Would You Sign the Dotted Line?
The Cost of Discipleship
Mark 8:34—9:1
Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?
What could one give in exchange for his life? Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
He also said to them, "Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power."
Jeff Cavins Reflection on Hallow
In 1937, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote “The Cost of Discipleship,” which examines the fundamental commitment required to truly follow Jesus Christ’s teachings. The book explores the idea of “cheap grace” versus “costly grace,” arguing that genuine discipleship demands a substantial personal sacrifice.
Have you ever belonged to a club or team or fraternity/sorority?
Chances are that you didn't just join; you had to seriously look at the tenants of that particular organization and then, after counting the cost, agree to it. But in most cases, the club had some predetermined things that you had to commit to.
Sometimes, these things can be virtuous, and other times, they can ask you to do things that are downright dangerous, even illegal.
I guess it really comes down to this: is the price of initiation worth the reward?
When it comes to joining a church these days, the given church usually has some kind of written or verbal expectations regarding your membership. If you have children in their school, they may require you to give a certain amount of money, or there may be a new members class. We are all familiar with parishes passing out a time, treasure, and talent checklist. It's passed around once a year to give you the opportunity to contribute to the community. It's oftentimes a great opportunity for you to throw your talents into the community pool.
So, turning to today’s reading, we find out what it will cost if you want to follow Jesus, that is, if you want to be his disciple.
Now, to be clear, we're not talking here about the level of belonging where you just go to conferences, watch or listen to Catholic media, or listen to podcasts. Those are good, but we're talking here about following him full-time and what he expects from us. Jesus is being straightforward about following, and spoiler alert! …you might not like it, and it might not be what you were hoping for.
Could even divide families… Joining something these days is relatively easy. With a return of an envelope or a click of the mouse, you are nearly in. Volunteer when you can and basically agree with the tenants of the group.
But following Jesus? This is a very different thing.
Ok, so here we go... First of all,
To follow Jesus means that you will:
1. Be with him for a lot of your time. If you don't want to give up your time, this might not be for you. But good news, there are some churches that you can fly under the radar and just show up once a week, unless there is a key football game on TV.
2. You will have to take on his yoke! That means you will adopt his worldview on everything. I mean, everything. For example: prayer, money, relationships, social media, politics, worship, heaven and hell, SEX! Did I say that? In short, you will have to learn how he thinks and acts. You will have to know more about Jesus than you know about President Trump and Elon Musk and DOGE. C’mon, you can do it!
3. You can't be ashamed or embarrassed by the leader, Jesus! I have news for you: if you are ashamed of Jesus, Jesus will be ashamed of you! I didn’t say it, He said it! …or Jonathan just said it.
4. You're going to have to pick up your cross and join yours to His. From hangnails to martyrdom, it all is valuable and contributes to the salvation of the world. To be a disciple means that Good Friday is kind of special.
5. Finally, you will give up your life to follow him. That means that you are totally his. You will die daily!
We will pass out registration cards in just a moment.
Seriously, if we took this list of requirements when it comes to following Jesus, would you sign the dotted line?
I'm afraid that there are, like levels in a club, different levels of commitment to the Lord.
There are the following: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum memberships.
Platinum Membership
Most of us would love to have a Platinum membership, but frankly, it costs too much. When it comes to being a disciple, we must put our eyes and hearts on the Platinum membership. This is the one where we are all in, 24/7!
I got to thinking about this the other day: from the perspective of living on earth and looking forward to heaven, the Platinum membership looks kind of costly, and I'm sure I could get to heaven on a Bronze or Silver level membership.
Wait, can you get to heaven on the Bronze membership? I gotta check that one out with Father and make sure it qualifies…
Titanium Membership
Now, from the heavenly perspective, looking back at life on Earth, the Platinum membership is the obvious choice. Wow, who wouldn’t want that membership? In fact, knowing what heaven is like now that I'm there, I would have signed up for a Titanium membership back on Earth. No-brainer!
Earth-to-Heaven Perspective
You see, the problem we face is that we are stuck in the earth-to-heaven perspective, and we are looking forward with tons of conflicts. Conflicts of time, wanting things, and playing. The Platinum membership doesn't fit well for many people today as they have memberships in many other things.
Heavenly Perspective
If you are making the decision today about following Jesus, I would strongly encourage you to make the decision from Heaven’s perspective rather than Earth's perspective.
In other words, think about the quality of your decision if you had the chance to make it from heaven, looking backward to life on earth versus making your decision from earth's perspective, looking ahead toward heaven. I call this “The Heaven Reverse-Engineering Act.”
