The four questions raised by Solomon on the possibility that man has to know and therefore put God’s will into practice seem to find an answer on the lips of Jesus who invites us to ponder our strengths with prudence and foresight in order to be able to really and with ease “finish the job”. The “sale” with which the Lord wants us to season our discipleship is the ability to know how to ask ourselves questions as well as to know how to be questioned by taking nothing for granted, least of all our abilities. The risk that too “numerous” a “crowd” rushes to follow him leads Jesus to clarify and perhaps to exaggerate so as not to risk being misunderstood: “If one does not love me more than … he cannot”! And if it were not too easy for us to understand what this means, here is the reference to the “cross” which could only generate anxiety mixed with disgust. The cross allows us to understand and respond. The Lord invites us to imitate those who sit, reflecting and calculating in order to understand what we do is not in anything “forced”. The Lord Jesus warns against possible ambiguities those who follow him in such large numbers. In this way, the Master helps each one to defect even his own good intuitions by seriously and honestly confronting the “evangelical requirements”. These demands are presented in a strong way not to urge the disciple to radically cut all the relationships – so necessary – of his life, but to discern the truth and the modality of his desire.

Commentary by b. Michael David, osb Novalesa Abbey

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey