The first thing we should notice here is that Jesus is speaking to those who were following Him. Not crowds that didn't like Him, but those who were traveling with Jesus. They considered themselves to be followers of Jesus but in reality they were only casual followers and not committed followers. They were willing, even anxious to follow Jesus providing the cost was not too high, or the demands too great.
They were like many people today who do "Christian things" like go to church, pray, sing Christian Songs, etc. but are not really committed to Jesus. They were along for the ride, but unwilling to give up everything in their lives that conflicted with following Jesus in a committed way. They were like many today who look to Jesus to solve financial problems, relationship problems, etc., but who grow unwilling to obey Jesus completely when following Jesus doesn't solve these problems. These large crowds were casual followers and not committed.
We need to ask ourselves today, "Do I really understand what it means to be a disciple of Jesus? Do I pay the price or the tuition for my spiritual education every day or I am in a huge debt to the Lord?"
In this passage Jesus determines three categories of people who cannot be His disciples. In this way he sets a certain commitment level. And this commitment level is very important, because it applies not only to some special group of Christians, such as apostles but to "anyone who comes to me…" (v.26) -- to everyone who would be one of His followers.
The first of those who cannot be Christ' disciples are described in verses 26.
First, we cannot be Jesus' disciples if Jesus is not the number one priority in our life. In our hearts Jesus must come before our loved ones, self-interest, possessions, careers, hobbies, goals in life, and even our very lives.
The word "hate" used here is figurative in the Jewish culture. To hate means to love something less than something else. In this case, to love something less than we love Jesus. We must love Him more than anything else, more than our closest family member, even ourselves. Jesus is not speaking of our emotional feelings toward Him or our family but rather He is speaking of our level of commitment. He is saying that our commitment to obey and follow Him must be greater than any other commitment in our lives.
We must ask ourselves, "Is Jesus my first priority? Am I loyal to Him above everything and everyone else?" For instance, if following Jesus obediently results in problems or interferes with your closest relationships, will you still follow Him? In some countries following Jesus can mean being kicked out of your family, like in India. Sometimes even death, as in China and North Korea. In our own country, many relationships have encountered problems because one spouse was a committed Christian and the other was not. In these cases, Jesus wants us to know up front what it means to be a disciple.
Second, we cannot be Jesus' disciples if we are not ready to suffer for our Lord and for the kingdom of God. Jesus uses a metaphor in verse 27 to reemphasize this point - "carrying your cross". Everyone present was familiar with what Jesus was referring to when He talked about "carrying his cross." The cross was a cruel form of punishment used by the Romans. The criminal was forced to "carry his cross" to the place of execution. Everyone knew that this person was saying "goodbye" to everything. There would be no turning or coming back. Jesus used this illustration to show us that following Him requires that same kind of saying "goodbye" to our own will and desire because of our commitment to Him. Someone has said that our cross is in the point where God's will is crossing our will. So carrying our cross means that when this happens we must always choose to do not our desire, but to fulfill the will of God. In other words when the will of God crosses the will of man, somebody has to die.
Someone may say, "Wait a minute. This requirement of total commitment to be a follower of Jesus contradicts the scriptural truth that salvation is a free gift of God!"
Here is an illustration from "The Cost of Discipleship" By. Steven J. Cole that I have found on the Internet. Suppose I had the desire to climb Mount Everest. But it costs $70,000 to do it. I don't have that kind of money. But a wealthy businessman offered to pay for my entire expedition. He would buy all the gear and clothing and pay for my transportation, the guides, the training; it's all totally free for me. But if I accept his free offer, I have just committed myself to months of difficult training and effort. It could even cost me my life, because many good climbers die trying to climb Mount Everest. It is free and yet very costly. This is salvation and discipleship. Salvation is a free gift, but being a Christian, a disciple of Jesus is costly. Like the old saying I heard a few years ago.
Salvation is free,
Following Jesus costs little,
Serving Jesus costs everything.
There is a price for being in Jesus' school. And the price is ultimate -- to deny yourselves and all your possessions. The steps of Jesus pass through the cross. So if we want to fallow Him, we should be ready to suffer. There is this saying that "There is no crown without cross." But if our love and dedication are strong enough we will succeed in enduring the cross and entering the Glory of God.
Here Jesus is telling us to give up everything! The Greek translation of "Give up" here can also be translated into "say goodbye" or "renounce". We must forsake anything when it interferes with following Him faithfully and completely.
Jesus must come not just before our loved ones, not just before our own lives but also before everything we have. It refers to our personal desires, goals, interests, and even needs. We must be committed to Jesus above our savings, our public image, our jobs, our comfort, etc. And we are not talking just about some hypothetical situation. If following Jesus means forfeiting these things, then we must be willing to do that. And sometimes following Jesus may require from us to make these sacrifices.
The discipleship is not cheep and we should calculate can we afford it in advance and not later. To start and not complete the life of Christ's disciple will be shameful and destructive. This is the point of Jesus' parables about the tower builder and the king who is going to war.
If we pretend to be something and later it turns out that we are not what we say, we will be worthy for nothing. That is why we should think in advance. Jesus doesn't want people to make a commitment to Him without understanding and seriously thinking about what is involved in this decision. Jesus doesn't want half-hearted, blind commitment that only expects blessings. Unlike many people today, including many preachers who are only interested in large crowds, Jesus wasn't interested in numbers. Large crowds don't impress God. But what Jesus wanted was totally committed people. He doesn't want crowds, He wants commitment.
Jesus concludes by saying "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." He said this to remind us of our responsibility to listen and respond to this difficult message. The teaching is not difficult to understand but it is difficult to accept and apply it.
So, the matter is not only "Are you willing to be a disciple of Christ?" But "Can you be a disciple of Christ?" And if you want to, then you should honestly answer yourself the following disciple-questions:
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