In both passages, Jesus is referring to the cost of discipleship. There is only one who can claim our love beyond anything or anyone else in the world, and that is God. In Chapter 10, this story occurs,Then his mother and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you. ” He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” Lk. 8:19-21.
“There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? ” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Lk. 10:25-28
His parable today makes the same point. Count the cost of discipleship. If you are getting ready for battle, know what you are up against. If you are building a tower, know the cost of finishing the construction. Why does he talk in such a hyperbolic manner? [iv] Remember how this story begins, “Great crowds were traveling with Jesus…” Where are the great crowds when he was crucified? Why do people walk away from Jesus? Perhaps, the cost of discipleship is more than they are willing to pay.
Jesus doesn’t walk around saying he is God. His teaching, however, demands what only God can demand. If your math teacher told you that in order to pass her class you had to be willing to be executed, you might become a liberal arts major. Jesus asks more than anyone has the right to; anyone, that is, except God.“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. Take to heart these words which I command you today . Keep repeating them to your children. Recite them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up . Bind them on your arm as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead . Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.” Dt. 6:4-9.
The Church loves the fecundity of marriage and the spiritual fecundity of celibacy dedicated to the love of the Church and the Kingdom of God.“G.K. Chesterton wrote, there is a tension to the Christian life. In accord with its affirmation of the world, the Church loves color, pageantry, music and rich decoration (as in the liturgy and papal ceremonials), even as, in accord with its detachment from the world, it loves the poverty of St. Francis and the simplicity of Mother Teresa.” Barron, Robert. Vibrant Paradoxes: The Both/And of Catholicism. Word on Fire. Kindle Edition.
Why celibacy? Celibacy is a sign of the approaching Kingdom of God.“The same tension governs its attitude toward sex and family. Again, in Chesterton’s language, the Church is “fiercely for having children” (through marriage) even as it remains “fiercely against having them” (in religious celibacy.) Everything in this world—including sex and intimate friendship—is good, but impermanently so; all finite reality is beautiful, but its beauty, if I can put it in explicitly Catholic terms, is sacramental, not ultimate.” Barron, Robert. Vibrant Paradoxes: The Both/And of Catholicism . Word on Fire. Kindle Edition.
The Church holds out the ideals of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience in order to live out the call to detachment from persons and possessions. The common ground of celibacy and marriage is that we must learn to love God best in order to love others better.“This is why, the Church is convinced, God chooses certain people to be celibate. Their mission is to witness to a transcendent form of love, the way that we will love in heaven. In God’s realm, we will experience a communion (bodily as well as spiritual) compared to which even the most intense forms of communion here below pale into insignificance, and celibates make this truth viscerally real for us now. Though one can present practical reasons for it, I believe that celibacy only finally makes sense in this eschatological context. For years, the Rev. Andrew Greeley argued—quite rightly, in my view—that the priest is fascinating, and that a large part of this fascination comes from celibacy. The compelling quality of the priest is not a matter of superficial celebrity or charm. It is something much stranger, deeper, more mystical. It is the fascination for another world.” Barron, Robert. Vibrant Paradoxes: The Both/And of Catholicism. Word on Fire. Kindle Edition. ire. Kindle Edition.
"For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it." Mt. 19:12.
” If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” Mark 9:43-48.