I
InThePew
Guest
You got to admit Jesus isn’t exactly giving the greatest of sales pitches in this Sunday’s gospel. Sure, he’s not sugarcoating the truth or raising unrealistic expectations about what following him entails but the disciples can’t have been brimming with enthusiasm at what they were hearing. If it seems like Jesus is intentionally trying to put people off, that’s probably because he is. At the very least he wants them to stop and think about following him entails, about what it is he’s asking of them and us too.
Each of us is called to be prophets, proclaiming God’s word to a world which at best isn’t overly interested. If anyone thinks that following Jesus is easy, they really ought to try it sometime; but that’s the whole point which Jesus is making – it’s not supposed to be easy because it’s not about our own efforts, desire for reward or sense of achievement but something far greater.
If what’s asked of us was within our own abilities, we wouldn’t need the help of the Holy Spirit. Works matter but they’re worthless without God. That’s why Elisha was recognised not for what he did but who he was - a holy man of God.
Discipleship comes at a cost; Jesus asks a lot of us - everything in fact; he asks us to give ourselves totally to him even over those we love. That sounds harsh, it’s hard to hear, but we need to ask two questions: Do we love the Lord, and do we trust him to take care of those we love? Most of the time our answer is “yes but.”
Jesus is not jealous or spiteful but does demand total commitment - we can’t be part time prophets any more than part time Christians; it’s not enough to say that we follow Christ, true discipleship demands all or nothing.
As St Paul says: Christ was raised from the dead so we might live a new life with him, and living isn’t something which happens by half measures; we’re either live or we’re not. So, with discipleship, as Yoda famously put it, “do or do not there is no try.”
If we try to cling to anything other than Christ, we’ll lose it; faith is the only thing which truly lasts, truly satisfies our desires. Following Christ, although arduous, difficult, and even dangerous is the only way which leads to life with the Lord.
Christ who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end of everything, calls us to share his divine life. To do so, we must be willing to let go of all that holds us back, all that limits our love for the Lord and the world.
The cross, a symbol of death, becomes a symbol of life through Christ, transformed by his sacrifice of love for us and for the world. We to are called to offer the sacrifice of ourselves in this mass, in every mass, answer the call of Christ to take up our own cross and follow him.
Called us out of darkness into his own wonderful light, we still have to journey through darkness to reach that divine light knowing though that what awaits us is the joy of new life, dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus is sharing his light, his life, his love for all eternity.
Each of us is called to be prophets, proclaiming God’s word to a world which at best isn’t overly interested. If anyone thinks that following Jesus is easy, they really ought to try it sometime; but that’s the whole point which Jesus is making – it’s not supposed to be easy because it’s not about our own efforts, desire for reward or sense of achievement but something far greater.
If what’s asked of us was within our own abilities, we wouldn’t need the help of the Holy Spirit. Works matter but they’re worthless without God. That’s why Elisha was recognised not for what he did but who he was - a holy man of God.
Discipleship comes at a cost; Jesus asks a lot of us - everything in fact; he asks us to give ourselves totally to him even over those we love. That sounds harsh, it’s hard to hear, but we need to ask two questions: Do we love the Lord, and do we trust him to take care of those we love? Most of the time our answer is “yes but.”
Jesus is not jealous or spiteful but does demand total commitment - we can’t be part time prophets any more than part time Christians; it’s not enough to say that we follow Christ, true discipleship demands all or nothing.
As St Paul says: Christ was raised from the dead so we might live a new life with him, and living isn’t something which happens by half measures; we’re either live or we’re not. So, with discipleship, as Yoda famously put it, “do or do not there is no try.”
If we try to cling to anything other than Christ, we’ll lose it; faith is the only thing which truly lasts, truly satisfies our desires. Following Christ, although arduous, difficult, and even dangerous is the only way which leads to life with the Lord.
Christ who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end of everything, calls us to share his divine life. To do so, we must be willing to let go of all that holds us back, all that limits our love for the Lord and the world.
The cross, a symbol of death, becomes a symbol of life through Christ, transformed by his sacrifice of love for us and for the world. We to are called to offer the sacrifice of ourselves in this mass, in every mass, answer the call of Christ to take up our own cross and follow him.
Called us out of darkness into his own wonderful light, we still have to journey through darkness to reach that divine light knowing though that what awaits us is the joy of new life, dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus is sharing his light, his life, his love for all eternity.