Unlike most of us, Jesus was not impressed by numbers. When large crowds followed Him He chose to thin the ranks and in Luke 14 He did this by telling them the cost of real Discipleship. The text is a bit alarming to us even as we read it in the pages of Luke. Jesus said that his followers must be willing to give up the people, comforts, and things that were most dear to them in order to follow Him. Then Jesus enforced this teaching by giving them three illustrations of the dangers of causally embracing discipleship. Those dangers are Ridicule, Destruction, and Uselessness.
The teaching begins in the house of a unnamed Pharisee with the parables of the Wedding Feast and the Big Dinner. Jesus pictures salvation as a lavish feast that God provides freely for all who will come and enjoy it. However some choose not to attend the feast because they are not willing to pay the admission price, the price was to abandon their own agenda to join in his. The teaching of Jesus then shifts to a more general audience where Jesus seriously challenges those who would follow him to count the cost.
