Image by Alexa from Pixabay
Counting the Cost is based on Luke 14: 28-33
Two Mini-Parables
This section of Luke’s Gospel comprises two mini-parables. We don’t know whether Jesus always told them together, or whether he sometimes split them up. Both are about the cost of discipleship – one about losing all our money, the other about losing our lives, families and homes.
The Tower?
The main point of this parable can be understood by anyone hearing it for the first time. One minor difference, however, is that modern hearers are likely to think of a tower block – a tall building, yes, but one that’s full of offices or flats.
But Jesus, most commentators agree, probably meant a defensive tower. Possibly one of the towers that would surround a city as part of its defensive walls. Or, possibly, a smaller tower that a landowner might build in a vineyard. These had the dual purpose of watchtower and crop storage.
So, since ‘defensive’ connects the first mini-parable to the second one about war, I changed ‘tower’ to ‘gated community.’ It’s closer to the original meaning – buildings designed to protect the community.
Expense
A tower, especially a stone tower, was a very expensive project, far beyond the resources of most of Jesus’ disciples. Sitting down and working out whether you could afford to build one would be wise for even a rich person.
So if you choose to retell this parable, ‘tower’ needs to be replaced by something that takes a lot of financial resources – perhaps all you have. Discipleship, says this mini-parable, might cost every penny you have – and then some.
War
To lose a war in Jesus’ time would be shameful for the King who led his country into it. For his people, losing a war could mean being sold into slavery or exiled from home.
There’s a major European war happening as I write. The pictures coming from that war show how wars can cost people everything they have – their home, their life and even their family.
Resistance
The people who listened to Jesus knew this about war. They also knew that their country had a recent history of a successful resistance. Could they, with their smaller army, hold out? The answer was not a given. But if they couldn’t, they needed to make what accommodation they could with their conquerors.
Retelling
Retelling the second mini-parable is easy; war is still among us. Perhaps, as I did, we change ‘King’ to ‘a country’ and its ‘leader’. Perhaps we adjust the size of the army, because even a small modern army will have over ten thousand troops. The point of the parable – a lost war can lose us everything – is still the same.
Becoming one of Jesus’ disciples, these mini-parables say, is costly. You’d better be sure you have resources available and the strength to hold out. Like building a tower or fighting a war, being a disciple might cost us everything we have.
Previous Parable: The Teacher’s Voice (John 10:1-5)
Previous Commentary: Parables That Shouldn’t Be Retold?
Next Parable: The Big Parade (Matthew 25:1-12)
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