Years ago, I had the privilege of chatting with the great biblical scholar, Fr. Raymond Brown. In the course of our conversation I said, “Father, so and so told me that he was one of your students. He replied, “Well he may have attended my classes, but he was not one of my students!” Our Lord could have said the same. Not every follower was a disciple.
Many followed Our Lord seeking what they could get out of him…to witness his great wonders and miracles, others having heard about the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, wanted to be fed. In the crowd were also his enemies who sought to entrap him. Others sought places of honor in the kingdom they hoped the Lord would establish. I am sure that not a few followed him merely out of curiosity. Our Lord had many casual followers and few committed disciples.
Noticing the crowd, Our Lord saw an opportunity to define the true nature of discipleship…and his definition is difficult to swallow. They are hard sayings that seem designed to thin the ranks and distinguish true disciples from mere followers.
The first hard saying is that one cannot be a disciple without hating his parents, spouse, and children. Our Lord is not instructing us to hate our family. He is speaking in hyperbole; he exaggerates in order to make a point. We use hyperbole very often when we say things like:
Monsignor’s homily went on forever.
Our new car cost us an arm and a leg.
I’ve seen that movie a thousand times.
I’ve told you a million times, clean your room.
I would walk to the ends of the earth to hear the deacon’s homily!
The point Our Lord wishes to stress is that God comes first. There are so many things that clamor for our attention and devotion: our jobs, our kids, our spouses, our hobbies. A disciple must be careful not to let them detract from our relationship with God.
The second hard saying is “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Our Lord said this as he made his way to Jerusalem. The crowd thought that Jesus was on his way to establish a kingdom of power and glory. but in reality, Jerusalem would be the place of his rejection, suffering and death. A disciple should follow the Master. As Jesus embraced his cross, so we should embrace ours.
St. Francis de Sales says that this means “nothing other than receiving and accepting all the troubles, contradictions, afflictions, and mortifications that come our way.” No one seeks a cross, but they come our way, We’d all prefer to have one made of polyethylene foam, but they don’t usually come to us that way. A cross could be a broken relationship; a chronic disease, the loss of a job, an addiction, a struggle with sin, the rejection of others, there is also the cross of grieving the loss of a loved one. A cross could also be a person at home or the workplace who simply annoys or angers us. At a retreat I made years ago, the director spoke of how a priest should joyfully and lovingly minister to parishioners. He pointed out that there will also be those parishioners we find annoying. He said that when we see that person approaching, we should not say, “Here comes that person who is so annoying” rather “Here comes that person who sanctifies me!”
Today Our Lord is reminding us that there is a cost to being a disciple. How willing are we to give the Lord first place in our lives? How willing are we to embrace the cross? Where we stand? Are we mere followers of Christ or are we committed disciples?
