In today's Gospel Jesus tells us what the key costs: "Whoever comes to me and does not hate their father and mother, spouse and children, brothers and sisters and all his possessions cannot be my disciple." It should not surprise us that the key to heaven has a price.

Jesus teaches us to "calculate the cost." If you want to build a tower, He says make sure you have the resources to complete it. We know that very well. If you are going to buy a house or a car, figure out first whether you can make the monthly payments. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus - which is the only path to heaven - know in advance what it will cost: everything. In the end you must be prepared to turn over all that you possess. If you want the key to a car, it will cost quite a bit. If you want the key to a home, be prepared to make an even greater expense. If you want the key to heaven, you will have to make the greatest sacrifice - everything, all you possess.

Let me give you a comparison. Suppose that you know a lot about computers and you go over to Redmond to apply for a job at Microsoft. As you are filling out the application forms, who walks through the door but your great hero, Bill Gates! You are speechless.

Then he says to you, "Forget about those forms. I really want you to work for me. There is only one thing I require." "Anything!" you say. "Well," he says. "If you want to work for me, you have to place the company ahead of your family. I have to be more important to you than your dad and mom, wife, children, anybody."

You almost say, "yes," but then you pause and ask, "Do you mean that if my dad were dying and there was a job to be done here, I would have to chose the job over my dad?" "Exactly," he says. Now at that point, if you have any integrity, you would tell him just where to place the job. And if he still insisted, you would say to him, "Look, Bill, you may be the richest man in the world, but you are not God. I am not going to put you above my dad or my wife or my children."

Yes...that is precisely the demand that Jesus places on each one of us. But Jesus is different from Bill Gates--or any other human being. He alone has a right to make such a total requirement. The reason he can do it is simple. He is God. It is not for his sake, but for ours that he lets us know, he is more important than our father or mother or anyone else. Jesus by his very nature ranks first. As we say in the creed, he is "God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, one in being with the Father."

If Jesus is God, then it follows that we owe him our undivided allegiance. We can only find peace if we surrender--unconditionally--to him. This can seem hard, but the great irony is that the one way we can rightly have any other person, even our own selves, is if we put Jesus first.

Once when I was a child, I caught a multi - color butterfly. I held it so tight in my hands that by the time I got home it was squished. Instead of being beautiful, it became spoiled.

That's what happens to our relationships if we do not put Jesus first. Some of you remember the movie; "The Godfather." It was about people who would do anything for their family. I mean anything: cheat, lie, intimidate, kill. In the end their lawlessness destroys the family itself. The Godfather actually winds up murdering his own brother. By exalting family above ordinary morality, he ruined the very family he professed to love.

When we ignore Jesus's law, we crush what we try to hold onto. The opposite is also true. Putting Jesus first we can save our love, our friendship and finally our souls. When we put Jesus and his teaching first, the other things in our marriage in our families and our lives will fall into their proper place. Not that it is easy. In fact, it involves renouncing everything. But have faith. Jesus will give back to you all that you truly need.

You probably heard about a man who made that sacrifice in a dramatic way. He was a young man with a wealthy father. He had a great singing voice and was the life of the party. Other young men gathered around him - and the girls adored him. He hoped to win fame by a military career. One day he fell ill and in a state of delirium, he had a strange dream. Death came to him, not carrying a scythe but tongs like they used to catch a rabid dog. As the tongs extended to him, he begged for a few more years of life. When death laughed at him, he asked for a month, then for a day, then for one more hour. As death closed in, he awoke.

He realized all the things he had been pursuing had little value. He wanted a treasure that he could keep forever. He made a dramatic decision -to give up everything in order to purchase something that would last. You may have heard of this young man. His baptismal name was John, but he became better known as St. Francis of Assisi. He shows us what we all must do in order to purchase the key to heaven.   Amen