Luke 14:25-33
New Catholic Bible
Conditions To Be a Disciple[a]
25 Renunciation of Everything for Jesus.[b] Great crowds were accompanying Jesus on his journey, and he turned to them and said, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother,[c] wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28 [d]“Which one of you, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has sufficient funds for its completion? 29 Otherwise, if he has laid the foundation and then finds himself unable to finish the work, all who see it will ridicule him, saying, 30 ‘There goes the man who started to build but was unable to complete the work.’
31 “Or what king marching into battle against another king will not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand soldiers he can defeat the enemy coming to oppose him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then, while the enemy is still a long distance away, he will send a delegation to ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, any one of you who does not renounce all of his possessions cannot be my disciple.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Luke 14:25 This section is tantamount to a short catechism on discipleship. The phrase “cannot be my disciple” runs through it like a refrain (vv. 26, 27, 33).
- Luke 14:25 This passage indicates that one must renounce everything to follow Jesus, even the most legitimate values and attachments, for the Gospel relegates all other considerations to a secondary level. That is the point of the word “hate” in the Old Testament (see Lk 16:13; Gen 29:31, 33; Deut 21:15-16; Isa 60:15). This renunciation is not some passing fancy but a radical demand: the two parables of the builder and the warrior could have been nothing more than simple invitations to reflect before deciding anything; Luke turns them into a call to make a serious commitment.
- Luke 14:26 Hate his father and mother: Jesus does not intend to abolish the fourth commandment about honoring and taking care of one’s parents. He simply sets forth the supreme conditions to be his disciple. In order to follow him, one must be disposed to sacrifice the most tender affections and even to renounce one’s life (see Jn 12:25). The expression is softened and explained in Mt 10:37.
- Luke 14:28 Whoever wishes to follow Jesus must weigh his own strengths so as not to launch out into a spiritual adventure thoughtlessly and rashly. Jesus illustrates this thought with two comparisons.
