Amy C Walters

The Cost of Discipleship | Luke 14:25-35

Jesus’ challenging words on the cost of discipleship may leave people wondering if following him is worth it. But by looking at this story and some that come before it, we see that it is worth it because Jesus gives us purpose, gives us life, and gives us himself.

In the last two posts, we’ve looked at what discipleship to Jesus may cost us: our relationships, our comfort, our money. It may even cost us our lives. This heavy emphasis on cost may leave us wondering, is it worth it? Why follow Jesus? We’ll find answers in this story and the ones before it. 

Right before this comes the Parable of the Great Feast. The feast symbolizes heaven: it’s waiting for those who follow Jesus and come into his kingdom. All of the best things are there, and you can have as much of it as you want, and calories don’t count. Those who respond to Jesus’ invitation get to go to this beautiful, perfect, amazing feast of heaven. 

What about what Jesus has been doing in recent stories? He’s been teaching. He’s been healing people of horrible afflictions and diseases, no matter how long someone has suffered from them. Jesus has been feeding people both physically and spiritually. He’s been freeing people from their burdens, especially burdens of empty religion. He’s been affirming women and their dignity and welcoming them and caring for them. He’s been welcoming anyone who wants to learn, even if that’s against the culture. And he’s been transforming people inside and out. 

What an astounding, beautiful list! Those who pursue Jesus get Jesus. He himself is an immeasurable reward. 

Now let’s look at this story about why discipleship is worthwhile. The final illustration in Jesus’ lesson is salt. Jesus compares his disciples to salt. Those who stick with him remain as salt. But those who fall away, maybe appearing as a disciple, but don’t continue in it, lose their saltiness. 

Jesus says, “Salt is good.” But why? It’s useful for many things: flavoring, preserving, protecting, enriching. Salt is so useful. 

But salt that loses its saltiness, Jesus says, “It’s fit neither for the soil nor the manure pile.It’s thrown out.” Saltless salt is useless. It’s missing the very point of its existence. 

A disciple who has counted the cost is useful to Jesus and his purposes. And this is a great gift because we are all searching for purpose, for meaning, for why we are here. Yes, we want comfort and money and relationships and all these other things, but ultimately we desire purpose.

Those who are Jesus’ disciples find their purpose in him. Discipleship doesn’t lead to ease, but it does lead to usefulness. And so our key truth for today, as we look at all of these things, is that discipleship isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.

It’s worth it because we get Jesus himself and all the incredible grace and gifts that he brings. 

It’s worth it because we find purpose in him. He gives us work to do. We’re told that there are good works that he has prepared in advance for us. We’re told that we are his ambassadors, that he is making his appeal through us.

In John 6, Jesus again says some really challenging things, things that make those who were following him very uncomfortable. And many of those followers turned away because of it. Jesus then turns to the 12 disciples, and he asks them, “Are you going to leave me too?” Peter tells Jesus, “To whom shall we go? You have the words of life.”

Discipleship is not easy, but it’s worth it. Because Jesus has the words of life, because he is what we’ve been searching for, and he gives us purpose and meaning.