Give Up Everything For Jesus

𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐄 𝟑𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝟏𝟖:𝟏𝟔-𝟑𝟑

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟎𝟑:𝟏-𝟒, 𝟖-𝟏𝟏 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐭 𝟖:𝟏𝟖-𝟐𝟐

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑭𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅.” (𝒗.22)

        The Gospel passage for today provides us with a comparison of the Godly nature of Jesus on one hand and human nature on the other. We see this in the way Jesus reacted upon seeing the crowd milling around him. Understandably so as the crowd witnessed miracles happening in quick succession as soon as Jesus went down from the mountain.

        Christ healed the leper who met him along the way. Then Jesus healed the servant of a Roman Centurion who lay ill at the home of the Roman officer. And Peter’s mother-in-law who was nursing a fever was healed of her affliction that allowed her to wait on Jesus and the other disciples.

        There are biblical accounts of people who possess the ability to cure varied forms of sicknesses, and they are the ones described as drawing attention and adulation for themselves to increase their popularity and thus gain more following. This wasn’t so for Jesus. As soon as he saw the crowds swelling around him, "𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒌𝒆." (𝒗.18)

        Instead of basking on the plaudits of the crowd, Jesus left them. How different from some Christian celebrities today who appeal to the crowd and love the praise of people. We read in 𝒗𝒗.19-22 that Jesus wasn’t impressed with the crowds, and the reason was they lacked the commitment to follow him. The crowd was more interested in seeing the miracles but are not interested in giving their all for Christ.

        But those who have made a commitment to follow Jesus will soon find that following Jesus is not always easy or comfortable because most often it would mean great cost and tremendous sacrifice and you will soon find out that doing so offers no earthly rewards or even security.

         At times, following Jesus will cost us our popularity, time for leisure like playing golf, tennis, or to some extent a round of poker in game rooms that have sprouted in the metropolis. It may even cost us our ties with friends as we no longer may have time for night-outs.

         Indeed the cost of following Jesus is high and even higher when we step into a life of discipleship which means going to the ends of the earth even when it is uncomfortable especially to mission areas where there are no amenities, lodgings where there are no water or hotel rooms without windows, instances when sweat and dust cover our faces and bodies.

         To follow Christ requires a radical change. In 𝑴𝒕 4:19-20 we see Jesus telling Peter and Andrew to leave their fishing business and become “𝒇𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆𝒏” to help others find God. In one way or the other, Jesus was calling them away from their productive jobs to be productive spiritually. As with Peter and Andrew we all need to fish for souls and if we practice Christ’s teachings and share the gospel with others, we will be able to draw those around us to Christ like a fisherman who pulls fish into his boat with nets.

         To be a disciple, we all must have the desire to go to uncharted territory, to places that do not exactly conform to our standards, to have the boldness to just go with just the clothes on our back, without needing a purse or food. And we don’t need a structured organization to become a disciple of Christ because discipleship does not require rules, guidelines and policies. Discipleship is a response to the call of Jesus in 𝑴𝒕 28:18-20 for us to go. And when you do, you will find that discipleship is an investment that will last for eternity and will yield unsurpassed rewards in heaven.    

          In today’s Gospel reading, we see Jesus laying down the parameters of discipleship to a teacher of the law and to one of his disciples who were walking alongside him. And to these two who professed their desire to follow him and to us who want to become a disciple of Christ, Jesus gives us three “𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬” for anyone who will want to follow him. (1) 𝑾𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚. (2) 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆. (3) 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅, 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅.

         These are not mouth-watering conditions that we can readily grab but these provide us with something to ponder on especially in relation to our response to the call of Jesus for us to go to the ends of the earth (𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕 28:18-20). What actually amuses me is to hear people saying we need to have a structured organization to evangelize. OMG! Don’t they know the history of the Church that began without a structure, without policies or statutes? The Church began with just the call of Jesus and the response of Peter, Paul and the other Apostles.

       In this Gospel, Jesus is telling us what he told the first would-be disciple “𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅.” (𝒗.20) which means that those who will follow him must not remain stationary but must become a person on the move. Jesus is telling us to draw on our faith to go and step into the unknown as what Abraham did when he was commanded by God to go and he “𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈.” (𝑯𝒆𝒃 11:8).        

        And this is what we are supposed to do because the grace of the renewal compels us to move out and not remain stationary and become stagnant in our faith and or be a slave to structures. And this is especially true not just for disciple-members of a Church or Community but more so for leaders.

         To the second would-be disciple, Jesus says “𝑭𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 (𝒗.22) This may seem harsh but Jesus also recognizes our duties to our loved ones and when he said this he knew that what the man meant was that he will follow after his father dies since, for all intents and purposes, the father of man is not dead yet because he has no business hanging around with Jesus if his father just died and waiting to be buried.

         What Jesus wants from us is immediate action. We need not physically leave our families but simply follow the Spirit and do what he tells us to and that is to evangelize and proclaim the Kingdom of God and not be stifled in doing so because we had to abide by man-made structures and policies. Jesus requires an instant decision on our part because when we put-off making such a decision for tomorrow there is a tendency we will never make that decision at all. Procrastination is human nature and to become a disciple, our desires must be translated into action.

         Following Jesus is an all-encompassing commitment to lose our life for the sake of the gospel, not because our life is useless but because nothing – not even life itself – can compare to what we gain with Christ. Sadly, however, many still could not comprehend this reality as they persist in remaining bigger than Christ.

        What Jesus wants is for us to stop controlling our destiny, our environment, our ministry and to give Him the authority to direct us. Ministries collapse from the overbearing attitude and controlling character of leaders and members alike. Jesus is asking for self-submission but not self-hatred. What he is merely asking us is to lose our self-centered character to be in charge.

         Finally, Jesus advises us to leave everything behind – our past, our sinful nature, our tendency to dilly-dally, our penchant for grandstanding, our self-centeredness, our bitterness and unforgiveness and we see this in the Lucan version (𝑳𝒌 9:62) when Jesus said: “𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅.”  This I believe is what many of us don’t want to accept as we persist on our set of beliefs rather than the Word of God.

         Farmers normally put an imaginary point at the end of the field, and he guides the animal and his plow towards that point on a straight path. It doesn’t mean we are not to look back but what Jesus is stressing is that we need to look forward once we have begun to plow the field.

         This reminds me of our primary task as disciples which is to evangelize and bring the Good News to the ends of the earth. To be a disciple of Christ, we must all be pro-active because Jesus is not going to accept any form of lukewarm service. Jesus requires total dedication and not half-hearted commitment. We must accept the cross and not just aim for the crown and we need to focus on Jesus and not allow ourselves to be distracted along the way especially when we have put our hands on the plow. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘦 30, 2025)