Wis 9, 13-18 / Philem 9-10, 12-17 / Lk 14, 25-33
In today’s gospel from Luke Jesus asks us to consider what it means in our lives to be his disciple. He wants to remind us that discipleship will have its costs. It doesn’t come cheaply. I’d like to reflect with you a bit on what being a disciple of Jesus means for us. And I’d like to reflect on what we have done with that discipleship.
The first Christian communities thought of
themselves, above all, as followers of Jesus.
For them, believing in Jesus meant walking in his “way” by following his
footsteps. An early text, the letter to the
Hebrews, calls it a “new and living way” that Jesus opened up for us.[Heb 10,
20] So, to follow in Jesus’ footsteps
means taking actual steps in life, making concrete decisions, turning away from
things Jesus warns about, discovering new horizons, new possibilities for one’s
own life. All this is involved in
following Jesus, in believing in Jesus, in being a disciple of Jesus.
But I want to reflect on what we have made of
what the early disciples gave us. I
think we have moved away from their understanding of discipleship. And here I want to be clear. I am not pointing the finger at any
particular group. I am talking to us all
– myself very much included. I think
many of us live our Christianity today not so much as “followers of Jesus” but
rather as “adherents of the Christian religion”. By that I mean we live as and consider
ourselves to be members of a religious institution, the Church – members who
are called upon to fulfill their religious and moral obligations and accept the
Church’s teachings. Now membership in
the Church – in what we believe to be the true Church – is vitally important to
us. But bringing about the Kingdom of
God that Jesus preached – well, that would be nice. That’s a kind of extra call for special
people. Church membership gives me an
anchor in this crazy world. But being a
disciple calls me to walk in the way Jesus opened up for us – a way that finds
its secure anchor in God – in doing what we believe God asks of us. Our anchor is in doing what we see Jesus
did. Disciples call that “faith” –
entrusting your life over to the love of God we see in the life of Jesus. To live like Jesus – to love like Jesus:
that’s faithful discipleship.
Let me give an example of what I am trying to
say. As Church we affirm the truth of
the virgin birth of Jesus. This is a
challenge to our way of thinking. And
many faithful people have struggled to understand what is being said here. But also as Church, as the community of the
disciples of Jesus, we affirm the truth of loving your enemy. This love reflects most clearly God’s own
love. This love is what makes a disciple
a disciple, Jesus says. This is the love
that will banish our fears, Jesus says.
The truth of the virgin birth calls for a deep
intellectual struggle and grappling. The
truth of the love of enemies also calls for intellectual struggle but even more
so it demands a grappling within one’s heart. It demands a grappling that will
change the way I do things and approach people.
And it is this kind of grappling we call the life of discipleship. It’s never neat and complete. But it is alive. And it is a “new and living way” for us to
live – to be disciples of Jesus.
We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to one another – to the Church. Let us honestly reckon the costs of being disciples of Jesus. How are we doing with his new and living way?
Fr. Pat Earl, SJ
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