By Peter Amsterdam
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Chapter 14 of the Gospel of Luke contains some of Jesus’ most difficult sayings regarding discipleship. It includes the parable of the great banquet (Luke 14:16–24), which speaks of those who put personal interests before the call to enter into fellowship with God. The chapter goes on to say that great crowds accompanied Jesus, and it was to these crowds that He spoke these forceful words:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26–27).
Having told the people that those who wanted to follow Him would have to make sacrifices, Jesus went on to tell two short but powerful back-to-back parables regarding discipleship and the need to think carefully about the cost of following Him.
The first parable says: “Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’” (Luke 14:28–30).
The phrasing beginning with “which of you” is a rhetorical question, which expects the response to be “no one.” Jesus used similar rhetorical questions to introduce other parables as well, such as the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4). (See also Luke 11:5–7, 17:7).
In this parable, the unspoken understanding is that no one with any sense would build a building without first estimating the cost and determining whether they had enough money to complete it.
Throughout Scripture we read references to towers. Some referred to towers built for military purposes or with military analogies, such as “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10). Others referred to towers used for agricultural purposes (Isaiah 5:2). Farmers used towers for lodging, or to store equipment and produce, and as lookouts to protect their crops from thieves and animals.1
In the context of this parable, Jesus was most likely referring to a tower that would be used for agricultural purposes. The landowner has good intentions. Building a tower will be beneficial to him. In addition to being able to better protect his crops or animals from thieves and predators, he will also gain respect from his neighbors for improving his property. However, if such a man is foolish enough to not estimate the costs and calculate whether he has sufficient resources to complete his tower, he will be seen as foolish and suffer ridicule.
In the culture of that time, honor was very important, while shame was to be avoided at all costs. The consequence of such poor planning would be that everyone who saw the uncompleted building would mock the man by pointing out his failure and foolishness. In saying that the man would be mocked, the inference was that he would lose his prestige, be the town’s laughingstock, and be ridiculed.
Jesus was challenging those He was calling to follow Him to consider the commitment they were going to make, and what it actually entailed—to weigh up the cost of discipleship, and to make a wise and well-thought-out decision, rather than a commitment they wouldn’t be able to keep.
The twin to this parable says: “Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace” (Luke 14:31–32).
While this second parable makes the same point as the first, the decision of the king risks the lives of ten thousand soldiers, and his own as well, so the stakes are much higher. The man who doesn’t count the cost of the tower only faces shame and ridicule, whereas the king faces the possibility of the loss of life of many soldiers and his kingdom.
Although the risks are greater in the second parable, the same point is made. The king must wisely assess the situation. He has only half the number of troops as his adversary, and in order to win, his troops would need to be much more skilled than the soldiers they would face. They would also have to be extraordinarily brave to confidently face an army twice their size.
In addition, he’d also need to consider whether it’s possible that he and his soldiers could have some other kind of advantage—familiarity with the terrain and weather conditions, better supply lines, or a more friendly civilian population—to compensate for the disparity in numbers. The king must decide whether the conditions exist for his soldiers to win the day, and whether this is a battle worth fighting.
The first parable makes the point that someone considering being a disciple of Jesus should count the cost, to see if they have what it takes to be a disciple. This second parable advises one to consider the chances of success before deciding to make an important decision such as committing to discipleship. These parables both challenge a person who is contemplating discipleship to assess their situation, so that when they make the decision to follow Jesus, they do so having carefully thought it through. It’s a call to make a careful decision and to be intentional when committing to discipleship.
When we read about Jesus calling His first disciples, we are impressed by how they dropped everything and followed Him.
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him” (Matthew 4:18–22).
While they did immediately follow when Jesus called, this call wasn’t necessarily their first encounter with Him. In the Gospel of John we read that Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, met Jesus and spent the day with Him (John 1:38–42). The next morning, he found his brother Peter and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41). There is no indication that Peter or Andrew followed Jesus at that time.
In Luke, we read that Jesus was teaching on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret when He noticed two boats close to the shore and the fishermen on the shore cleaning their nets. Jesus got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon (Peter). When He was finished teaching, He told Simon to go out to where the water was deeper and cast his net. When he did, he caught a large number of fish and asked James and John, his partners, to come into their boat and help. It is at this time that we’re told that Peter left everything and followed Jesus (Luke 5:1–11).
Elsewhere in the Gospels, we see examples of how Jesus cautioned those who wanted to follow Him by pointing out the cost of discipleship:
“A scribe came up and said to him, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ Another of the disciples said to him, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead’” (Matthew 8:19–22).
Jesus was not seeking for masses to follow Him. He was searching for those who would follow Him, not because of His popularity, or His feeding the multitudes and performing miracles, but because they deeply believed in who He was and the truth He taught. He warned them to face the potential consequences of discipleship, to think about the demands it would make, and to make sure they understood what it required. Then, having considered all the potential challenges, hardships, and sacrifices, He called them to make the informed decision to follow Him. He wasn’t trying to discourage people from choosing discipleship, but He was encouraging them to thoughtfully consider what it means.
Making the choice to follow Jesus is a choice to restructure our lives in conjunction with His teachings. It means changing the way we think, prioritizing what we give our time, energy, and money to. It changes our relationships and how we interact with others. It is a call to radically reorder our lives, so much so that we are willing to endure ridicule, discrimination, or persecution for our faith (Matthew 5:10–12). It is a lifelong commitment, and requires a wholehearted decision to follow Him.
The choice to be a follower of Jesus is the best—and most important—decision anyone can possibly make, as it not only betters our lives now, but for all eternity. And if we are faithful to share Jesus’ message of salvation, it will better the lives of others as well.
Originally published January 2018. Adapted and republished August 2026. Read by Reuben Ruchevsky.
1 Arland J. Hultgren, The Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 139.
