Sept 5, 2010: 23rd Sunday Ordinary (C)
The other day I was asked to bless a classroom full of people who came for a financial training class. So right before I gave the blessing I said, "You know the first time I got my very own credit card was when I arrived at college. When I walked down the college campus, there were several tables with offers for a free tee shirt when you signed up for a credit card. So I signed up and got my free tee shirt. When the card arrived with a $1,000 credit limit, I said to myself, I won't ever spend that much! Yet at the end of the month, a very large dollar figure stared at my face. How did that happen!" Many folks in that financial training class were asking themselves the same question. The instructor told me that some of the couples that took the class in the past had more than $30,000 in credit card debt on top of their mortgage payments. What was the summary of why people get into debt? "We buy things we don't need with money we don't have in order to impress people we don't like."
Our Lord mentioned some similar concepts in our gospel today. He said, "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.'" As he suggested, we have to count the cost if we want to reach a goal. But what goal did Jesus have in mind? Was Jesus talking about getting free of debt and building wealth on this earth? He was talking about a very different goal. He said, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple...anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple."
Well that sounds kind of extreme doesn't it? I cannot possibly make that kind of radical change or sacrifice to become his disciple, we say. The question is, why do we want to do this in the first place? Does the benefit outweigh the cost? Isn't that the way we normally think? For example: why do we want to get out of $30,000 of credit card debt? Because we are basically enslaved to the credit card company and we want to be freed from it so we can save our money. The First Reading from the Book of Wisdom tells us why we want to undertake great sacrifice to become disciple of Jesus. It says, "For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns. And scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?" This body we are given will die; the car we are driving will last only about 10 years; everything we acquire here on earth we have to give up. Yet we don't realize that, do we? How do we go from earth to heaven? Empty handed, with barely clothes on our backs. Hence Our Lord asks us to radically detach ourself from all our earthly loves. Just as "You have to protect yourself from you," in order to get out of debt and prepare for the future, we have to begin to learn that in Heaven the rules are radically different than here on earth. In Heaven, everyone lives on selfless love, kindness, patience, and gentleness. On earth many of us live for self-love. That's a bad habit that we have to give up--to surrender. We have Our Lord on the cross who shows us, day in and day, out how he surrendered himself in obedience to the Father out of love. As Jesus said to us today, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple."
