Word to the Wise
Sunday, September 9, 2007 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Wisdom 9:13-18B; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33]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.
Although politicians and churches strongly promote the values of "family life" in this country, what they are promoting has a context of individualism that still exalts the individual over the group. In no small part, this individualism is at the root of the high rate of divorce in our land. This individualism would not make sense at all to a Middle Eastern person in Jesus' time or in our time. "Family first!" is the rule. After them, clan, then tribe. The group is more important than the individual. To be without a family in a survival situation would be social and perhaps even physical death. This tight family loyalty structure made Jesus' comments about discipleship quite startling to his contemporaries, and even in our own time here in the USA, they have a harsh tone. Occasionally in my campus ministry, I have received a phone call from distraught parents whose offspring have joined a religious group that required the young person to drop communication with family and friends. I do not believe this is what Jesus is requiring. Christianity is not against the most fundamental love that naturally exists between family members, especially parent/child. However, it is possible that given a situation in a family that is destructive of one's faith, one would have to choose for faith and bear the cross of separation. This is why Jesus warns disciples to pay attention to the possible "cost of discipleship." Christianity is not a club like Rotary, Kiwanis, or even Knights of Columbus! It is a way of life and a way of being. The Lord is demanding that he come first in priority, not that we dwell in a social vacuum where he is one of a number of options. AMEN
config
view
logs
4096.0 KB
64 ms
4
