Quite a number of passages in the Gospels are naturally enough concerned with following Jesus, for it was an essential part of his mission to gather disciples who would continue his work, the work of our redemption. In this rather striking and challenging passage from his Gospel, St Luke presents a systematic consideration of the nature of a vocation to follow Jesus: three different men with three different attitudes and three different replies of Jesus and so three different insights to enable us to understand more clearly what it means to be a Christian and too a Christian more dedicated to the work of being a disciple for the sake of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God.

For today's reflection, let us concentrate on the first man. He is very generous - his words of offering are those of Ruth to her mother-in-law in the Old Testament story - remarkably generous and unconditional. Yet Jesus does not accept his offer immediately. Neither, of course does he dismiss such generosity. Expressing it in more modern terms we may say that: Jesus invites him to further reflection, even to discernment.