“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Those opening statements sound an awful lot like what you heard from Him three weeks ago, about not coming to bring peace but division, and while there are similar sentiments in these two accounts, today’s is for a different purpose…a different teaching.

With these words, Jesus implores you to count the cost. Counting the cost is always a good idea, as Jesus explained.

• If you’re going to build a tower, you’re going to count the cost. You figure what the materials and labor is going to cost and balance that against your budget in order to insure that you have enough to finish to job. Otherwise, you’ll be mocked as one who began a job you couldn’t finish.
• Or, going to war, a country’s leader also counts the cost. He consults his advisors to see if his forces can match the other forces, which outnumber him two-to-one. Is there some strategy that can be employed to give his outnumbered army an advantage? If no solution can be found before the battles begin, it’s best not to go to war rather than declare war foolishly in the face of insurmountable odds then send peace envoys seeking to surrender.

And having given those two examples, Jesus then said, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

Dear redeemed of Christ, here is a topic of much importance to the Church. Jesus spoke of taking places of honor at a wedding feast. In his own way, He related this to the Great Wedding Feast—the Feast of Victory of the Lamb. So, when Jesus speaks of a wedding feast, you really have no option but to look at the Foretaste of the Feast to Come that He has given the Church to do in remembrance of Him. It is a matter of much importance to the Church because it is in this feast that Her members find their Life in Christ.

The man is in the wilderness. He has grown weary and tired from the chase. The day has grown long and the sun is beginning to set. There is no one and nothing else around, and he has no provisions for the night. In his weariness, however, he lays on the ground and falls asleep. For a pillow, he uses a stone.

Of course, with that last line, you know of whom I speak. Jacob, the youngest son of Isaac and Rebekah, the younger of the set of twins with Esau. Jacob was born clutching his brother’s heel. Esau was born first, and he was born covered in red hair, hence his name Esau, which means “hairy.” Jacob, ever in conflict with his brother and desiring what he had, was born with his hand on Esau’s heel, as if trying to trip him up coming out of the womb and gain the advantage for himself. Therefore, he was given the name Jacob, meaning “he cheats.” Esau won the race out of the womb and won the inheritance of his father by right—birthright. (cf. Genesis 25:19-26)

What a family, huh? “Meet my sons, hairy and cheater.”

Jesus said, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Three are divided against two in one house, father against son, mother against daughter, in-law against in-law. And all of this because of Jesus.

Jesus is the reason or cause for the division. Some in a house will believe in and confess Jesus to be the Savior of the world; others will not. And while those in the household may say that they love each other—and that’s not always a given—internally, they are most certainly divided with hostility. It’s not just father against son, etc., but vehemently so. In some cases, this division even results in abandonment, disowning, and divorce.

A cursory reading of today’s lessons reveal that they are about faith. There is a theme of taking God solely at His word, of full reliance and trust in God simply because He says a thing is so.