So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:33)
I accept — no, I BELIEVE — what Jesus says here. I know it to be true by faith and because just about everything lamentable, out of whack, bitter, and otherwise #%*%(% in my life can be traced to my acting like I didn’t believe it. Or acting like I believed it but didn’t care.
Before I go on, let me lay out some cautions for those new to Jesus/The Bible/Church or however else you’ve found your way toward Christianity.
Jesus sometimes uses hyperbole. He sets up this verse about renouncing everything with the scary words, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26). We know this is hyperbole because the Word of God elsewhere teaches us to honor our father and mother, to be tender and respectful in marriage and to treat the marriage bed like a holy altar, to refrain from provoking and discouraging our children, and to view our fellow Christians as brothers and sisters given by Christ.
So renunciation of everything — viewing it as nothing compared with following Jesus into the kingdom of God — is absolute but not literal, if that makes any sense. We are to regard even our most precious relationships as despicable compared to following Jesus on a hard path to a narrow door to eternal life. We aren’t ordered to go trash all of our relationships (although some are likely to be trashed if we follow Jesus).
And this isn’t an excuse to go around renouncing others, as Jesus goes on to warn, Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:27). Jesus calls us to renounce our own precious selves, hyperbolically likening it to following him up the hill to be crucified.
OK, back to my crabby old man self yelling FAIL.
By all of the measures luking in the lessons my church will hear this Sunday, my life can be marked (let the old school teachers among you understand) with a lot of big, red Fs.
The lesson from Deuteronomy says to CHOOSE loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him… I can’t imagine the number of life choices I’ve made that are marked FAIL by this standard.
Psalm 1 announces, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers… Baby, I’ve walked, stood and sat in all of that mess. FAIL.
St. Paul’s Letter to Philemon, like Deuteronomy, leans heavily into CHOICE. Paul asks (and pressures and even manipulates) Philemon to make a choice that will turn Philemon’s self understanding, entitlements and household life upside down. Give me a legal pad and I can start an impressive list of significant God-choices offered me, to which I responded with not-God choices. FAIL.
Oh, and that Gospel from Luke about renouncing everything…
FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.
Now here’s where I’m supposed to tack on a happy verse that makes it all better.
But I think I might stop short of that, because I’m thinking that we need to contemplate what is the breadth and length and height and depth of our FAIL before we can really appreciate that
…he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16-19).
Or as Jesus said after a notorious sinner washed his feet,
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little (Luke 7:47).
Or as he ended a story about a man who prayed, God, be merciful to me, a sinner!,
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke18:14).
Think this is grim stuff? Or have we (the Church) neglected the hard work of owning up to and helping one another through our FAILS?
And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed (James 5:15-16).
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness (Galatians 6:1).
…whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins (James 5:20).
As for life choices, researcher, author and Cato Institute Fellow, Brink Lindsey has written extensively on human capital. He has noted about Western societies, “…as we get richer, the personal choices we face keep multiplying from the most trivial to the most profound and life-altering.” The mental capacity to deal with an ever-increasing onslaught of important information and decisions differs from person to person, but everyone has a tipping point where mental overload leads to some degree of cognitive and/or spiritual incapacitation.
True encouragement. Thank you, Tim. No matter how many times we fail as we do the sheep thing, He’s there to pick us up and brush us off as long as our following is truly known to Him,…as long as our following Him is utterly and truly sincere. All sheep can “baaaah”, and sometimes they “baaaah” just to be “baaaah-ing” cause they think “baaah-ing” is the thing that’s expected of them. But sometimes a “baaah” is truly sounded with the sheep’s knowledge that the sound will be heard by the ever-present Shepherd. Frustration Amid Impeccable Love.