September 5, 2004
Wisdom 9:13-18 + Philemon 9:10-17 + Luke 14:25-33
The class on discipleship continues, but there is a turn in the mood today.
Luke describes the scene suggesting that “great crowds” were traveling with Jesus; and he says that Jesus turned and addressed them.
That “turning” is important.
It is a visual detail that puts Jesus up front as the leader, the teacher, the guide.
They are going to Jerusalem, but that crowd does not get the picture.
His words sound harsh and impatient, and they may very well have been.
What he has to say to them today however is not about family relationships or carrying crosses.
In is the examples Luke provides
we get some help to understand what Jesus means.
In a word, this is all about Prudence.
Jesus counsels would-be disciples to be Prudent.
It is a quality of good moral living.
The quality of a prudent life is marked by action that is wise, well considered, responsible, reasonable, and accountable.
These are qualities of action.
Passive, timid, and negligent people are not found to be prudent, and they have no place among the disciples of Jesus.
Prudence seeks the best way to do the right thing.
Disciples of Jesus Christ are not timid, inactive, passive, and negligent.
They will be leaders: people who do the right thing,
not managers who do things right.
It is not the same thing, and we know the difference when we see it.
Disciples of Jesus have the big picture.
They have considered the consequences of their decisions and their actions.
They do not live in their own little world unconnected to others.
They never forget that what they say and what they do has something to do with the “common good”, a concept that seems to be slipping away from us.
The truly Prudent do not live isolated lives in which self interest is all that matters.
The truly Prudent disciple of Jesus “calculates”
(to use a word of this Gospel in the example of the builder).
The truly Prudent disciple of Jesus “sits down and decides”
(emphasis upon a good decision that affects others: since he is talking about the life and death of his troops in this example).
This virtue of “prudence” becomes more a quality of life
than a kind of rehearsed behavior.
It is a way of living in relationship to others.
It is an ability of see how things fit together,
to see that there is a divine plan for goodness.
Prudent people are accountable people.
They do not forget that they shall be called upon
to account for what they do in this life
so that what they are will be consistent with what they do.
The call to renounce possessions at the end of this text today
is one more part of the call to experience discipleship
as stewardship and the challenge to use with prudence the things we have
not to get more, but to give more.
That crowd following Jesus to Jerusalem was probably there to see what they could get without the least bit of interest in what they would be called upon to give.
Having heard what Jesus says today, it cannot be the same for us.
We shall have no excuse for any behavior that is self-serving
and fails to find the way to do the right thing.