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AN OVERVIEW OF THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS
COI
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RC (23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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There is a parallel Gospel reading to the above in Matthew
10:34-39
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Living in troubled times
At the time Luke wrote this gospel – roughly 40 years after
the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus – the nascent Christian
community was under fire on all sides. Many families, friendships and synagogues
were split down the middle. The
appearance of Christian communities in many of the seaside towns of the Eastern
Mediterranean posed challenges not only for the Jewish diaspora in places like
Corinth or Rome but for the Roman authorities who had only one over-lord and
their own imperial gods.
So who was Luke writing for? This passage is unique to Luke
and suggests that life was particularly stressful for his audiences and
sources. There is, however, a similar saying in Matthew
10:37 although the latter omits any mention of a disciple’s spouse
and, instead of having the word ‘hate’, it uses the expression ‘love more’.
Luke, clearly, drew on Matthew or some source common to Luke and Matthew. Did
Luke lay on the emphasis and list of forgoing persons in light of the author’s
audience or actual political situation confronting gentile Christians in around
70 A.D.?
Mention of taking up one’s cross is found in all three
synoptic gospels and was part of our everyday language up to a generation
ago. As in all the four gospels, to
follow Jesus openly or in secret was no picnic to use a modern colloquial
phrase. Perhaps it was not terribly
unlike the predicament of hundreds of thousands of Christians, today, in
Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt …. not to mention the other
persecuted minorities or majorities as the case may be including millions of
Muslims.
Following a leader and pioneer like Jesus takes guts and
lots of passion and love.
A discipleship that makes demands of everyone
The really tricky part of Christian discipleship is that it
makes demands on us in both private and public spheres. It makes demands of us
in the ‘market place’ of economics, politics, commerce, etc. That we denounce
injustice, live to our principles and work tirelessly for the coming of Kingdom
values in our earthly kingdoms is one thing. To face the challenges of
Christian discipleship in our own personal, private, familial and intimate
lives is a whole different story. That’s where the ‘rubber hits the road’.
The word ‘hate’ is a strong word. Yet, that is how those who
translated the saying of Jesus in this passage of Luke wrote it. The notion of
‘hating’ anyone but especially ‘father and mother, wife and children, brothers
and sisters’ seems repugnant to us. But, wait for it – hear that Jesus refers
to hating ‘even life itself’ as a mark of discipleship. Taken literally and
without context, these verses can be used (and are used) by dangerous religious
cults to justify all types of ungodly and inhuman behaviour. This is not the
purpose or meaning of this passage of Luke.
The point is that in following Jesus we must be prepared to put this
following before all else. For some, it may mean following a community path of
lifelong celibacy in some specific calling. For others, it may mean undergoing
enormous risks to one’s life even if others are implicated as well. A family
man, saint Thomas More said just before his execution, in 1553, ‘I die the
King’s good servant, but God’s first”. He was not to succumb to
persecution. Likewise, Thomas Cranmer who
was on the opposite side of the reformation refused, ultimately, to succumb to
persecution from the other side of that great tragedy.
There is a place in every person’s heart and informed
conscience where only God can go and where our final, ultimate decisions are
made in the face of God and for which we take full responsibility no matter
what.
Perhaps a more faithful translation of the sense of the
original Semitic saying lying behind the Greek word misei for ‘hate’ in Luke 14:26 is ‘to love less than’. Discipleship is, indeed, a very costly
business and in the ultimate of situations we are called upon to be ready to
sacrifice even our very own lives. Thankfully, not many of us will be called on
to do this, literally. But, we are urged to lay down our lives in love for each
other and that includes those in our immediate families and circles.
Living from now on without regrets.
Jeshua
(he-who-saves), Jesus, came to save, to redeem, to restore, to unite, to
reconcile. Yet, his message and his sending of us can, sometimes, have the
altogether unintended and tragic consequence of disrupting and tearing people
apart because not everyone will accept this message. Moreover, the message may
be ‘lost in translation’ or even cancelled out by the very bad behaviour of
many Christians over the ages and even today. I am not sure about you but I
think that many of us would ‘do things differently’ if we were able to go back
to the beginning of our lives. But, it took many years for us to learn
this! And, we still have a chance to
start again today, now in such a way that we do not have regrets at the end of
our lives whenever that will be.
“I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.” Kahlil Gibran
