Diplomacy

Are you with me or against me?

Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. - Luke 14:31-33

If your image of Jesus is one of a man slow to anger and judgment, but quick to compassion, today's Gospel reading from Luke may sound strange.

He seems to be using an example from the Art of War to justify a requirement for discipleship and the connection between the two makes little or no sense at first glance.

One commentary I read describes what Jesus says about the king as a parable designed to show us that we are at war with Satan and in doing battle, we must be prepared to lose a great deal.

But if the battle requires us to be all in, as the concluding statement says, why talk about compromise and negotiating a peaceful settlement with the opposing king?

I think Jesus wants us to consider how our possessions and relationships impact our decisions, and those decisions can our eyes off the goal.

The king who has much to lose will choose terms of peace, giving up some of his position for the sake of all.

Is that bad?

Maybe.  If the objective is to stand firm against the forces of evil and to do battle with them, compromise can be a loss.

So, if we have nothing that causes us to compromise, we have a better chance of winning.

I will admit that I find this message troubling, not because we have a lot to give up to be disciples, but because we are in a battle to the end against a deadly foe.

Now, here's the hard part.  How do we know who we are battling?

We will need to be faithful followers to find out, won't we.

More to come...