Journeys always have two directions going at the same time: towards the destination and away from the starting point. The central portion of Luke’s gospel often reminds readers that Jesus is “on the way” to Jerusalem. But the message and examples found in today’s gospel text recall what Jesus, and all who would be called his disciples, must leave by the wayside to move forward “on the way.”

Previously Jesus had been speaking to the Pharisees and scribes, the religious elite within Judaism. But now the scene shifts. Jesus addresses the “large crowd” that is following along with him as he travels. This crowd is surely a mixed assortment of his own chosen disciples, devoted followers, idle hangers-on, and suspicious, even hostile, hearers of Jesus’ message.

There exists a wide diversity of…