23rd Sunday (C)
Fr James McTavish, FMVD
The book of Wisdom tells us “Who can know God's counsel, or who can conceive what the LORD intends? For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans.” (Wisdom 9, 13-18b). How wonderful it would be if we could know what God wants, what his plans for us are. I was talking to a woman yesterday who told me that in this moment of life she is confused as she has worked hard to bring up her family, she has 3 sons, and now they have left the nest. What now? She also remarked that lately her prayer life has been rather shallow and she felt that this lack of clarity or direction could be rectified by strengthening her prayer. This intuition is correct as the Word of God is a lamp for our path and a light for our feet, guiding us and revealing, little by little God’s plan for us.
At the beginning of this week we had a half day retreat and the verse which intrigued me was 1 John 3,2 “It is not yet clear what we shall become”. This verse has lit up my journey this whole week. One day I was going to celebrate a mass for a friend who has been sick. The crowd and the venue was largely unknown to me. I was concerned in my preparation as to what best to share in my homily and then I remembered that verse. It reminded me to enjoy the adventure even when things are not so clear. The same thing again happened when I went to open up a new group of Scripture reflection, not being totally sure what to prepare but meditating on that verse reminded me that God has everything under control!
One of the things that makes our Christian life exciting and even fascinating is to rely more on God than ourselves. In a word to die to ourselves, to our ‘useless’ anxieties, to die to our lack of trust, to die to excessive self-reliance and let God work! How boring when we just follow ourselves. Follow Christ! It is much more exciting. Is your Christian life an adventure? Not yet? No problem, start to follow Christ. This is the call of Jesus in the Gospel today. To follow him as a disciple. There was a German pastor theologian called Dietrich Bonhoeffer who lived during the Nazi era. In 1937 he wrote a book called “Nachfolge” – the Cost of Discipleship. He talked about following Christ and the cost it implies. He said that when Christ calls a man to follow him he invites him to die. To die to selfishness, to die to comfort, to die to dictating to God the terms of the relationship. He even talked of cheap grace and costly grace. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, wanting to enjoy the benefits and perks of Christianity but with no following of Christ. Costly grace is the true discipleship.
Bonhoeffer paid the price for his convictions and we not renounce his faith when confronted by the Gestapo. He was put to death in 1945 by hanging. The concentration camp doctor who witnessed the execution wrote: “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer ... kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”
Jesus talks of the cost of discipleship in today’s Gospel, a cost which Bonhoeffer was well aware of. Great crowds were travelling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (See Luke 14, 25-33). What words to address to the great crowd! Seems that Jesus was not just saying things to please everybody.
What does it mean to hate here, as it can sound like the antithesis of the whole gospel message which is to love! Remember that when we interpret a verse we don’t forget the totality of Scripture, that any phrase is always contrasted with the whole message of revelation. In fact, according to Fr Thomas Rosica, to hate is a Semitic expression meaning to turn away from, to detach oneself from someone or something. Another way of phrasing it is that if you love your father and mother more than Christ then you don’t love Christ and neither your parents because you cannot love them more than love itself. When we place others above Jesus it is always for self-love, for our own advantage! May we not deceive ourselves. Often when a person hears the call of God the family will be opposed to them responding. One missionary I know, his mother was doing a vocations campaign, speaking in parishes and urging mothers to pray that the Lord will call their sons. When her own son told her that he felt called and wanted to enter religious life she said “over my dead body!”
Jesus invites each one of us to carry the cross, our cross. Our cross is personalized. Much strength is lost if we gaze at the cross, procrastinate over it, worry over it. Much better to pick it up! This is easily understood when you have an assignment or task. The more you put it off and delay it the worse it becomes! Pick it up and discover that it was not so bad after all.
Jesus then gives two parables inviting his followers to count the cost of following before commencing: before building a tower make sure you have the materials, before embarking on a battle make sure you have enough troops. What is Jesus doing here? Giving construction tips and advice for military tacticians? He is reminding us as disciples to know the state of our heart each day for the challenges ahead – one way of understanding this is an invite to pray! How great to begin each day having a moment of recollection, to see the state of things, how is our heart, our love. To take stock, a quick spiritual inventory. Seeing a lack, we can calmly and serenely approach the Lord and ask for what is needed to follow him that day. It is different to begin the day with prayer or without prayer. How many do not make it a priority and rush off into the battle of each day without asking God’s help. In the heat of the battle you can even forget that God is with you. No wonder many come home feeling defeated. How wonderful is the Lord, when we come to him and ask for the grace and strength to follow him each day. Surely he will not deny us! To pray each day like the psalmist “grant success to the work of our hands, grant success to the work of our hands” (Psalm 90).
