The High Cost of Education

Luke 14:15-35

Jesus was at a party and he gave a speech. Hearing him, one of those listening announced, “How wonderful it will be for those who are at the party of God!” Jesus replied with a story: “There was a man planning a party and he sent invitations out. As a reminder, he sent one of his employees out at the time of the party to all those invited. But they—every one—offered excuses instead. One said, ‘Oh, I just bought some real estate and I need to go look at it. So sorry, but I’m just too busy to come.’ Another said, ‘I just bought five work trucks and I need to test them out. I’m really sorry, but I’m too busy to come.’ Another said, ‘I just got married, and, well, we’re just too busy. Sorry, can’t come.’ So the employees returned to their CEO and explained all this to him. He fumed and he told his employees, ‘OK, fine. Then go downtown and invite every beggar—the bums, cripples, winos and indigent.’ After a bit, the employees reported back to him, ‘We did as you requested, sir, but the hall still looks pretty empty.’ So the CEO said, ‘Then go out of the city and collect the passers through, all the immigrants looking for work and other foreigners. Convince them to come in until the banquet hall is completely full. But I swear to you, not a single one who was invited will have even a bite of my feast.’”

Jesus noticed that a crowd had gathered, outside the party, listening, so he said to them, “Many of you want to follow me, and be a part of my school. You can learn to do miracles, to be holy, to obtain God’s kingdom. But listen carefully—you can’t be a student in my school until you hate your father, hate your mother, hate your wife, hate your children and brothers and sisters. You can’t be part of my school until you hate your very life. To be a part of my school, you’ve got to be ready to be branded a rebel and killed as a traitor. Look, if you are going to paint your house, you want to know how much it will cost ahead of time, don’t you? Because otherwise, you get halfway done and run out of money to buy more paint and anyone passing by laughs at you and says, ‘Look, this guy started something but he couldn’t finish it.’

Suppose two countries were at war. The presidents of the countries would certainly sit down and make sure that their army was large enough to defeat the other. But suppose that one found that his army was only half the size of the other. Wouldn't he begin working out a negotiation of peace, surrendering everything he had to prevent this war? Even so, God is coming, and you aren't ready for him. If you want to be in my school, and so be ready, you must surrender all of your possessions, just like that king."

You may think that you are different, the salt of the earth, the stuff of which the church will really make a difference. But if salt has no flavor—if it’s just the same as everything else—then how can you make it useful again? It is pointless—not of any use for food or anything else. So we just throw it out. What do you think God will do with “salt” that is the same as dirt? If you’ve got a half a brain, then understand this.

What is the cost of Jesus’ school?

When people approached Jesus to be his follower, they didn’t think that he was the only way to salvation, the only means to obtain God’s kingdom. Rather, he was one of many teachers who had a particular way of thinking within ancient Judaism, he was a rabbi, amidst many other rabbis. The difference is that this rabbi could heal the blind, exorcise demons and raise the dead. That definitely gave him an edge above other teachers. He was very popular and always had a crowd around him. And people maybe listened a bit closer to him than to other teachers, because, well, he had POWER.

But he was still just a teacher, who had an idea of what God wanted of us, just like any other. And the people weren’t sure that they wanted to make the full commitment to be a disciple, or one of his students. After all, being a disciple is a lot of work. You have to do whatever the rabbi told you—full obedience was a minimum. And often a rabbi asked you to give things to him, or to the school, as payment for the education he was requiring. And a disciple had to spend their time memorizing the rabbi’s teachings—word for word if possible.

Maybe He Needed an MBA

But when Jesus talked about the costs of his school, He used the most extreme language. His requirements were tougher than anyone else’s. This is unusual, because while no rabbi made it easy for their disciples to enter their school, they did want to attract disciples and they knew that if they used extreme language, then they wouldn’t have many students. But Jesus’ language isn’t good advertising at all.

What did Jesus say would be the requirements to join his school—the things he is requiring up front?

Social expectations—Although not directly here, but in Luke 9, Jesus talks about not being able to say goodbye to one’s family, or to return to bury one’s father when he died. Jesus is saying that the work that He sends his disciples to is more important than any family obligations or social niceties. Jesus basically says, “Either be my disciple, or be socially acceptable—but you can’t be both.”

Family—Jesus says that to be his student is to hate one’s family. Jesus doesn’t mean that one sends the family black roses and tells them that you can’t see them anymore. But Jesus does say that if you follow Him, then you are rejecting your family’s social values, their morals, their way of worshipping God—everything that makes them think of themselves as “good people”. This means that you will be blacklisted by THEM. You will be setting yourself up to be hated by your whole family.

Livelihood—A person’s field is their basic sustenance, and their family inheritance. To reject this is rejecting one’s food and livelihood not only for oneself, but for any generations after. This is one way in which one would hate one’s wife and children, because you are putting yourself in a position to not be able to provide for their needs.

Possessions—Jesus tells his disciples very clearly that his disciples are to surrender all of their possessions. But, interestingly enough, he isn’t looking for a pile of stuff in his living room. Rather, Jesus tells the disciples that they would have to give the possessions directly to God. The symbol he is using is that of a king involved in a war he knows he’s going to lose. In the ancient days, if a king surrenders to another, they pay them all the wealth they had in order to spare their kingdom. Jesus is saying that God is the stronger king, coming to conquer our world with His Kingdom. So, in order to spare our puny souls, we are to give up our possessions, and God will have mercy on us.

Life—But, ultimately, even our possessions aren’t enough to spare our lives in this age. Jesus says that we need to be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice—to be rejected and killed by this world as traitors and rebels. That’s what dying on the cross really is—an execution for traitors to the state. Jesus said that this is a sacrifice we need to make if we are going to be students of his.

What gives him the right?

The real question anyone with a half a brain really needs to be asking is, “What education is worth such a sacrifice?” If it were just an education, well, frankly, it probably wouldn’t be worth it. But Jesus isn’t just offering an education. What Jesus is clearly saying in this passage that enrollment in his school is the ONLY WAY to get into God’s kingdom. That is one of the points of the initial parable. Many were invited, but only those who chose to attend the feast—meaning following Jesus traveling party—would obtain God’s Ultimate Feast—the kingdom of God. Only those who sacrificed all those things and became Jesus’ disciple would be safe from God’s judgment. Only those who were Jesus’ disciples could call themselves salt in the earth. So Jesus isn’t just asking sacrifice for an education—he’s saying that it is a worthy cost for eternal life.

Worldly excuses

And what, does Jesus say, is the biggest obstacle to being Jesus’ disciple? It is thinking that the things of this world is more important than being a disciple of Jesus. Jesus gives the example of work, marriage and purchasing as being more important than attending a feast. But Jesus says that these people are then exchanging eternal life for the pleasures and duties of an afternoon. This is the same as giving a thousand dollar bill for three pennies because three coins are more than a single piece of paper. It is a foolish exchange. But to surrender the cares, worries and prejudices of this world for the work and love of God is to exchange death for life.

Jesus says that to be a disciple but to live like the world is like being flavorless salt. Sure, it looks like salt, feels like salt, but it is useless—useless for God and useless for the church. And useless for salvation. To be a Christian but to refuse Jesus’ sacrifices is good for only one thing, Jesus says—to be thrown on the garbage heap. And what happens to garbage? It burns. And burns.