September 8, 2019

23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Discipleship’s Cost is a Share in the Cross

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

Today’s Gospel tells us that large crowds were following Jesus. Review the four Gospels and you will discover that when Our Lord Jesus saw a great crowd, he would deliver his most demanding or difficult teachings. He knew that crowds were looking for signs, for food and spectacular healings and miracles. The hard sayings we come upon today seem almost designed to thin the ranks in order to distinguish true disciples from the “lip service” crowd. Our Lord doesn’t tell the crowd what they what to hear or those things that would make him popular. This was the temptation of the devil he had rejected in the desert. Our Lord teaches us that discipleship is a serious and demanding business which is not always in lock step with what is popular or current.
 
Listen again to Our Lord’s words: “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.” Is Jesus here contradicting the commandment to honor our father and mother? How are we to understand this hard saying?
 
In order to answer this question we have realize that it is an issue of language. Hebrew and Aramaic do not have a way to express things comparatively. It is either you love or you hate. We can appreciate this from our own way of speaking. We might say about ice cream, “I love vanilla and I hate chocolate.” What we really mean is “I prefer vanilla over chocolate.” A child will say, I love mommy and daddy.” “I love Tastykakes.” We know there is a difference. We love our parents. We enjoy Tastykakes. Hebrew and Aramaic cannot express these distinctions.
 
When Jesus speaks of hating mother and father....it has to be understood in the sense of preferment. Saint Benedict says, “Prefer nothing to the work of God.” God comes first. Other relationships or influences should not compromise this discipleship. They should not derail us from the path of following Christ. It can surely happen.
 
If the financial advisor suggests a way to cheat on your tax return, a disciple says, “No thanks.” If someone pressures another to engage in premarital sex, a disciple says, “Go away!” If a family member encourages others to skip Mass or religious education class, a disciple will say, “No way!” Jesus is clear. He must be given priority. Love of Christ does not diminish our love of others but in fact orders and directs it. If we love God most, we will love others best.”
 
Having this priority often places us out of step with the prevailing culture. We may have to bear the cross of unpopularity or of being thought of as odd.
 
The Lord’s parables on the building of a tower and of the king going into battle as well as his instruction to renounce our possessions call attention to the demands of discipleship. Jesus asks us to consider the cost of following him. Consider what it involves. Are we willing to part with anything that hinders our fidelity to Christ? Are we willing to share in the cross? Monsignor Charles Pope, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, puts it rather bluntly, “Tag-alongs, lip service Christians, fair weather folks, need not apply. Jesus teaches in a way that is meant to distinguish true disciples from the “lip service” disciples. We are asked to ponder in which category we most truthfully belong.”