The Cost

Twenty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Ps 119 (118):137, 124 You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right; treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.

Collect O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Wisdom 9:13-19; Psalm 89; Philemon 9-10.12-17; Luke 14:25-33

Great crowds were travelling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “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. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:25-33)

The Cost Our Gospel today tells us that great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way. Many in the crowds may have regarded themselves as disciples of Jesus. They were accompanying Jesus, but would they continue to accompany him when they heard all of his teaching, and when they experienced the difficulties involved in following him? We only have to remember what happened when our Lord, in the sixth chapter of St John, said that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood. Having heard this, very many left him. That is to say, it was one thing to go along as part of the crowd, perhaps hoping to benefit from his miracles. It was interesting, even exciting, and while it lasted they probably felt that any inconvenience that was involved was worth it. But being a real disciple involved a cost. Were they prepared to pay the cost of being Christ’s disciples? And this is what we ought ask ourselves as we ponder on this text. Am I just one of the crowd accompanying Jesus along his way because it is convenient and keeps life interesting and bearable, or am I prepared to be a true disciple and pay the price? Let us consider what our Lord says about the cost. The crowds following him would have been there for a whole variety of reasons, and would have had a variety of attitudes towards him, and Jesus knew it. He turned to the crowds and spoke to them, and he put it very bluntly. He said: ‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:25-33). Our Lord wanted to the crowds following him to hear the stark choice. Christ regarded his disciples as those who chose him decisively, and were prepared to go with him no matter what it required. And this is just the danger: we can be influenced away from our Lord by those persons or things we love or like.

We normally accede to the wishes of those we love, and usually the sign that we do not love something or someone is that we disregard that person’s requests. It can look as though we are almost “hating” that person, so great is the upset we cause him or her by our course of action. Our Lord is telling us that love for him is to be the deepest love of our life, the love that comes first. Our Lord was once asked, which is the first commandment of the Law? He answered: “This is the first, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength.” Our Lord is not telling us that we are not to love our family and our loved ones. The fourth commandment commands honour to one’s father and one’s mother. Christ’s own command was that we “love one another as I have loved you.” He also said that this would be the sign by which all men would know that we are his disciples, that we love one another. In revealed religion we cannot love God without loving one another. Our Lord asks of us the highest loyalty to and love for himself, knowing that this is in the best interests of all. Living this out might on occasion give the mistaken impression to someone close to us that we are ruthlessly disregarding his or her wishes and feelings. If God makes certain demands and our spouse or family makes contrary demands we have to say “Yes” to God and “No” to spouse and family. St Thomas More had to say “No” to his spouse and family in standing firm in his profession against the King. A spouse may pressure one to engage in fraud, theft, deceit, contraception or even abortion. It has to be “Yes” to God’s law and “No” to the contrary. Another instance might be, being absolutely faithful to one’s spouse even if one is separated from one’s spouse. And it means being faithful to that separated spouse, even if that separated spouse goes on to be unfaithful in further ways. We must put Jesus first, and Jesus said, if you love me you will keep my commands.

We shall grow in this love for Jesus if we think long and often on his love for us. St Paul said, “Christ loved me and delivered himself up for me.” Let us think of those words, making them our own, saying them over and over in our hearts. Jesus carried his cross for me, so I am called to carry my own cross after him. “Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Jesus above all else, even above our own life, and no matter what the cost!

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection on the Gospel for the twenty-third Sunday C-2

Happiness A well-known Australian politician gained notoriety many years ago when he said that life was not meant to be easy. Many ridiculed him for his statement — years later he stood by it, while saying it had been misunderstood. I never did understand the reason for the criticism. In various respects life is not easy, and for many it is in fact quite hard. That is not to say that life is not meant to be happy. The question is, in what does true happiness consist, and how is it to be attained? Inasmuch as God has implanted in our hearts a deep desire for happiness, we can assume that he means us to attain it, quite apart from the fact that he has actually revealed this to be his plan. Now, it is obviously possible to go through life never being happy because of the choices we make, and then, after all that, losing out on happiness in the next life — again, because of our choices. On the other hand, Our Lord said that if we live in the way he directs, we shall have a hundredfold in this life and eternal glory in the next. How do we gain happiness, then? Many start out on life with certain assumptions about happiness. Some assume that the pursuit of wealth will bring happiness. So their lives are spent in acquiring possessions of various kinds. The pinnacle of their lives is reached when they have a beautiful home and an impressive car, together with a comfortable income. Others assume that becoming very well known and admired in some way will bring happiness. For others it is gaining power and influence. It is very important that we stop to consider just what is driving our lives, because we may not know ourselves. We may have made some very wrong assumptions. God has told us that we will be happy if we live according to his plan. God’s plan is that we know, love and serve him here on earth and as a result, that we see and enjoy him forever in heaven. This, if put into effect, will bring us happiness. And who is God? God is Jesus Christ, just as he is the Father and the Holy Spirit. So, if we know Jesus Christ and love and serve him here on earth, we will be happy, and our happiness will last forever. This is the fundamental point.

The next thing we must know is what it means to love and serve Jesus here on earth in everyday life. Our Lord alludes to this in the parable we heard in today’s Gospel (Luke 14:25-33). A person needs to sit down and count the cost, calculating what is required to build the tower, or to meet the advancing enemy successfully. The cost, our Lord explains, is to take up one’s cross and follow him daily. It means being prepared to give up anything for him, not allowing anything to come between ourselves and his holy will. It means putting the person of our Lord at the centre of all our daily duties and working for him with dedication, accompanying our work with a life of prayer and self-denial. This will bring the happiness God intends for us in this life, and it will lead to happiness forever. Whereas if we spend our lives seeking more wealth, status, influence or whatever, we will never have the happiness God intended for us. Union with Jesus day by day, with the crosses this involves, is the secret to happiness.

(E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.1718-1724 (The desire for happiness & Christian happiness)

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