Why Read the Bible: To Learn How to Count the Cost of Discipleship

[Jesus] taught [the crowd] many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.

Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

–Mark 4.2-10, 13-20 (NIV)

In today’s passage we see Jesus reminding us to count the cost of being his disciple. Following Jesus is not an easy thing and we should expect to encounter stiff opposition on the way, both from the Evil One himself and from the circumstances of our life that serve to distract us and throw us off course. Here we see our Lord reminding us to beware and to be aware.

The first thing that we notice is that God’s Kingdom will come, regardless of opposition or what we might try to do to “help” it along (a true oxymoron if ever there was one). Jesus makes this clear when he talks about the seed yielding a crop in amazing amounts. Try as we might to help or hinder the Kingdom, it will come. For those of us who are trying to help bring about the Kingdom, this immediately takes the pressure off us to produce results. Instead it frees us to focus on being obedient to God’s will for us, both as individuals and collectively as his Church, and then trust God to do the rest in his good time and way. For those who oppose the coming of the Kingdom, this is bound to produce ulcers. But hey! There is always time in this life to jump on the Kingdom’s bandwagon!

The second thing we notice is Jesus’ insistence that we pay close attention to what he is saying here. He begins and ends the parable with the imperative to “listen!”. One of the things Jesus seems to be saying to us is that we cannot approach discipleship non-chalantly. If we do, we can count on getting our behinds kicked.

The third thing we notice is that Jesus does not try to explain why there is opposition to the Kingdom, why there will be opposition to our discipleship, or why there will be some (many?) who fall away and not be included in the Kingdom. “This is serious stuff,” Jesus seems to be saying, “and you need to be focusing your attention and efforts on being a good disciple of mine rather than sitting around and asking a bunch of ‘why’ questions.”

The last thing we notice is that Jesus tells us explicitly from whence our opposition comes. First and foremost, he reminds us there is an Evil One who hates us and wants nothing but our harm. He wants us to choose death over life. He wants us to choose to remain in permanent exile from God. None of us are strong enough to oppose Satan on our own and so this reminds us to ask for God’s protection daily from the falling into the clutches of the Evil One or doing things in our relationship with others that gives Satan an opportunity to wreak his havoc on us.

Jesus also reminds us that the circumstances of life can (and do) conspire to distract us, even to the point where we fall away from following Jesus. This, of course, can only lead to our death. “Be careful not to put your ultimate hope and trust in the wrong things or in the wrong people,” Jesus says. “Money and people cannot raise you from the dead or give you life; I am the only One who can do that. Sure, money can buy you nice things but you are mortal and the things that money can buy you won’t last forever. Don’t be like that rich owner in another parable that I told, who after making a bunch of money sits back and is ready to enjoy life, but whose life God claims before he has a chance to enjoy what he has worked so hard to acquire.”

This serves to remind us to keep the Main Thing the main thing.

If you are trying to decide if you want to be a follower of Jesus (he’s not on Twitter, BTW), Jesus is warning you that it isn’t going to be a cakewalk. It will cost you your very life, at least the dark and ugly parts of it–which is to your good. Before you decide to become a disciple of Jesus, you must first count the cost and decide if you are willing to pay the bills (with Jesus’ help because he never leaves us to our own devices if we allow him to do so).

If you already are a follower of Jesus, today’s passage reminds us that we really do have to take up our cross every day. We have to be on guard against being distracted by the circumstances of life, both good and bad. We have to remember to ask for God’s protection from the Evil One everyday so that we do not become Satan’s prey. And we have to be humble enough to do all of the above, no small feat for any of us!

But if we stop and count the cost, if we are willing to ask Jesus to help us because we acknowledge that we cannot be his disciple on our own power, if we keep our eye on the Prize, and if we acknowledge that following Jesus is a long-distance race rather than a sprint, we can look forward to the wondrous and joyful opportunity of being transformed into his very image so that he can use us as he pleases to help him bring about his Kingdom work here on his earth.

Imagine that. The God of this great and wondrous universe loves us enough and thinks enough about us to allow us to share in his life giving and life-saving work. And he calls us to do so despite who we are! Is that not just the most amazing thing?

If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, I encourage you to count the cost and then take the plunge. Begin today to enjoy the most satisfying ride of your life that you will ever enjoy. Yes, there will be heartaches, sorrows, and frustrations along the way. But in the final analysis you will not be disappointed because you will remember that you have been claimed by the very Source and Author of all life, and in that knowledge you will find power and strength to live your life with meaning and purpose that transcends your wildest hopes and imagination.