I once heard someone describe the Christian life this way: “It’s free, but it’s not cheap.” Yes, the salvation that we are offered from the Lord is pure gift. We know that Jesus has already paid the price by His sacrifice on the Cross. But following Him, truly following Him, truly giving our lives to Him costs us everything. That’s the paradox at the heart of today’s Gospel.

Wisdom: We Can’t Figure It Out Alone

The Book of Wisdom confronts us with the truth of our human frailty and limited vision. It says: “Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends?” Even the smartest among us sometimes get it wrong. When left to ourselves, we plan for comfort, security, recognition. But Wisdom tells us that our plans are timid, unsure. We need God to reveal the path. And that path, Jesus tells us, looks a lot like the Cross.

Jesus: The Hard Saying

Jesus is pretty blunt in the Gospel. He tells us: “Whoever does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” “Whoever does not carry his cross cannot be my disciple.” There’s no fine print to that demand. Jesus isn’t sugarcoating discipleship. He wants us to know what it means for us up front; He wants us to realize the cost from the get-go. Because otherwise, like the man who started building a tower without finishing, we’ll begin the Christian journey but fall away when the road gets tough.

And that temptation will come! That’s the reality of being a disciple of Jesus. He never promised us that it would be easy. When it does happen, it’s not failure to experience it. It’s just part of the process. The question we have to constantly come back to is: will I keep following the Lord even when it costs me? Even when it becomes uncomfortable or too demanding?

Paul and Philemon: Love Reshapes Everything

That’s where Paul’s letter to Philemon shines some light. He sends Onesimus, a runaway slave, back to his master Philemon…not as property, but as a brother. For that time period, that would have been revolutionary. What Paul is trying to communicate is that the Cross has redefined human relationships. As a Christian man, as a follower of Jesus, Philemon has to choose: Does he live by society’s logic or by Christ’s? Does he cling to his rights, or does he embrace this man as family in the Lord?

That’s what discipleship looks like. It’s letting Christ reorder how we live our lives, how we love those around us, how we relate to those we have relationships with. Jesus changes everything!

What This Means for Us

So how do we live this today? How do we be better disciples of Jesus in our day and age?

1. Ask Jesus where we fail to put Him first in our lives. – Jesus is clear: nothing, not even family, comes before Him. Where in our lives is He second? Do we put Him second to our career, our comfort in retirement, or our reputation? Discipleship means naming those things honestly and asking the Lord to reorder them.
2. Choose costly love. – Philemon had a choice: to receive Onesimus as property or to welcome him as a brother. Every day, we face similar choices. Who in our lives needs us to see them with Christ’s eyes? A family member? A neighbor? A difficult co-worker? Loving, in general, but loving them specifically will always cost us something. It’s a love that stretches us beyond what’s comfortable. But that’s the Cross in action, that’s what it means to embrace true discipleship.
3. Carry your cross daily. – Sometimes we wait for the “big” moment of sacrifice. But the real test is in those things that we are asked to do daily: choosing prayer when we’re tired, patience when we’re annoyed, humility when we’d rather prove that we’re right. These are the crosses that shape us into true disciples.

The Takeaway

Salvation is free, but it’s not cheap. Jesus wants disciples; He wants people who are willing to give Him their entire lives. He isn’t looking for half-hearted admirers. He doesn’t promise ease, but He promises Himself.

If we truly put Him first, if we take up the Cross daily, if we strive to follow Him in everything that we do, then even those timid and unsure plans that we have will be swept up into His eternal plan. And that is a plan that will never fail!

Because when the Cross reorders our lives, we don’t lose something…we gain the only thing worth having…we gain Jesus Himself.

Image: The Cost of Discipleship. Image generated using Jetpack AI Assistant.