Luke 14:25-35

The Call To Discipleship (14:25-35).

Luke closes this section off as he opened it by showing Jesus as challenging His disciples and His would be disciples to consider what was involved in what they were setting out to do. He wanted them to recognise fully what was involved. His challenge to put Him before their own families is a reminder of the division that His coming could cause within families (Luke 12:51; compare Luke 8:19). His call for them to bear their crosses was a reminder of His words to His disciples in Luke 9:23.

Analysis.

a There went with Him great crowds, and He turned, and said to them (Luke 14:25).

b “If any man comes to Me, and does not love less (‘hate') his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26).

c “Whoever does not bear his own cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27).

d “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he have that with which to complete it? Lest haply, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all that behold begin to mock him” (Luke 14:28).

e “Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish” (Luke 14:30).

d “Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a deputation, and asks for conditions of peace” (Luke 14:31).

c “So therefore whoever he be of you who does not renounce all that he has, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33).

b “Salt therefore is good, but if even the salt has lost its savour, with what shall it be seasoned? It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill. Men cast it out” (Luke 14:34 a).

a “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 14:35 b).

Note in this example the beautiful balance of the chiasmus. Let any part drop out and it loses its balance. In ‘a' the crowds come to hear Him, and in the parallel Jesus calls on those who to hear who will hear properly. In ‘b' love for Him is strongly contrasted with their attitude towards all others, and in the example of the salt ‘good salt' is contrasted with all other salt. In ‘c' bearing the cross is necessary for a disciple, and in the parallel a man's renouncing all that he has is necessary for being a disciple. In ‘d' the weighing up of a situation of a builder is described and in the parallel the weighing up of a situation of a king is described. Central to all in ‘e' is the question of one who commences but cannot finish what he commences.

The chiasmus may well be the work of Jesus, reworked by Luke by taking the last part of the last sentence and contrasting it with the hearing crowd.