Let us be joyful that the Lord invites us to follow him. May we not be afraid to die today! Persevere in the path the Lord is showing to you, for sure He will not be stingy with his grace. May we enjoy the adventure of following Christ more and more each day. Amen
At the beginning of this week we had a half day retreat and the verse which intrigued me was 1 John 3,2 “It is not yet clear what we shall become”. This verse has lit up my journey this whole week. One day I was going to celebrate a mass for a friend who has been sick. The crowd and the venue was largely unknown to me. I was concerned in my preparation as to what best to share in my homily and then I remembered that verse. It reminded me to enjoy the adventure even when things are not so clear. The same thing again happened when I went to open up a new group of Scripture reflection, not being totally sure what to prepare but meditating on that verse reminded me that God has everything under control!
One of the things that makes our Christian life exciting and even fascinating is to rely more on God than ourselves. In a word to die to ourselves, to our ‘useless’ anxieties, to die to our lack of trust, to die to excessive self-reliance and let God work! How boring when we just follow ourselves. Follow Christ! It is much more exciting. Is your Christian life an adventure? Not yet? No problem, start to follow Christ. This is the call of Jesus in the Gospel today. To follow him as a disciple. There was a German pastor theologian called Dietrich Bonhoeffer who lived during the Nazi era. In 1937 he wrote a book called “Nachfolge” – the Cost of Discipleship. He talked about following Christ and the cost it implies. He said that when Christ calls a man to follow him he invites him to die. To die to selfishness, to die to comfort, to die to dictating to God the terms of the relationship. He even talked of cheap grace and costly grace. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, wanting to enjoy the benefits and perks of Christianity but with no following of Christ. Costly grace is the true discipleship.
Bonhoeffer paid the price for his convictions and we not renounce his faith when confronted by the Gestapo. He was put to death in 1945 by hanging. The concentration camp doctor who witnessed the execution wrote: “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer ... kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”
Jesus talks of the cost of discipleship in today’s Gospel, a cost which Bonhoeffer was well aware of. Great crowds were travelling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (See Luke 14, 25-33). What words to address to the great crowd! Seems that Jesus was not just saying things to please everybody.
What does it mean to hate here, as it can sound like the antithesis of the whole gospel message which is to love! Remember that when we interpret a verse we don’t forget the totality of Scripture, that any phrase is always contrasted with the whole message of revelation. In fact, according to Fr Thomas Rosica, to hate is a Semitic expression meaning to turn away from, to detach oneself from someone or something. Another way of phrasing it is that if you love your father and mother more than Christ then you don’t love Christ and neither your parents because you cannot love them more than love itself. When we place others above Jesus it is always for self-love, for our own advantage! May we not deceive ourselves. Often when a person hears the call of God the family will be opposed to them responding. One missionary I know, his mother was doing a vocations campaign, speaking in parishes and urging mothers to pray that the Lord will call their sons. When her own son told her that he felt called and wanted to enter religious life she said “over my dead body!”
Jesus invites each one of us to carry the cross, our cross. Our cross is personalized. Much strength is lost if we gaze at the cross, procrastinate over it, worry over it. Much better to pick it up! This is easily understood when you have an assignment or task. The more you put it off and delay it the worse it becomes! Pick it up and discover that it was not so bad after all.
Jesus then gives two parables inviting his followers to count the cost of following before commencing: before building a tower make sure you have the materials, before embarking on a battle make sure you have enough troops. What is Jesus doing here? Giving construction tips and advice for military tacticians? He is reminding us as disciples to know the state of our heart each day for the challenges ahead – one way of understanding this is an invite to pray! How great to begin each day having a moment of recollection, to see the state of things, how is our heart, our love. To take stock, a quick spiritual inventory. Seeing a lack, we can calmly and serenely approach the Lord and ask for what is needed to follow him that day. It is different to begin the day with prayer or without prayer. How many do not make it a priority and rush off into the battle of each day without asking God’s help. In the heat of the battle you can even forget that God is with you. No wonder many come home feeling defeated. How wonderful is the Lord, when we come to him and ask for the grace and strength to follow him each day. Surely he will not deny us! To pray each day like the psalmist “grant success to the work of our hands, grant success to the work of our hands” (Psalm 90).
Let us be joyful that the Lord invites us to follow him. May we not be afraid to die today! Persevere in the path the Lord is showing to you, for sure He will not be stingy with his grace. May we enjoy the adventure of following Christ more and more each day. Amen
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