RECIPE FOR DISCIPLESHIP

Luke 9:22-25

A man got lost in the desert. Walking and walking, he was so desperate to quench his thirst with a drink of water, then, he found a hut and entered to look for water. There was no water except an old and rusty water pump. He run to it and pumped it. No water came out. He bent on the floor weak and discouraged. He found a container beside him full of water. He took it and brushed the dust off the outside. On this container it written: “You have to pour the water from this jug to make the pump work. Please, be sure to refill the jug with water for the next use,” that was the message on the jug. Thoughts were racing in his mind: “Should I pour all the water? What if the pump won’t work after? Or should I just drink the water and go? But what about the next user as the jug says? If I pour all the water, I might either lose everything or get fresh and cold water from the pump. He thought for a while and then poured all the water and started pumping. At first, no water came out. “Squeak, squeak, squeak,” sounded the pump until finally water flattered forth. He had enough water for himself and for the next user. He took the jug, refilled it and added the following words: “Believe me, it really works. You have to give everything away before you can have a refill of good water.” That is what he added.

Today’s gospel, Jesus sets before us recipe of how to be His disciple: deny self, take up the cross and follow me. The first thing is self-denial. Jesus Christ demands self-denial as a necessary condition of discipleship. Self-denial is a call to submit to the authority of God as Father and of Jesus as Lord. It is to declare lifelong war against ourselves, against our instinctive egoism. This does not mean that Jesus wants us to become zombies or He asks us to volunteer for a robot role. The required denial is fighting self-deifying desire which dominates us so ruinously in our natural state.

The second thing is, take up the cross daily. Jesus links self-denial with cross-bearing. We cannot avoid our cross. Our cross can be: rejections, pains, staying faithful in a difficult marriage, loving your black sheep children, forgiving a relative’s past hurts, speaking well of others, raising people up instead of putting them down, being misunderstood and when prayer dries up. The cross is a death to one’s sins, unfaithfulness and selfishness.

The third recipe is, follow me. Jesus represents discipleship as a matter of following Him and following Him is based on self-denial and taking up one’s cross. Most of time we hesitate to follow this recipe, like the guy lost in the desert. As this guy wrote on the jug, believe me it works. You have to give everything away before you can have a refill of good water. May this Lenten period be for us an occasion for great decisions.