September 7, 2025 Sermon
Today’s gospel shows Jesus followed by a large crowd, drawn by his miraculous healings, ability to feed multitudes, and compelling teachings. Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God, which he compares to a wedding banquet, and invites people to follow him into it.
However, Jesus also tells the crowd about the steep cost of following him. This cost, according to Jesus, includes hating your family, hating even life itself, carrying the cross—a “vicious instrument of torture and death”—and giving up all your worldly possessions.
Despite these difficult requirements, people today still commit to following Jesus and his challenging path. How are they able to do this? Jesus offers two brief stories that may provide some answers. Both of these stories touch on issues relevant to today’s news.
The Stories of the House and the Army
The first story involves building a house. Building a house is not an easy task, as evidenced by the many vacant lots in St. Catharines amid a housing crisis. There are many reasons why people might not build, such as too much red tape, high interest rates, costly materials, and low profit margins. All these reasons combined might lead to the conclusion that building a house is impossible. Perhaps this is precisely the conclusion Jesus wanted people to reach: that by themselves, they cannot build the house. He wanted them to act on faith, trusting not in themselves but in him. Through his miracles, Jesus showed his ability to do the impossible and offers hope where there is none.
The second story is a military example. A king faces a dilemma: an enemy is approaching with a powerful army. The king must calculate if his army is capable of defeating the enemy. If it is, the fight is on; if not, he must negotiate peace, even a costly one. Today, there is much discussion about the readiness of the Canadian military, and many conclude that it is not prepared for the current situation. The costs of preparing the military are astronomical. This example might also lead us to conclude that we cannot defend ourselves against the “powerful onslaught” of dangerous actors in the world. Once again, this may be Jesus’s point: to move forward, we must put our trust in him. We know Jesus is victorious over sin and death, so we can trust him to give us victory over sin and death.
The Cost of Following Jesus
What do these two stories teach us about Jesus’s statements on hating family and possessions?. Both stories suggest that we must seriously consider how our families, our lives, and our possessions relate to following Jesus. Is following him our highest priority?. Do our families and possessions prevent us from following him fully?.
Throughout history, many faithful followers of Jesus have found that loving their families and being good stewards of their possessions are a significant part of their faithful following. Some, however, have been called to leave their family and possessions to join Christian communities, living a “seemingly radical form of Christianity”.
The decision to follow Jesus is not a one-time decision; we must ask ourselves every day if we are willing to pay the cost. The interesting thing is that if you choose to pay the seemingly high price of following him, you will realize he has already paid the price and offered you a seat at the banquet table of the kingdom. The cost is minuscule compared to the benefit gained.
If you feel you cannot make the radical commitment to follow Jesus, or if the cost seems too much to bear, take hope in Jeremiah’s image of God as the potter molding the clay. Put your trust in God, the potter, and invite him to reshape you into the image he sees fit for you.