This week, we couldn't get past the cost of discipleship. Jesus speaks of you hating your father, mother, children, brothers, sisters, and your own life, if you would be a disciple. This radical call is soften a little when you remove the word "hate" with it's emotional content, and talk about priorities, who or what comes first. Jesus says, if we are to be disciples, he must come first before anyone or anything else, including family and our own lives. Even soften, this is an extraordinary demand. The question was asked whether there was some middle ground. The suggestion was made that there could be an "Associate Disciple" and everyone laughed, but the truth is, there is no middle ground. With discipleship, it's all or nothing. Jesus makes this point clearly and makes it more often as he moves toward the cross. At least, that's how the gospel of Luke presents the story. Where is the grace?
The group noted that in the gospel of Luke, that most of Jesus' words of grace seem to be for the outsiders, the gentiles, and the sinners more than his own people, certainly more that the righteous people and religious leaders. For the righteous and authorities, there always seems to be a challenge. Jesus wants to shake things up, to get people out of their comfort zones. There is a radical nature to being a disciple that makes you leave everything you thought you knew behind. Discipleship demands a dependence on God that does not come easily to us. Discipleship is something we can't do ourselves.
Where is the grace in the call to discipleship? The example we explored was the teacher who challenged us to the core when we were in school. Often times, our favorite teacher was the most demanding. I had an English teacher who gave me my first and only D's. I didn't get D's in school. How could this be? He demanded more of me. At first, I thought he was completely unfair. By comparison, my writing was not that bad. There were times when I hated him and saw my homework assignments and doing battle with him. I would not let him get the best of me. I would show him. As you can imagine, my grades began to improve dramatically. I began to notice that my writing was much better than it had ever been. I began to enjoy writing, which was a first for me. I became proud of some of my stories and would go back over them. By the end of the year, this English became one of my favorite teachers and I was one of his favorite students. I would learn that I had always been one of his favorite students. He wanted to challenge me to become something more than I had been. I never thought of myself as a writer or that I could be creative with words. He saw the potential in me and challenged me. I will never forget the gift he gave me, even though it was a struggle at the time. His challenge was an act of grace.
Jesus calls us to something greater in our lives. He calls us to discipleship. The road is not easy and we cannot travel the road alone. We stumble on the way. We grow weary. We fall short, but we travel on. There are times when the challenge seems to great, but, once we begin the journey, we don't want to leave the road. We are grateful that we have been called. We discover strengths and gifts in ourselves we never imagined. We come to realize that the call, though radical and challenging, is grace.
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