Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Rom 13:8-10; Lk 14:25-33
Today’s Gospel highlights discipleship as a calculated and deliberate decision.
Jesus does not mince words when he demands a careful calculation from those who like to follow him. For this reason, he explains the idea of calculated discipleship through two parables – the builder who calculates the cost of erecting a tower and the king who deliberates before going to war with another king.
Why is calculation important for discipleship? It is because Jesus wants us to have roots before we aspire to branch out.
Let’s say we are swept up by initial enthusiasm or a fleeting moment of inspiration to follow Jesus. In all likelihood, a hasty decision that flows from a hurried process may lack enough thought or consideration. A half-hearted or less eager whim to follow Jesus will consider quitting even in the face of a momentary crisis.
Whereas if we decide to follow Jesus out of conviction and purpose, we may withstand any obstacle and still walk with him. Jesus mandates a calculated discipleship because it requires carrying the cross, experiencing conflicts with equally competing interests, and finally discerning to side with Jesus against all odds.
In requiring calculated discipleship, Jesus is not asking us to do something irrelevant or needless. Jesus insists on careful planning and execution so we would not fail in our discipleship. This is why, before deciding to embrace a life of discipleship, Jesus wants us to think through the cost of it all. After all, he wants us to finish what we started off.
In all these, Jesus wants us to remember something. Though discipleship is a call to carry the daily cross, we are not abandoned altogether. When Jesus wants us to carry the cross, he helps us bear the cross also. In this, Jesus assures his graceful accompaniment and never-ending solidarity with those who follow him out of conviction and purpose.
Let us pray that we may follow Jesus knowingly, willingly, and lovingly.
Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar
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