Word to the Wise
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - St. Charles Borromeo, bishop
[Romans 13:8-10 and 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! [Luke]
The "job description" of a disciple in the gospel can be a frightening one! It helps to remember that the original audience was under persecution and faced resistance to the faith within his or her own family and from authorities who would seize property and put the believer to death! When push came to shove, which way should a disciple go? In short, how important is their faith to them. Can they be a disciple as long as they don't have to give up family or property? Can they be a disciple as long as no suffering or inconvenience is involved? The gospel makes it clear that the answer to those questions must be a definite "NO!" These words of Jesus are not some long-ago altruism. Our own times witness to martyrdom when a Christian disciple threatens political, economic, social or even other religious interests. On a more mundane level, we often put those same interests ahead of our faith by the daily choices we make between social and religious obligations, or by compartmentalizing faith to make it simply a private personal thing with no relevance for the ethical decisions we make in our business or professional life. ("I can't afford to lose my job!" "I can't risk offending so and so because they'll blackball me and my family from this or that coveted organization." "Jesus doesn't understand the market environment I work in, so I go by a different set of rules there." "The soccer [or whatever] schedule makes it impossible for us to make it to church.") The situations don't have to be as dramatic as possible martyrdom, but faith can seem "inconvenient" when our appetites and interests seem to create a conflict! Convenient faith is not the kind that Jesus offers. AMEN
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