AN INVITATION TO BE ANSWERED.

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. YEAR C.
September 9, 2007.
(First Reading: Wisdom 9: 13-18) (Second Reading: Philemon 9-10, 12-17)
(Psalm 90:3-6, 12-17) (Gospel Reading: Luke 14: 25-33)

AN INVITATION TO BE ANSWERED.

In today's gospel Jesus invites us to be his disciples. He also wants us to know the obstacles we will encounter in following him because he wants us to be successful followers, successful disciples.

I. Jesus describes the obstacles that must be overcome by those who are to follow him:
1. Obstacles resulting from our loyalty to other human beings or human institutions or even oneself.

Jesus says: "If anyone comes to me without hating his father or mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters or even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). This statement does not imply that we are to disown our loved ones, on the contrary, what the Lord Jesus is saying is that if we enter into a total and uncompromising commitment with him, he will enhance our relationships with our loved ones and all our fellow human beings, including oneself.

The Lord Jesus is warning his followers that there are very powerful commitments in our human relations which can lead us away from him. Regardless of how powerful a human relation may be (i.e. the parent-child relationship, the husband-wife relationship, etc., or the relation between a citizen and his country or between a constituent and his political party, etc.), it cannot be opposed to or diminish our commitment to Christ(1).

2. Obstacles resulting from our loyalty to material possessions.
The Lord Jesus says: "Everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33). This does not mean that a person is to deprive himself of the necessities required to sustain life, what it means is that human beings cannot subordinate themselves to material possessions. A person cannot place possessions above the well being of himself or above the well being of other human beings or above God.

The Lord Jesus is well aware that the peoples of his time, as well as those of our time, are strongly moved by greed for material possessions and do not hesitate to pledge unconditional loyalty to maintaining their wealth at any cost. Therefore, the one who is already committed to the accumulation of wealth by depriving other human beings of it cannot not be a disciple of Jesus.

Furthermore, it is only by becoming a follower of Jesus that we will be capable of giving possessions their proper use. Our adherence and loyalty to Jesus will allow us to use possessions for the collective benefit of all humanity.

3. Obstacles resulting from our unwillingness to carry Jesus' cross.
The powerful nations of our world have created well established institutions (economic, social, political, legal, judicial, and institutions of mass communication and control of public opinion) whose paramount purpose is to ensure that the members of society remain loyal to the principles for which such society stands, namely, the accumulation of wealth and power by dispossessing and oppressing other human beings.

It, therefore, follows that the task of trying to change said loyalties into a loyalty to Jesus, will be met with the CROSS. In his gospel (Luke 14:27) Jesus says: "Whoever does no carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple"(2).

II. Jesus invites us to follow him.
Jesus wants us to follow him because:
1. Jesus will enhance and bring to perfection our loyalties and commitments to human beings. By following Jesus we will be truly united with all other human beings including of course our father, mother, brother, sister, spouse.

Jesus is telling us that he is the true source of unity among human beings, for if we seek unity with him first, then we will be united with all other human beings. Saint Paul in his Letter to Philemon exemplifies through his own experience the unity that develops between him, Onesimus (the slave) and Philemon (the slave owner) as a result of their being followers of Jesus(3).

2. Jesus will normalize and bring to perfection our relations with material possessions. By following Christ we will regain our ability to acquire material possession without dispossessing our fellow human beings and we will use such possessions for the benefit of all human beings without exception.

3. Jesus will always be with us, he will never perish, he will be always faithful. Whereas possessions and peoples will some day be gone(4).

4. Jesus will give us the courage to carry our own cross, that is, he will give us the power to confront our unjust, destructive, sinful world.

Urgency to become a disciple of Jesus now.
Jesus invites us to become his followers now, for our world today is the example of what happens when people do not follow Christ: A world of division among human beings, of wars and destruction, a world in which possessions are used to oppress people, a world of exploitation of man by man, of inequalities, of injustices.

It is, therefore, urgent to respond to Christ's invitation.
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Footnotes.
(1) For instance: Killing people in the interest of country or political party such as in the case of wars is a denial of our commitment to Christ.
(2) The cross in Roman times was the legal instrument of execution. Here Jesus uses the term cross to emphasize the nature of the confrontation between His doctrine and the prevailing "legal order".
(3) Jesus is our source of unity, for if two people are united to him, then the two are united to one another.
(4) Psalm 90 says that God tells man: "Humans you return to dust"; and man asks God: "Teach us to count our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart".