Thoughts on the Gospel

 

Luke 14: 25 – 33                                                                             

 23^rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)

Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple                

 

This Sunday’s Gospel is a mixture of good news and bad news. It is good news, but not in the way we normally expect. It sounds more like bad news concerning things quite unpleasant and undesirable, even impossible.

 

We have become used to hearing the Gospel called the “Good News” of Jesus Christ. That is what gospel literally means. Our English word comes from the Old English (sometimes called Anglo-Saxon) language spoken in England from about the 5^th to the 12^th centuries. The it combines god (good) and spel (news, story, message).

 

But today’s Gospel reminds us that “Good News” is not only what we desire and what we think will make us happy. The Gospel is called “Good News” because it announces, not necessarily what we want for our happiness, but what we need for our salvation

 

Today's Gospel can sound like Bad News because Jesus teaches:

           • You cannot be my disciple without hating your family and your own life.

           • You cannot be my disciple without carrying your cross.

           • You cannot be my disciple without giving up all your possessions.

 

So, in the midst of these unpleasant teachings, what’s the Good News? If we follow Christ closely, as His disciple, we will follow Him in glory to everlasting life. Still, it seems to be an impossible task:

Hating our closest loved ones? Embracing painful suffering?  Renouncing all possessions?

 

Be not afraid! We should not take the harsh, unpleasant words completely literally. Hyperbole (exaggeration for emphasis or effect), was a common literary feature of the ancient Middle Eastern world. 

 

The Gospel is about counting the cost of discipleship. And the cost is putting God first in our lives:

● Our Lord teaches that God should come before family and other relationships of this world (That's “hating” father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, even one's own life).

● God should be put before comfort, convenience, health, satisfaction (That's carrying the Cross).

● God must always be in our lives before possessions (That's renouncing all one's possessions).

 

It is up to us to work out the specific details in our lives, but always asking, “How can I put God first?”  It is a daunting task, but it’s a question that should begin every day and every effort: “How does the Lord, here and now, ask me to put Him first?”

 

An ancient prayer of the Church, The Actiones Nostras, may be just the thing to begin our day:

                       Direct, we beseech Thee, O Lord,

                       All our actions by Thy holy inspirations

                       And carry them on by Thy gracious assistance;

                       That every prayer and work of ours

                       May always begin with Thee

                       And through Thee be happily ended

                       Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

Today’s Gospel may seem like “Bad News”: we are told to renounce selfishness, possessiveness, ease, comfort, convenience. But, if we do strive to follow Christ more closely as disciples – always with the necessary help of his grace – we will one day hear that best “Good News” of all, as we are welcomed by Our Lord: “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

                                                                                               

Don Saunders, SJ