Sept. 4, 2022: 23rd Sunday C

Sept. 4, 2022: 23rd Sunday C

The heart of a spiritual life is to love God and then to love everything else for the sake of God; nothing should take precedence or first place over God. This is what Jesus meant when he shocked us by saying that we must “hate” all people including father, mother, siblings, spouse, children, and even myself in order to be his disciples. No doubt, among the large crowd following him, some  must have said to themselves, “Did he say what I think he said, ‘hate’ my mother and father? What kind of teaching is this?” Like other times Jesus probably knew what they were thinking. Instead of explaining himself, Jesus shocked his listeners even further. He said that they must embrace and carry their ‘cross’ to follow him. No sensible Jewish person at that time casually used the word, ‘cross’ for it was a horrible instrument of torture and death by the Romans. 

This was no light-hearted pep-talk. Jesus used strong language to outline requirements in being his disciple. Like a battle-bound king, they should not rush into discipleship without examining first what’s involved. Like a tower builder, the disciples will have to determine whether they can afford to follow him; are they willing to expend all they have to carry through with their commitment? 

In our everyday life, we make choices based on our assumptions about the cost of an undertaking and its reward. Sometimes our sense of the cost and worth of are off by a huge margin. For example, Aarvin, a seven year old, was invited to the kid’s version of The Price Is Right Show hosted by Drew Carey. After winning the preliminary round, he was shown two grand prizes behind the big door. The first grand prize was a “Laser Tag Party” for him and his friends valued at $150 dollars. Aarvin was overjoyed and started to jump up and down with excitement. When the second grand prize was shown, the little boy’s parents were overjoyed and excited; it was a whole family trip to Hawaii. However, Aarvin showed no interest. He ran toward the Laser Tag Party with excitement. 

St. Augustin would have understood the dynamics behind Aarvin’s choice very well. Augustine spent most of his life chasing after what he thought was worth much; only later in his life, he discovered the incomprehensible worth of relationship with God. He wrote in his “Confessions,” how he fell into the trap of loving the lovely things of this world and the creatures, all the while forgetting the Creator who created all these lovely things. It is the trap which the Rich Young Man from the Gospel fell into, the one who approached Jesus and asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. The young man went away from Jesus sad because he was unwilling to let go of his attachments to his wealth, security, and comfortable life. We either give our lives over to Jesus entirely or we keep them for ourselves. 

"We are not our own. We were bought with a price" ( 1 Corinthians 6:19-20), St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians. God our heavenly Father created us in his image and likeness to be his beloved sons and daughters. God put us first in his love and demonstrated this love by giving us his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who freely offered up his life for us on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. It was the high cost of his blood that “purchased” and redeemed us from Satan’s kingdom of darkness, thereby pardoning and healing us. He placed the Holy Spirit into our hearts so that we can walk in God’s kingdom of light, truth, and goodness. The Holy Spirit invites us to choose Christ and His Kingdom. St. John Paul II said, “Only in Christ can men and women find answers to the ultimate questions that trouble them. Only in Christ can they fully understand their dignity as persons created and loved by God.”

In choosing Jesus, we choose to live in a way worthy of our call as sons and daughters of God the Most High. “We become what we love, and who we love shapes what we become… we are to become vessels of God's compassionate love for others,” St. Clare of Assisi wrote. Like Christ, we forgive offenses committed against us; we live simply so that others can simply live. In choosing Jesus we willingly relinquish our hold on the people and the goods we cherish in order that everything is subordinated under the love of Christ.