Jesus Must Be No. 1

𝐍𝐎𝐕. 𝟓, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈: 𝐑𝐨𝐦 𝟏𝟑:𝟖-𝟏𝟎

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟏𝟐:𝟏-𝟐, 𝟒-𝟓, 𝟗 “𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐤 𝟏𝟒:𝟐𝟓-𝟑𝟑

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆.” (𝒗.27) 

         To take this Gospel passage today in its literal form might move us to hate even our most immediate relatives in exchange for following Jesus. Literally it may take it to mean that we may have to hate our families, those who are dear to us and probably even ourselves and love no one else but Our Lord.

         But this was not what Jesus really meant and again we will need to dig a little bit into the intricacies of the Jewish language to be able to get into the meat of what Jesus was saying. Among the Jews the word “hate” simply meant “less preferred” or lower in the degree of importance.

         The next question we might ask is why did Jesus used a rather strong language as he was giving a teaching to the crowd who were traveling with him and the only rationale could be that this was a sequel to the previous Gospel passage in which Jesus narrated the story of the guests who ignored the invitation of the owner of a house who prepared a great banquet for them. At the end of that parable, Jesus said: “𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒕.” (𝒗.24)            

          This time, Jesus may have wanted to drive home the point that love of God should occupy a higher priority than anything else. At this point in time, Jesus already knew what awaits him and he knew that his subservience to His Father’s Will must take precedence over anything else.

         As Jesus said yes to his Father’s Will and counted the cost of suffering and death on the cross as a ransom for God’s chosen people, we too are obliged to count the cost and be ready to follow Jesus and share with Our Lord the way of the cross if we want to share in his glory and victory.

         What then you might ask is the way of the cross for us. This could be the crossroads at which we find ourselves entangled in. It may be that our careers and or business enterprise were not going anywhere, and we are faced with decisions in our hands that have an impact on the lives of others.

         It could also be personal conflicts that we need to address, our relationship in our family perhaps and to some extent even in the spiritual realm and we are laboring on the kind of decision we need to make.

         When we do find ourselves in situations such as these, we cannot avoid that our human biases and preferences will come in conflict with God's Will and our own way of the cross begins when we cannot discern the way we need to take – follow our own human will or follow God’s Will.

         To follow God’s Will is to embrace and follow the way of the cross because such will involve sacrifice since God’s Will is not necessarily easy and comfortable. It becomes a cross for us when we need to put to death our worldly nature and put on the nature of Christ that is clothed in meekness and humility.

         Following Jesus has its privileges but the cost to us far outweigh the benefits in terms of rewards because there wouldn’t be any. Which is why we need to count the cost so that we will be able to complete the tower of faith, hope and love that we will build to follow Jesus.

         Considering the eschatological dimension of this gospel narrative today, what we should realize is the need for all of us is to be loyal to our calling as Christian disciples. Loyalty is an essential part of true friendship, and we need to check what kind of a friend are we to Jesus?

         There is an ocean of difference between knowing someone well and being a true friend. We of course know who Jesus is and was. If you are active in the church and or the community, everybody must have been talking about him and the teachings that you regularly attend have given you a fairly good idea of who Jesus is. But the question is are you a friend of Jesus?

         The greatest evidence of genuine friendship is loyalty (𝟏 𝐂𝐨𝐫 𝟏𝟑:𝟕) which simply means making yourselves available to help in times of distress or personal struggles. Even in the church or community, there are too many so-called fair-weather friends. They stick around when the friendship helps them and leave when they’re not getting anything out of the relationship. What you can do is probably think of your friends and Jesus and assess your loyalty to them and be the king od true friend the Bible encourages.

          What irritates me is when I see elders of a ministry or community for that matter who wouldn’t even exert even a superficial effort to greet fellow members but who would spring to their feet when they spot a member or guest from abroad or overseas. The question is why? Because they could get more out of these out-of-town members than from the members of their own ministry or community.

         Our highest loyalty should be to God and his eternal values. Jesus contrasted heavenly values with earthly values, and he stressed that our first loyalty should be t those things that do not fade, cannot be stolen or used up, and never wear out.

         We should not be fascinated with our possessions, influence and or power – imagined or otherwise – lest these possess us. Jesus is asking us to decide to live contentedly with whatever we have because we have chosen what is eternal and lasting.

         As a disciple who want to follow Jesus, we will probably find ourselves dispossessed of our social status and wealth because to follow Jesus is to serve him since he is more important than our own personal relations (𝐯.𝟐𝟔). We are commanded to subordinate our own interests and make the interests of Christ our own and at some point we may have to surrender control of our money, time or career (𝐯.𝟐𝟕).

         To follow Jesus, we need to be in touch with the reality that our gifts and talents are not our own but were given to us by the Grace of God who poured on us such manifold gifts that we will need so we can proclaim the Word of God and make disciples of all nations. We need these gifts to equip and empower us because we will certainly be hated and separated from our own families in the pursuit of an higher order – that all may be saved through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

         Following Christ doesn’t mean a trouble-free life but our way of the cross is made easier by the love of God that has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (𝐑𝐨𝐦 𝟓:𝟓). And what Jesus is telling us when we experience our own way of the cross is that we can avoid the pitfalls of an unsuccessful construction of a building and or a king who is planning to go to war.

         On both occasions, Jesus wants us to count the cost of discipleship if we want to succeed and finish the race. True we may have to give up a lot to follow Jesus but it’s a kind of decision that is worth the cost because what Jesus is offering us in return is a life that is lived to the full (𝐉𝐧 𝟏𝟎:𝟏𝟎). We also need to count the cost so that we will not find ourselves wavering when the going gets tough. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘕𝘰𝘷. 5, 2025)