Luke 14:28-33
28 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? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 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? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
The highlighted words of the two small stories inside this parable seemed sensible to me. The completion of projects, plans, desires, security, prestige and authority often depends on counting the cost and then throwing “all” your resources into making it a success. What makes the “So therefore” of verse 33 so mysterious is that these Words of Jesus, “renounce all,” don’t seem to fit with the careful planning involved in the two illustrations that precede it.
Jesus did NOT say desiring something or counting the cost of getting it done is unwise or that deliberate and careful planning is a bad way to insure a good outcome that can overcome the odds against you. In fact He details the negative outcomes of NOT counting the cost; mockery and being captured by an enemy. “So therefore,” I am compelled to read and ponder what does that “renounce all” mean?
Turns out I’m not the only one with that question. I read a very good paper by Pastor Tim Kelly[a] and because of his exhaustive referencing I learned Jesus didn’t always require the renouncing of “all” possessions even for His own mother or the disciples. One helpful thing I learned was the verb that is translated “renounce,” apotassomai, can also mean bid farewell, delegate, appoint for, assign to, set aside or dismiss. I looked back at that string of associated words I’d picked to consider as part of studying this parable — projects, plans, desires, security, prestige and authority and added [even] faith. It was then I began to see they did have connection to the wisdom of what Jesus was teaching His disciples. This parable wasn’t an option — they must “renounce all.” What He did NOT say turned out to be very important too. Jesus was not preaching deprivation but that disciples must acknowledge that “all” things they have are already His to use. This parable is not about personal deprivation at all but about a different reality for His disciples based on Isaiah 61:1-2. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound…”
The cost that requires disciples to bid farewell, delegate, appoint for, assign to, set aside or dismiss everything as less valuable than Jesus is not deprivation but liberation for His disciples. That’s “all.”
[a] Read Tim Kelly’s paper
Read and Ponder - Faith in Daily Life 