Discipleship in the shadow of the cross

We want to look at the portrait of a disciple. Is he a fan or a follower, is he faithful or fascinated?

Please read Luke 14: 25-33. Let us locate this text a bit. Jesus is in the home of a Pharisee who is a leader in the community (14:1). He is heading to Jerusalem; the cross is before him. The crowds think that Jesus is heading to an Empire. That is why discipleship must and can only be seen in the light of the cross.

It is the Sabbath and they wanted to trap Jesus and He heals a man with dropsy. The Lord is predictable in his compassion for others and the Pharisees knew that he would heal the man.

In 14:25 we are told that large crowds are following him and so his address on discipleship is to thousands and by extension to us.  They were impressed with His miracle for others He sounded like a revolutionary leader. Some liked Him for His story telling abilities or the way He tackled His opponents. Others like Him for the fact that He fed them or for his style of preaching. So in His life Jesus attracted many fans; the question is did they become followers and even more disciples?

In our culture we want to see multitudes in our Church programmes. Jesus Christ does not use gimmicks for people to come He challenged people. He did not use the methodology of the world to draw people to Himself. In this context what He does next is mindboggling. Most of us would be delighted to have large crowds following us. Jesus thins the crowd. He is not giddy with popularity for he knows that not everyone who is with Him is there for the right reason. So he places the challenge of discipleship before them because not everyone who follows Jesus is a disciple. Jesus wants people who are faithful to him and not fascinated by him. As a professor once said, “Not everyone who attends my lectures is my student”.