A Christian Blog Commentary on Luke 14:25-33.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 14:25-33.

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, 'This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.' Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

Comments:

1. Did Jesus will really exhort to hate your loved ones? Very unlikely.
2. Carry his own cross – how come cross is mentioned here. This is way back before the crucifixion. Thus cross has no meaning yet in the context of Jesus teaching in the same way that cross is understood after his crucifixion.
3. The introductions, i.e. hating mother, father, brothers and sisters and carrying of the cross don’t have anything in common; there is no sense of being paralleled.
4. Again, the main part of the pericope: the importance of planning and feasibility study has nothing to do with the introductions. It has also no significant connection with the conclusion about renouncing one’s possessions as prerequisite in following Jesus

Conclusion:

This is a classic example in which the evangelist had cut and pasted materials from different sources and created one article. Taking a closer look on it is just looking at a floor construction which is made up of different construction materials and added at different time.

The theme however is obvious: How to become a disciple of Christ.

The following are necessary on how to become a true disciple of Christ: Do not be too attached to your family but you do not necessarily hate them; problems and obstacles may be encountered along the way in following Jesus but a true disciple must be tough, enduring and will not give up; following Jesus is not following blindly, being prepared is very important hence planning is necessary; apart from attachment to one’s loved ones, attachment to material things must also be avoided. In other words a disciple must be able to differentiate a need from a want.