Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 28, 2020 - 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A [Corpus Christi 2011]
[2 Kgs 4:8-11, 14-16a; Rom 6:3-4, 8-11; Matt 10:37-42]"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. [Matthew]
Years ago, when I was a Dominican student brother (our word for seminarian), I saw the film, The Gospel According to Matthew, directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It was a depiction of the life of Jesus taken from that gospel. What I remember from it was how difficult a person Jesus must have been! He came across, in that movie, as very demanding and curt - in your face, as it were. There was no gentle, fuzzy around the edges, lamb-loving Jesus in that film! It certainly challenged the somewhat "fluid" images I had in those days (1965-71) of my initial formation as a Dominican friar.
When reading the Gospel According to Matthew, it might be easy to find the Pasolini image. The Sermon on the Mount (Chs. 5-7), the "missionary discourse" (Ch. 10 - from which today's gospel scripture is taken), the condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees (Ch 23), the parable of the Last Judgment (25:31-45) - these words can make us uncomfortable, to say the least. Some folks just do a "cafeteria Jesus" and pick and choose bits and pieces to put together a Jesus of their own designs. What could be most indicative of their faith are the pieces that don't make it into their image! This is the very stuff of spiritual direction!
The gospel scripture for today gathers into one chapter many of Jesus' sayings about what it means to follow him. Yes, we do have the other three gospels to help us in putting together our own image, as well as the other New Testament writers (with the Old Testament as background, too), but once we do that, it might be helpful to look at what we have left out! If we leave out what Dietrich Bonhoeffer's classic, THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP shows us, we may find ourselves outside Jesus' own description of what a disciple should be. Today's gospel passage gives us a pretty clear invoice. If we are experiencing "sticker shock," it might be a good thing - a spiritual wake-up call! AMEN
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