Faith+ics+CJ15

Luke November 5, 2014 Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt;">Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt;">and decide whether with ten thousand troops <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt;">he can successfully oppose another king <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt;">advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt;">But if not, while he is still far away, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt;">he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt;">In the same way, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt;">everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt;">cannot be my disciple.”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt;">Summary <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">One day there were large crowds following Jesus, and Jesus turned to them and told them a story. He said if anyone who wants to be a follower of me but still has even the tiniest commitment to something here on earth cannot be my follower. He also said that if you want to be my follower but are not willing to work for it or give up your possessions cannot be my followers. Then he compared the people who wanted to follow him but couldn't to a man who builds a tower but does not check if he has enough supplies to finish it, and to a king who goes to war but does not first check to see if his army can defeat the other and goes to war without even trying to work out terms of peace with the other army. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Reflection <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Jesus is telling us that we should be aware of our spiritual stand point. By this I mean that even though we may think we are true disciples of Jesus and believe we are definitely getting into heaven, we may still be far from it. So, Jesus is telling us that we must realize that and try the hardest we possibly can to become a disciple of Christ. His message like many of his other messages told people at that time, that just obeying the ten commandments does not necessarily mean you are going to heaven. This gospel says that you need to be able to choose God over any other earthly possessions you have. There are many times that people do not follow this Gospel like when someone decides he is two tired to go to mass, it is telling God that you are not even willing to give up a few hours of sleep to follow him. Another scenario that may happen is putting someone above Christ, like if you saw a kid being bullied by your friend but do not help that kid you are unknowingly putting your friend above God, and you cannot be a Disciple of Christ and give up everything for someone who you put others above.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Living out this gospel is not easy, but there are many different ways it can be lived out. We need to live out this gospel because choosing earthly possessions over God is sinful and breaks the first commandment because when you choose the possessions over God you idolize them. One of the most sure ways of this is becoming a priest because they give up having a wife and most of their earthly possessions, however this does not apply to every body. Another way to live out the Gospel is by donating a lot of their time and possessions to the helping the poor, or helping other worthy causes, because you are giving up a lot of your time and earthly possessions to serve Christ.You should also give up some of your time by going to mass and receiving sacraments. There is a fourth but it is a lot more difficult and is probably the surest way of following this Gospel, it is putting your life in danger to help others, like bravely rescuing someone, or become a missionary and leaving your house and possessions behind to go and preach the word of God in some of the most dangerous parts of the world. These are the things that will help you to be a follower of Christ. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Prayer for this Gospel

Lord help us to be prepared to walk with you by knowing what we must do in order to choose to do so. Let us not say we are followers of you, to others, if we are not followers of you. Give us the strength to give up the material goods of the earth to follow you. Give us the determination to help others and go to church for you. It is for these things that we pray. Amen