and wholeheartedly
Two: set ourselves for the long haul. I am going to follow Him, not just today, but for all my life. Whatever it costs, however much it hurts, I will stay with Him.
There will be costs, as St Paul describes in the epistle today (2 Cor 11-12). We will not have to suffer as much as he did but we will experience some of those things.
If not physical torture there will be at least physical discomfort, like getting up early for Mass, or praying when it would be easier to do other things.
And there will be emotional costs, such as being ridiculed and thought out-of-date.
Then also we might have to wait a long time for a reward, or even for an improvement in the situation.
And the more heavily we commit the more likely we are to suffer (thus St Paul and all saints).
So there is a huge temptation to say, I will be only a little involved.
This is where the trust factor comes in. If we trust Our Lord we do not ask what the cost will be. We know there is a cost, and it will be a heavy one, but we also know that it will be as nothing compared with the compensations He will provide us - eternal reward eventually, and before that the joy of being in union with Him.
We will stay on course till we bring in the harvest, or finish the race, or arrive home – by whatever image - we will, having left all to follow Him, receive tenfold in return.
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