The cost of discipleship: Leave everything behind and follow me (luke 9: 57-62).

The cost of discipleship: Leave everything behind and follow me (luke 9: 57-62).

Roy Lessin says,

Just think

You are here not by chance but God’s choosing

His hand formed you and the person you are

He compares you to no one else- you are one of a kind.

You lack nothing that his grace can’t give you

He has allowed you to be here at this time of history

To fulfill his special purpose for this generation

This gospel reading clearly brings us the cost of discipleship. The disciple is the one who is freely committed to the will of God to fulfill his special purpose of this generation. Jesus asks us today to detach from the worldly things and follow him. It is a real challenge a challenge of surrender. Here one may ask what type of a person one must be to be a disciple of Christ.

There are three types of persons one could possibly trace out. The first type is called the wishful thinkers. They talk a lot but no action. They keep procrastination and can’t make up their mind to do something by wish they can enjoy the joy of freedom. We do come across this type of disciples: in gospels a rich young man he was very sad when he was informed of the cost of discipleship, the detachment in other words the free person. It is said that heaven is filled with wishful thinkers. No wonder many disciples of today are in this stage, cultic priest, journalist priests, table priests and so on.

The second type called the compromisers: they are ready to do anything but one thing necessary. They are attached to his comforts that he compromises with the powerful and the evils for his comforts and conveniences. A few years back when BJP government was on, five bishops with catholic youth representatives went to meet Advani to speak about the subsidy for the Christian minority people. Advani’s response must be our serious concern here. He said that 24% of population is Christians and 36% of institutions with Christians, then why do you ask us? What went wrong? Our institutions are serving the powerful and the rich to have a comfortable journey- sheer compromise. Remember no one can serve two masters.

The third type: free persons are at the disposal of the lord and they fully surrender to the will of God for the special purpose. One can surely say with our church Mary is the first disciple of Christ because she surrendered herself totally by saying let it be done according to your will. Today hardly we see the persons to this kind, authentic disciples. Few months ago I came across an article about the elderly women Dayabai aged 63 born of rich high caste catholic parents working for the Gond tribals in MP. She joined the convent to work for the dehumanized. But to her surprise the convent life does not fit in with the discipleship that Christ demanded from her. So she left the convent and did graduation in law and MSW. Then she moved to live with the dehumanized.

She says, “in these 25 years, I have helped them to get the just wages from their employers and fair prices for their farm products. I was once beaten by the police because I was fighting against the oppression of women. My inculturation among the tribals was not complete until I dressed like them and ate like them and lived like them. My father who lives in my home village in Kerala could not easily digest my views. When she saw my dress and heard about my life style, he asked: is this necessary? I pointed out to the crucifix in the wall and asked him, “was it necessary?” my father’s eyes were filled with tears and he remained silent. My mission is going on and a growing number of officers, social workers and tourists are coming to assess my initiatives for the upliftment of tribals of Chindwada. The journey is on…

Let us ask ourselves what type of disciples are we? A mere popular devotion or institutionalized prayers may help us to be a catholic Christians of today; never will it help us to be a disciple of Christ. This is the time let us prepare ourselves to identify with the dehumanized and commit for their cause. A disciple is the one who is freely committed to the will of God to fulfill his special purpose for this generation.