23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading I: Wisdome 9:13-18b II: Philemon 9b-10,12-17

²⁵ Great crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and addressed them,
²⁶ "If any one 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.
²⁷ Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
²⁸ 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?
²⁹ Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him
³⁰ and say, 'This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.'
³¹ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
³² But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
³³ In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

• (v.25) In the preceding parable (16-24), several guests were invited to a banquet but all found excuses for not coming. Having told this parable of rejection to the leaders in which an overinvolvement with possessions and relationships closes those invited to the call of God, Luke has Jesus "turned and addressed" to the great crowds and repeat the same warning for those who would wish to follow Him.
  
• (v.26) "Hate" is harsh. It has been suggested that the original Aramaic meant simply "love less than". It denotes an attitude - turning away from; and mode of action - detach oneself from, not emotion.
  
• (v.27) "Carry his own cross". Again, this command must be taken in context. It does not mean that all true disciples must be martyrs in the literal sense.
  
• (v.28) The costs are indeed staggering. God undertook the plan of salvation at the cost of the beloved Son's life (Rom 8:32); and Jesus, determined to journey to Jerusalem (9:51) to lay down His life. Neither God, nor Jesus asks of disciples anything that they themselves were not prepared to do.
  

Jesus challenges us to take up the demands of discipleship. It demands everything we are and everything we have.

1. What are the costs of discipleship in my case? What possessions and relationships do I need to forgo? What to foster?
2. To the extent that I have been able to follow Christ, what results have I experienced? To the extent that I have shied away from following Christ, what have been the results?
3. What concrete steps do I plan for my life: staying the current course, or making specific changes? How will I be able to do it?

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A synthesis by the Vietnamese Christian Life (Dong Hanh) Community