Word to the Wise
Wednesday, October 3, 2007 - Twenty-sixth Wednesday in Ordinary Time
[Nehemiah 2:1-8 and Luke 9:57-62]No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.
In quick succession, almost like a slide show, Jesus responds to three possible disciples. The responses are tough. They require that a disciple weigh carefully the consequences of the decision and give all his or her being to Jesus. As the old hymn puts it: "I have decided to follow Jesus.....no turning back, no turning back!" This decision determines everything else. It is not just one option among many to be picked one day and ignored the next. Discipleship shapes the person and the future. This kind of discipleship is difficult to comprehend when one's society appears to regard religious identity as a matter of "joining" rather than "being." A religious commitment in this view is a commodity to be used or not used according to need. In Jesus' view, the very being of the disciple is transformed by faith in him and following in his way. St. Paul's way of putting this is to contrast living according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. Spirit and flesh are not meant here as in the old expression: "The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!" Rather it addresses the question of character. What kind of person is the disciple? The conduct and way of looking at life that a true disciple demonstrates places the faith commitment above all others, and thus all other actions are shaped by the disciple's very way of being. When the lawyer asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" he was trying to "negotiate" the terms of discipleship. He was looking for options where there are none. Perhaps we need to ask ourselves if we have unilaterally "negotiated" or "compromised" our discipleship by finding ways to have our cake and eat it too. The gospel today says, "No way!" AMEN
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