The cost of discipleship
September 7, 2025 – 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Wisdom 9:13-18b; Psalm 90, R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Gospel – Luke 14:25-33
The cost of discipleship is the major theme of this Sunday’s Gospel. Let us reflect on it from the perspective of its cost or effects on three of our relationships: with others, with ourselves and God, and with our work and mission.
The first relationship, with others, is the first challenge mentioned in the Gospel. No one who does not “[hate] his father and mother, wife and children, brother and sisters, even his own life” can be my disciple.
This can be interpreted as espousing the virtue of detachment and indifference that leads to freedom to follow Jesus.
It is also an invitation to go beyond the love of family and friends and aspire for the universal love of agape. It is a double-edged sword that seems to cut ties on the one hand, and nurtures on the other hand.
A radical and paradoxical reorientation in our relationships with others that is part of the cost of discipleship.
The second relationship affected by the cost of discipleship is our relationship with ourselves and with God.
“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” The cross defines our relationship with ourselves and with Jesus.
Jesus put it very succinctly. To carry one’s cross is the only path to discipleship. It does not only define our relationship with Jesus, but it also specifies our relationship with ourselves.
We are to carry our “own cross.” This will mean an awareness and acceptance of our own cross.
Awareness and acceptance will always change the way we will see and know ourselves. When the process of awareness and acceptance is done properly, it leads to the healing of the self.
To carry one’s cross brings us to sharing in the mission of Jesus, a mission he fulfilled in his own Cross and won for us the definitive healing from sin and death.
The moment of his death on the Cross was depicted by many artists as a moment of peace, Jesus’ face exuding peace, the peace of one who has accomplished his mission well, the peace of one whose loving obedience won for us victory over sin and death.
Carrying our own cross is the core cost of discipleship as well as the core of our relationship with Jesus and with ourselves. As many would say, “Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior.” This is fulfilled on the Cross.
The third relationship influenced by discipleship is our relationship with our work or mission.
Jesus put this in very practical terms. “Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion?”
He defined our relationship with our work and mission within the context of discernment and prudence. Success or simply completion comes with discernment and prudence.
The cost of discipleship, though challenging at the outset, leads us to a life well-lived, rooted and grounded in life-giving relationships with others, our mission, ourselves and our God.
