Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Luke 14:7-35 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, ⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, ⁹ and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. ¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹² And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. ¹³ But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵ When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

¹⁶ But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; ¹⁷ and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ ¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ ¹⁹ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ ²⁰ Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ ²¹ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ ²² And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”

²⁵ Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ²⁸ For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. ³³ So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

³⁴ “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? ³⁵ It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

In Revelation 3:20, the Lord says:  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  In today’s text He tells a parable saying:  “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”   The Lord knocks on the door of every heart. He has sent out His servants to invite people to come. There is no limit to the Lord’s love and compassion toward people, but there also seems to be no limit to the excuses people will make not to come to Him. The Lord says:  ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses.  

Perhaps some are hesitant because of the terms of the invitation. In today’s text Jesus also says:  Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.  Perhaps when they calculate the cost of discipleship, they feel that they unwilling to pay the price.  Here’s the thing though, we are to carry our own cross, not the cross of Christ. Many people believe that to carry their cross means to suffer and sacrifice. That is not our cross to bear. When Jesus was on the cross He said:  “It is finished!”  In Isaiah 53:4-6 it says:  Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.   All those things, our griefs and sorrows; our afflictions, sins and lack of peace are fully paid for and accomplished in the finished work of the cross.  And by His stripes we are healed.  Our sickness, disease and infirmity are fully paid by the cross of Christ.  None of these things then are things that we bear when we carry our cross. Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross for our sakes, but He did not remain on the cross. He is no longer there. If we would follow Jesus, we should follow Him to the resurrection. We should live free from the suffering and sacrifice of the cross.   

What of the fact that Jesus says:  “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions?” Surely that is a tremendously high price to pay to follow Him. Or is it?  The key there is that we are to give up our own possessions. We aren’t required to give up what is God’s. If we will give everything to Him, we will have nothing to lose. The only things we really can lose are those things that we hold on to. If we give it all to God, He will multiply it and return it to us to be His stewards of all that He has.

The invitation is here. Jesus says come. Carry your cross but walk in the power of the resurrection. Give yourself and all that you have to Him and you will have nothing to lose. Calculate the cost and invest in the return.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, thank You for the finished work of the cross, that there is no longer a need for suffering and sacrifice. You gave everything for us. In return I give all to You, that I might walk in the power and provision of the resurrection.  Amen.