Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – C
Today’s Gospel asks us “What kind of commitment do we have to our faith?” Does God come first? OR Does the opinions of our family come first? Do the influences of society come first in making our decisions on how we are to live? Do we practice our faith only when it is easy or convenient, when there is no challenge to live the teachings of Christ? OR Is our first choice to Do what Jesus and our faith teaches no matter how difficult or inconvenient it may be. Is our commitment to Christ something that shows through all our actions so that people who know us will know our Christian values by our words and actions lived daily OR are we a Christian in name only? Are we Christian only because our parents were - and our faith means nothing except to be socially acceptable as we live in what has traditionally been a Christian country. When people see us do they see Christ lived? OR wouldn’t they be able to guess what our faith is, or even if we have any at all, by our values, words and actions being totally secular and atheist? There was an old saying when I was in the seminary, “IF you were on trial for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
That is what Jesus is talking about.
Jesus gives several examples. “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Jesus does not mean that you have to “hate the guts” of your family members to be His disciple, but He questions: “Are you more committed to them - than to God, Jesus and your faith.” Do their opinions mean more to you than the teachings of Jesus?
How many leave their
faith
because the person they want to marry does not like the Catholic
Jesus says: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” Look at Jesus. He loved being with the people, He loved a good party and dinner, but when someone was doing something wrong He did not hesitate to instruct them on right and wrong by His word and example. He did what was the Father’s will even when it was unpopular and it got Him into trouble with the crowds and the officials. He did not cut and run from living the will of God when it became difficult, but lived it even when it meant His suffering, torture, whipping, crowning with thorns, carrying a cross through a jeering crowd, and being nailed to the cross and dying on it. He still gave mercy and forgiveness even when difficult, as He asks us to do, He still showed love and compassion even when suffering as wants us to do as a way of life. He did not stop living what He taught even when it was not approved by the crowds, the politicians, the leaders. Even when it was difficult Jesus did not give up living what was right and true - when He could have capitulated, given in, kept His mouth shut, and done what everyone else wanted Him to be. He could have avoided all the pain and hassle if He would have kept His faith to Himself, not live it in public, and be who the people wanted Him to be. Jesus carried His cross and He tells us that “If we want to be His disciple we have to live our faith daily - even if it means carrying a cross, doing what is difficult and unpopular.“
Jesus gives the example of the person who has a building project, building a tower, and gives up along the way, it is too much work, it is too hard, it costs too much. People laugh at them because they did not finish what they started. Is that the way we live our faith? We start building when we are baptized, then we look forward to first reconciliation and first communion, but then we don’t continue building, we take Sundays off from Mass, we don’t want to learn our faith, preparing for Confirmation is too much work, why do I have to learn all this – nobody lives this anymore anyway? Why do I have to put in service hours for the church or others that is no fun? Why do I have to go to Mass to be confirmed, Mom and Dad don’t go? My friends don’t go to church? Why can’t I live together with my boy or girlfriend before marriage, whose business is it anyway what I do? Why not work on Sunday? I need the money. Etc. etc. etc. We began building our tower of faith, but we gave up along the way and people laugh at us for being a bad Christian.
Compare this to the Saints for whom you were named after in Baptism, we are all to have a Saint’s name, or to the one we chose to be our Confirmation Name. Did they live their faith half heartedly, or didn’t they understand the great love God had for them and they wanted to share that love back by living their faith openly. Didn’t they do what was right even when ridiculed for it by family, friends and society and in the end their example brought blessings and happiness to many who were inspired by them because they saw Jesus as real and living through them. The Saints, who are in Heaven, got to be in eternal happiness because they were willing to put God before their family members opinions, because they were willing to carry their crosses by living their faith in a society that mocked their values, because they found God’s love and strength in the Mass and the sacraments and used them frequently and were not strangers to God. They are Saints in Happiness because they changed the world by using their talents, their occupations, their energy to live what the learned from the example of Christ and by being Christ to others even if it meant for some persecution and martyrdom. When they were literally tried for being a Christian there WAS enough evidence to convict them.
Is our faith only something we do only on Sunday, and then only when we feel like it or is it a relationship with the real persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit along with other members of the God’s family – the angels and the saints. Do we live our love of God and neighbor daily or are we ridiculed because no one could guess we are Catholic Christians by our failure to live our faith or giving up when it is difficult. Is our faith a way of life or only as name we carry. If we were on trial for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict us?