Is It Worth It?

⁵⁷ As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
⁵⁸ Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” ⁵⁹ He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” ⁶² Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62 NIV, biblegateway.com)

Everyone who wants to have children will, at some point, come to this crossroad. It's a meandering thought process that goes something like this. We really want a child, but children are expensive. There will be new, ongoing medical expenses. How much is our deductible? We'll need to equip and decorate a nursery. (Thoughts come faster about here) Food, diapers, clothes,  

childcare, school supplies, backpack, more clothes, lunch money, piano lessons, soccer uniform (more medical expenses), dance class, karate (even more medical expenses), money for field trips, more clothes, prom dress/tux, (frantic thoughts impossible to stop) college tuition (accepted to Harvard!? why yes, honey, that's...won...der...[gulp]...ful...), wedding, money to spoil the grand-kids (!!!). Then the inevitable question flies out of our mouth before we can stop it, "Can we afford it?"

That is the question that is bubbling under the passage. Compared with what's coming it's been a pony ride so far for Jesus' followers. Miraculous healings, fabulous teaching, and growing crowds are creating an intoxicating buzz of celebrity for the disciples. (See Barney Fife Syndrome) When the man said, "I will follow you wherever you go," Jesus might have been thinking, "Sure, up to this point." But the man couldn't see the jealous religious leaders, the angry crowds, and the cross that were looming just beyond the horizon that was creeping closer and closer. 

This is the first of two occasions when Jesus breaks out the calculator and presents the crowd with a subtotal of what it will cost to follow him all the way. What about when the needs of family and friends press? What about when your family and friends start questioning your thinking? Will you still follow when there is no place to sleep, no place to turn? It wasn't that Jesus wasn't concerned about their families. It's just that the kingdom would have to come first. Later he would be even more direct when he says unless you hate your mother and father you can't follow me. It's not likely he would abrogate the Fifth Commandment considering that he wrote it. But, he knows that if they put him and the kingdom first, they will be able to more rightly and fully love family and friends.

But they were just going to have to trust him on this one. The time would come when the resurrection would prove that everything he said about giving all creation, including them, a makeover was true. Any cost incurred along the way would be absorbed into the price Jesus would pay to bring the plan to fruition. Only then would humankind be able to begin to imagine the incalculable love of God for his children. 

It's impossible to accurately answer the question of whether we can afford children until we have looked into their squinting, moments-old eyes and see the reflection of God's eternal love shining back. It's impossible to calculate the cost of following Jesus without looking deeply into his eternal love as it is reflected in the cross. But once we do, we realize there truly is no place else to turn, and we're all in. 

Blessings.
Larry