Ordinary 13

The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a; Psalm 89; Romans 6:3-4, 8-11; Matthew 10:37-42

In last week’s Gospel passage Jesus painted an ominous picture of the world he is sending us into. He is very blunt: I am sending you among wolves. Be on your guard. You will be betrayed by family members. Fear whoever can destroy the body and the soul. You will be hated. It’s our world! A pandemic. The worldwide movement of refugees. The environmental challenge. The sexual scandal and crisis of authority in the Catholic Church. Political divisiveness. Fear. The corrosive tenor of discourse. The issues of racism, policing and white privilege. As well as the personal hardships, worries and burdens of each person and family. It truly can be overwhelming. It is for me.

As the passage continues this week Jesus comes closer to home. Whoever loves father, mother, daughter or son more than me is not worthy to follow me. Take up the instrument of your death and follow me with my cross! Life is found by losing it.

The litanic refrain, “is not worthy of me” strikes me as disturbing.

What is Jesus asking of us by these teachings?

To announce the reign of God in a world that does not want to hear our message takes courage. And courage is rooted in a radical commitment to a person or cause. It is not that Jesus expects us to choose between himself and our closest family members but he does force the issue of priorities. Discipleship requires that our primary loyalty be to the Lord. Jesus wants our very life no less than the military does of a person or the arts or cooperate America or athletics. To follow Jesus is an all or nothing sum game. Conversely, Jesus speaks to divided loyalties when he teaches, No one can serve two masters. You will either hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” [Luke 16:13] Our culture teaches us we can have it all and that is not true. In overt and subtle ways we each make choices that reveal our true loyalties and priorities.

I’m learning French using Duolingo.  Trust me if I don’t go to it every day for those 15 minutes there is a barrage of reminders on my phone and computer. Jesus will not pester us like that. He wants a thoughtful, freely chosen commitment from us. Badgering someone into a commitment does not result in a commitment as the Church is realizing. For centuries we used the fear of hell as the basis of a commitment to Jesus Christ.

Can we understand one reason why our Church has been in decline? Fear may get a desired response but it is never a firm foundation upon which to make a life commitment. Thus, if you love family more than me, if you love yourself more than me, if you are unwilling to take up your instrument of death and follow me…Yes, you are not worthy of me.

Is this a severe attitude?

Is it any more severe than what other segments of society demand of us?

Might this time of the pandemic and societal change be the opportune moment to reflect on what is spiritually essential and what it means to prioritize our loves? What or whom do you love the most? As a gauge, consider on what you spend most of your time and money.

What is the instrument of your death? Is Jesus speaking metaphorically? What is forcing you to make a choice between Jesus and something else in your life? Is Jesus speaking literally? Are you moving toward the completion of your life? Are you dying? Do you embrace your instrument of death, your cross?

What do we the Church, institutionally and spiritually, need to lose at this time in history to gain life? What do you and I need to lose to enter eternal life?

The coronavirus has put many aspects of life, including normal church life, on hold. It is time for a reset. What Jesus is basically getting at is, what is essential? If Christ is walking with us in this moment, I believe he is very close to us in these times, where does he want to lead us? …are we willing to follow?

Dioceses and parishes have and will see incomes in free fall. Parish and diocesan positions will be cut.  Ecclesial institutions and offices will be trimmed, if not discarded. The long decline in Catholics actively believing and worshipping God and participating in the life of their parish communities is likely to be accelerated by the pandemic. The crisis of authority will ensure that in our Church.

But is the measure of the Church’s commitment and health based on the number of worshipers or a large institutional presence? As Saint Teresa of Kolkata often said, “We are not called to be successful, but to be faithful.” For Pope Francis this not an opportunity to restructure institutions but a time to reflect and to ask what is essential so that people are drawn closer to Jesus and life within the Church. Francis calls for a simplicity that concentrates on our core message, the good news of salvation that in Jesus Christ are sins are forgiven and we are all accepted.

Thus one of Francis’ first visits as Bishop of Rome was to the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa to highlight the plight of refugees. He taught by what he did that this is not a time for walls but of embrace. Of recognizing the face of God and our own face in the varied colours of humanity. He has castigated the Roman Curia and clergy in general for clericalism. He visits the “peripheries”, that is, the poorest, the most abandoned and numerically insignificant, parts of the church. Francis has made the poor a priority and regretfully there are many in the church who oppose his example.

I expect if we closely follow Jesus, we will be a smaller and a poorer church. We will become yeast. Jesus used such images when he spoke about the church community. Small and poor is not bad. A nimbler church will be clearer in its priorities and better able to respond where the needs are greatest. Such a committed people are themselves the reward for those who are seeking out Jesus.

The list of rewards Jesus makes are not for his followers but for the person who receives a follower, a prophet or righteous person. The reward is not given to a disciple but to the person who gives even a cool drink to a disciple. To follow Jesus is to become the means for which another person encounters God, salvation and eternal life. That is what Jesus means when he teaches, life is found by losing it. A total commitment.