Luke 14:31-33 (NRSV) Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.
The heading in my Bible for this passage, “The Cost of Discipleship,” is misleading. Jesus isn’t asking us to consider if we can, against all odds, defeat our need of God or win God’s favor. Rather, Jesus is saying, “Give up.” According to Jesus, the terms of peace require absolute surrender. The call and cost of discipleship requires nothing less than blind trust that the God of the cross will be enough, that it will be our good and abundant portion.
God knows it is hard for us to come to peace with these terms. Our attachments to other things, people, and our egos keep us from our baptismal identity as God’s beloved. As a part of surrender, the attachments must go. There is no constructing a respectable self apart from Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, in the kingdom of this God.
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