… any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:33)

The word translated ‘disciple’ is μαθητής mathétés and it means one who subjects themselves to mental effort or rigour; mathematics, clearly a subject that demands much intellectual application, derives from the same root, mathema, which is literally ‘that which is learnt’.

A disciple, then, is different to a ‘follower’.  During his ministry, large numbers of people followed Jesus from town to town and mountainside to lakeside, but only a handful transitioned into discipleship, why was this?  Because few were willing to make the necessary effort or to pay the extreme cost of worldly renunciation.  Jesus outlines by this first employing plain language:

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ‘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 …’ (ibid 14:25-26)

The first change is seen on the valuation of relationships.  ‘Hating’ one’s family is a translation that travels poorly, μισέω miseó indeed means to detest but it is a comparative verb.  In Matthew’s record, we see understand this better:

 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. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  (Matthew 10:37-38)

Jesus does not violate the Law that requires the honour of parents (Exodus 20:12) let alone loving others as yourself (Matthew 22:39) but it is important to hear the extreme gulf between the love of Jesus and that owed to a parent or felt for offspring.  Nor does Matthew’s account paper over the extent of familial disruption:

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.  (ibid 10:34-36)

And in both accounts, Jesus speaks of taking up one’s own cross, here in Luke once more and in the context of the preceding verse:

If anyone comes to me and does not hate…even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.  (Luke 14:26-27)

This is a clear and unambiguous reference to the suffering that is part and parcel of discipleship, and that through turning one’s back on the world.

How much one considers that their ‘own cross’ is merely a metaphor for martyrdom, depends largely on the ‘happenstance’ of when, where and into what society one is born; in other words, what God wills for one’s circumstances – and for many living under oppressive and intolerant regimes, persecution for faith is their reality.  But not for all; moreover, if state persecution is the only cost of discipleship, it does not explain Jesus’ parabolic illustration:

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’  (Luke 14:28-30)

Jesus uses an easily understood metaphor; however, building a ‘tower’ (πύργος purgos, a fortified structure) was hardly commonplace – and that is point.  For the ordinary man, even aspiring to such a structure would be an absurdity, in itself; notwithstanding the finance needed that would be beyond anyone but a king or a ruler.  Nevertheless, Jesus has the listener imagine that this everyman manages to lay the foundations before giving up and thereafter being roundly subject to the understandable derision of his neighbours.  Such a venture is folly, just as the tower would be a ‘folly’, were it completed.

As to the meaning?  Jesus is emphasising what he has already said without figures of speech: do not bother following me, if you are unwilling to suffer with me.  Treating one’s nearest and dearest as a much lower priority than him will cause you pain.  Hating your life in this world (John 12:25) will necessarily make you feel wretched and alienated.  Jesus does not want to seduce his followers into discipleship under false pretences.  He is saying do not embark on this journey with me unless you are going to make radical changes to your life and put in the work.   

A disciple, that is a one who sets himself to mental effort, is a person who actively and continually repents – repentance being μετανοέω metanoeó to think differently after, or re-think.  Paul links sacrificing one’s life with repentance this way:

…present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind… (Romans 12:1-2)

The rejection of family, the mockery of neighbours is just the beginning of societal repudiation that may well lead to persecution, but for sure, discipleship sets one on a collision course with the world, and Jesus wants all to know this in advance, telling his disciples: 

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  (John 15:18-19)

The problem is not simply whom you espouse, Jesus, but the radical change of lifestyle he demands.  Loving Jesus above all others has to be evidenced by not simply attending to his teaching but obeying him.

In the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus says this:

‘Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do what I tell you?’ (Luke 6:46)

Jesus employs the simile of building construction once more by way of illustration:

‘Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.’ (Ibid 6:47-49)

This then is the foundation of the tower, Jesus’ words, upon which any house or tower is erected through the scaffold of obedience to his commandments.  And none should be under any illusion that obedience, self-denial and temporal disadvantage, even to the point extreme hardship, come as a package. 

Many apologists like to mitigate the imposition of Jesus commandments by explaining that they actually lead to a better life.  If by temporal life, the existence of mortality, this is fallacy.

The commentary often goes along such lines:  Jesus commanded against adultery and divorce because both lead to the misery of broken marriages and fractured families; while this is inarguable, that does not mean that many people can and do relish sexual infidelity, or enjoy the benefits of a second marriage gained by a divorce of convenience.  Cheating on your business or sexual partner for many brings happiness of sorts, at the very least, satisfies lust, whether rapacious or libidinous, and removes frustration.  Business acumen embraces ‘takeovers’ which is nothing less than the definition of covetousness.  Seen from the perspective of the individual, at least, the world rewards many, if not all, that follow their desires and make up their own moral rules to satisfy individual desire and a pliant conscience.

Thus, misery and happiness come in many forms and in different measure but only with Jesus does earthly misery come with a sure-fire promise.  Suffering is guaranteed to the disciple, because by not following and acting on one’s own desire will deliver, not just disappointment and frustration, but agony.  No mortal man or woman likes to be denied and self-denial takes a prodigious act of the will – and if it does not, there is likely a misunderstanding or misapplication of God’s morality, remembering that obedience is always constraint, never concordance.

To Moses was given ‘the Law’, which is long list of instructions as guidelines for righteous living.  Jesus does not abolish this (Matthew 5:17), rather he raises the bar.  Whereas one could observe the law by abstaining from action, Jesus brings one’s thoughts into the equation.  Merely fantasising about adultery becomes a sin, not the simply the consummation of it (Matthew 5:28).  Even emotion will be judged:

‘You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgement.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement…’ (Matthew 5:21-22)

Keeping the sixth of the Ten Commandments is not enough for Jesus, holding anger against another is on a par with murder.

Towards the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, in which teachings on adultery and murder are given, Jesus says this:

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (ibid 7:13-14)

The gate represents the means of entrance to his Father’s kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus expects every one of his followers to consider the personal cost before aligning themselves to him along with a considerable drop-out rate.  The disciple of Christ is set apart by the degree of his or her personal suffering, the extent of their personal denial and the heaping upon them of worldly opprobrium.  By Jesus’ definition, the disciple that is comfortable in this world is not a true disciple; furthermore, while it breaks the command to love others by the active condemnation of others, standing by example against the world’s morality is required.  This will always lead to denouncement and some form of persecution – ironically with added vehemence from the followers of Jesus who eschew the rigours of discipleship, because the stand of a true disciple discomforts them and, worse still, the example of Godliness sets them against the world they love by association.  While allying oneself to Jesus begins by learning and keeping his commandments; conversely, denial of Jesus begins with denying the same.

…everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33)

Regarding Jesus’ commandments as negotiable or arbitrary, dismissing them as cultural or merely disregarding them altogether, any then deny him as effectively as Peter did, and only Peter’s repentance offers the way back.  

If the cost of discipleship is the loss of everything in this world, then the reward is gained in eternity.  This is faith.  Trusting God will keep the promises uttered by Jesus.  Here is Mark’s rendering of the cost and reward of discipleship, as offered by Jesus to the crowd and his disciples:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.  (Mark 8:34-38)

The question is which Jesus is adopted; the master who would have his followers take the arduous path of discipleship?  Or the Jesus that, having accepted a person as he finds them, does not demand further change, exertion or refinement.  Jesus is clear and plain on his preference for the former.