§ 8. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee Continued

† 20. Conditions of Discipleship

Overview

Jesus in this passage warns us that the costs of being His disciple can be very high, indeed. He does not soften the message or appeal to our desires to gain a following, but rather He warns us of the cost. His realism is characteristic of truth, the only thing that can truly set us free.

The Lord outlines three who are not worthy of Him:

  1. Whoever loves father or mother more than he loves Jesus;
  2. Whoever loves son or daughter more than he loves Jesus; and
  3. Whoever does not take his cross and follow Jesus closely.

After providing these categories to think about, Jesus then gives a rule to walk by: He gave His life for us, so we ought to live our lives for Him.

‡ Matthew 10:37–39

Matthew 10

37  Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38  And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
39  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

father or mother…son or daughter

This discussion of family relations follows the line of thought in the previous episode (in which Jesus refers to Micah). These are hard truths, but truths nonetheless. We must love God more than anyone else—even family members.

This standard of love for God has been known to man for millenia.

Deuteronomy 6:5

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

take his cross and follow me

In a passage full of hard sayings, this saying is the hardest. In the context of what we must be willing to endure for Him, it's shocking that Jesus brings up crucifixion, the most heinous punishment ever devised. And His language calling on us to follow Him is also rather emphatic, warranting renderings such as "follow in My footsteps" or "walk right behind Me." We are reminded of how the apostles all fled when the time came for Him to die—no one wanted to stand right there with Him when the threat was crucifixion at the hands of Rome.

We can lose our lives for many causes, but only one cause can deliver our souls from death. Here, a person must both take the cross and also follow Jesus. In verse 39 below, a person must not only lose his life but lose it for the sake of Jesus. In both these cases, the focus is on the reason for the loss ("for My sake") rather than the loss itself.

1 Peter 2:19–21

For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

life

This is the same word often translated "soul," but the meaning is clear. Life is the most precious thing anyone has, and Jesus gave His so that we could have eternal life. If we seek only earthly blessings, we cannot inherit the heavenly ones—which are all in Christ!

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places….

for my sake

Jesus loved us enough to give His life for us. He requires us to give Him our lives in return. There is no better summary than Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 5.

2 Corinthians 5:14–15

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Thus, losing one's life does not necessarily refer to literally being killed at the hands of men. We lose our lives also in the sense that we give up our former way of living in sin and take on a new life in Christ.

1 Peter 4:1–3

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

Romans 6:3, 6–8, 12–13

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

‡ Luke 14:25–27

Luke 14

25  Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,
26  “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.
27  Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Now great crowds accompanied him

This reading is strictly speaking not parallel to our main text in that Luke records Jesus saying the same thing but in a different context. The larger context in which these teachings appear in Luke is Jesus's journey to Jerusalem.

Luke 13:22

He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.

As Jesus goes along, several of His earlier teachings are repeated in new contexts, such as the reading above.

  • Luke 13:24, “Strive to enter through the narrow door….”
  • Luke 13:27, “I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!”
  • Luke 13:29, “People will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.”
  • Luke 13:30, “Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
  • Luke 14:5, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”
  • Luke 14:11, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This record shows that Jesus's teachings have many applications, and He knew the value of repetition.

Therefore, when He said these things in Matthew, He was telling the apostles they would need to be willing to leave all for Him in order to preach the gospel. But in Luke, He says these things to a crowd following Him to warn them about the horrific events about to unfold before them in Jerusalem. In both cases, we must be dedicated to God come what may.

‡ Luke 17:33

Luke 17

33  Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

Similarly, this other reading is part of a different context: Jesus teaches about the end of Jerusalem and the start of Kingdom of Heaven. In Matthew, the apostles must maintain their faith even at the cost of their lives. In Luke, all disciples must seek first God and His kingdom, even at the loss of their own nation.

‡ John 12:25

John 12

25  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

This reading is strictly speaking not parallel to our main text in that John records Jesus saying the same thing but in a different context.

Here in John, Jesus says this at the Passover feast before His death. First He said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23), and then He said the above. He clearly applies this teaching both to His giving His life for us and to our living our lives for Him.