The Disciple’s Salt

September 8, 2013

GOSPEL LESSON: 　 Luke 14:25–35 [The cost of being a disciple]
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
P: This is the Gospel of our Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus talks about the cost of discipleship and summarizes it with a saying about salt.

In the old Roman army, when the soldiers were given their pay, they were given cash and they were also given a ration of salt. Salt was not only used as a seasoning for food, but as we who live in a hot climate like Okinawa know, salt is necessary for health and stamina in hot weather. The Latin word for “salt” is “sal” from which we get the modern English word for “salary.” There is the expression about a worker who is “worth his salt,” so the worker does a good job to earn his salt, to earn his salary.

And so, what is the “salary” of a disciple of Christ? Ultimately it is eternal life and salvation. In the meantime, the “salary” of a disciple would be the love of God. Usually workers get a wage, get something in compensation for their work. But Jesus turns it all around. He tells his disciples to renounce all they have. The disciple has to renounce their possessions, their families, and even their lives. Jesus says they have to “hate” their father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sister, yes, and even their own life. They have to hate that which they love the most. Didn’t Jesus say we must love our neighbor as ourselves, so what does he meant by “hate”? Perhaps Jesus meant it only in comparison to the love that we must have for him which is so great that other love seems like hate. Perhaps Jesus meant that we hate the frustration we can have when family and responsibilities and physical limitations hinder us from following Jesus in the way we want to. Perhaps it means that we have to fight against family and our own desires to be a disciple. When we hate something, we want to get rid of it so that it does not interfere with our lives. And so it is when we want to follow Jesus. We have to separate ourselves from what is keeping us back. We can continue to love our mother and father, but if our mother and father are not fellow disciples, we might have to leave them behind, and that can look like hate, because love draws people together.

Jesus tells his prospective disciples that they have to count the cost. Is it worthwhile becoming a disciple? It seems that the only thing a disciple receives is a cross which we must bear and bring it with us when we follow after Jesus. Is the cross enough “salary” for us to live on?

Jesus talks about the person who wanted to build a tower. The man laid the foundation but could not finish and so was made a fool. How about the disciple who starts following Jesus? The disciple builds a foundation for faith: Bible study, Catechism study and Baptism and Confirmation. But how is the rest of their lives? Upon that foundation, do they continue to build their Christian lives with discipleship and service to Christ?

Then Jesus gives the example of the King. The enemy king is coming. The army of the enemy is overwhelmingly larger than his own. He asks for terms of peace. As a disciple of Jesus, when the enemies of the world and the devil and our sinful hearts attack us, we have to ask for terms of peace. For the king, he might have to pay tribute, lose territory, etc, for the sake of peace and the safety of his citizens. What might disciples have to give up to the enemy? We might lose family or friends or possessions. But for the sake of safety and salvation in the Kingdom of God, it is worthwhile.

How about a person who is no longer a disciple? Jesus would say they are as foolish as the man who could not finish building the tower. They are foolish because they are no longer following Jesus. Jesus does not want that sort of disciple. They are worthless to Him. They are not worth their salt. They are like tasteless salt. It is not good to flavor food. You cannot even use it on the soil to kill weeds in the yard. It is so bad that it cannot even be used as fertilizer, so it has less value than manure. It is thrown away. And so it is with a person who has left the faith. That person is of no value to the Kingdom of God.

But for those who want to follow the Savior, Jesus has given a different sort of salary. He has given the believer a cross to carry. Most people would want to become a Christian in order to get rid of crosses and struggles and problems in their lives. But the cross that Jesus gives us is different. It is more than a burden. It is a tool. It is the tool that we need in order to build upon the foundation laid by Jesus Christ. It is a tool that creates, forgives, loves, comforts. Our crosses must be like the cross of Jesus. It is a place of death, but a death that leads to resurrection. It is the place where we recognize our sin, and the place where Jesus forgives our sin. It is the place of suffering, and the place where Jesus shows his gracious love to us. The cross becomes a tool in our lives so that we can be disciples of Jesus. Our job as disciples of Jesus is to carry the cross, to proclaim the cross, to bring the salvation of the cross into the lives of other people. For example, we show that cross to our fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers and spouses. Those that we seem to “hate” for the sake of Christ, are the ones that we really love the most.

A Christian Disciple is worth their Salt. It has taste because of the love of Jesus.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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