“Nothing Less Than Total Commitment” by Colleen O’Sullivan

“Nothing Less Than Total Commitment” by Colleen O’Sullivan

Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

My beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.  For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work.  Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world…  (Philippians 2:12-15)

Great crowds were traveling 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?  (Luke 14:25-28)

Piety

Lord, sustain our initial fervor for the journey with you over the long haul, we pray.

Study

Years ago, when I was a pastor, I served a congregation that was forever talking about a “great revival” that had taken place years before, during which 90 people came down to the altar and professed their faith in Jesus Christ.  I had been present for a couple of their revivals and had experienced the fervent preaching and gospel music they liked.  In fact, revival weeks were the highlight of their church year, almost taking on the sacred aura of Holy Week.  (Never having experienced this type of worship, I felt like a total outsider.)  I often caught myself wondering who the 90 individuals were and if any of them were sitting in the congregation week after week.  One day I shared my thoughts/questions with someone who frequently spoke about this revival with nostalgia.  He thought about it for a while, then said he didn’t think any of them were currently members of the church.  I asked if maybe they had joined other churches.  He said maybe a few of them had.  I didn’t say any more about it, but I think this is what Jesus was getting at in today’s Gospel reading.

We say we want to follow the Lord.  We long to be his disciples.  Maybe we even make a profession of faith.  We say we are ready to walk in Jesus’ footsteps.  But, like the first disciples, we often haven’t got a clue what we’re promising.  We’re like the person the Lord references who wants to construct a building with no idea what the materials and labor will cost or how much the property taxes will run or whether we have the financial wherewithal to see the project through to completion.

So Jesus spells it out for us using a rather shocking image.  Of course, he doesn’t literally mean for us to hate our families or ourselves.  But he’s making the point that he seeks a total commitment from his followers.  And just as he died on the Cross out of love for us, the Lord hopes we will willingly carry the crosses that come our way.  Jesus isn’t interested in a burst of enthusiasm that soon dries up or people who want to take a detour by some route through life that avoids the cross.

Being human, even with the best of intentions, we sometimes find ourselves stumbling off the path Jesus has forged for us.  That’s where a good spiritual director might come in handy.  In today’s first reading, it’s the apostle Paul who tells the whole church at Philippi they’ve gone off track.  They are the ones the Lord is looking to shine like stars in the darkness of the world, yet here they are bickering and squabbling just like anyone else in the crooked and perverse generation Paul refers to.  By telling them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, Paul means the church should get its act together and stop behaving like they are of the world.  Be united in Christ.  I would hate to have to count the number of parishes that would do equally well to heed the apostle’s advice today.

Action

What cross(es) do you find yourself carrying today?  If it feels unbearably heavy, share it with Jesus in prayer.  After all, he said he would help us carry whatever weighs us down.  (Matthew 11:28-30)

When I think about the crosses I’ve carried at different times in my life, I realize that none of them was the last word.  The cross is never the end; in retrospect, it’s often the last stop on the way to new life.  And we often can’t see that until we are looking back from a different vantage point.  Does it ever seem that way to you?