From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts:
Great crowds were traveling 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.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
Sunday’s Gospel, Luke 14:25-33
Put yourself in the position of a person hearing these words of Jesus for the first time ever.
It is no surprise he provoked passionate reactions!
On the face of it, what he says seems outrageous. Of course, we all know or know of people who DO hate their father or their mother, their wife or husband, even their own lives…but it hardly seems right to call for it from possible disciples. What do we make of this?
One simple thing to remember is the Semitic use of hyperbole—“hate” resolves into “love less than”—a matter of priorities, not a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. In no way does Jesus abolish the commandment to hold our fathers and mothers in honor. And that brings up another element—Jesus’ identity—He is Lord, Son of the Father—and those commandments are his commandments, just as much as what he is teaching here. He is not disowning what the Jews learned from the Lord—he is revealing deeper elements of the moral revolution he is beginning to work among all peoples, the moral revolution that depends upon recognizing just who He is and to what lengths (the Cross!) he will go to bring his followers into His Kingdom forever.
We remember that the first Commandments enjoin worship of God, then respect, honor, care for parents. Here the order of priorities is the same: put God (in Christ) first, then family. Then, the deeper element is added. Following the commandments will involve “carrying your own cross”—a different one for each one of us: our cross may mean leaving or living with an unbelieving family focused on this-worldly success, or it may mean serving the needs of an aging, difficult parent or sibling or child of our own, just to give a few examples. It is in our on-going, on-growing relationship with God that we come to recognize the shape, size, and pains of the particular Cross we are called to carry.
Jesus then reinforces his message through the parables of building the tower and of facing the stronger king: “think it through, pray it through—my call to you is ultimately serious. This is not some parttime venture you can afford to lose at. I require from you a complete commitment. I do know what I am talking about. Surrender and work with me before you get in over your head and fail. It is going to cost you all you think you have. Renounce all those “possessions” that do not lead to eternal life and come with me.”
For further reflection:
Next Sunday’s Gospel begins with the first verse of chapter 15, which means we skip the last two verses of chapter 14. Let’s look briefly at them:
[Jesus concluded] “Salt is good, but if salt itself loses its taste, with what can its flavor be restored? It is fit neither for the soil or the manure pile; it is thrown out. Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”
And this is true of us as his disciples–tepid, compromised, half-way committed Christianity is useless. It will end up “tossed out” as good for nothing.
That is not what you and I are aiming for, right?