“Be My Disciple” by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)

“Be My Disciple” by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Piety

Scarcely can we guess the things on earth, and only with difficulty grasp what is at hand; but things in heaven, who can search them out? Or who can know your counsel, unless you give Wisdom and send your holy spirit from on high? Thus, were the paths of those on earth made straight, and people learned what pleases you, and were saved by Wisdom. Wisdom 9:16-18

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. Luke 14:25-27

Study

Have you ever heard the story of THE SOUP OF THE SOUP OF THE DUCK?

A relative came to visit a man bringing a duck as a gift. The bird was cooked and eaten.

Soon a stream of guests began to call, each claiming to be a friend of the friend of the ‘man who brought you the duck.’ Each one, of course, expected to be fed and housed on the strength of that hapless bird.

The man bore it manfully till the day a stranger arrived and said:

“I am a friend of the friend of the relative who brought you the duck.” And, like the others, he sat down, expecting to be fed.

The man placed a bowl of steaming water under his nose. “What’s this?” asked the stranger.

“This,” said the man “is the soup of the soup of the duck that was brought me by your friend.”

The moral of the story: One hears of people who became the disciples of the disciples of someone who experienced the Divine Master, Jesus.

Our Gospel today begins with, “Great crowds were traveling with Jesus” (Luke 14:25).  Jesus wants them to shift in their thinking, affections, actions, and perspectives, to be his disciples, which means “pupil” or “learner from the Latin word “discipulus.”

So, Jesus gives them a dose of reality on the study of the last things, which is called eschatology, like eternal destinies revealed through individual and general judgment, which the Catechism says has been imminent (673). Although he does not tell them that, eschatology is the context for the three “can-nots” of discipleship in our Gospel today.

The first “cannot” is: “Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:3. In the face of already certain judgment, attachment to possessions makes no sense. To illustrate such readiness to walk away from all our stuff spiritually:

Disciple: I have come to you with nothing in my hands.

Master: Drop it at once!

Disciple: But how can I drop it? It is nothing.

Master: Then carry it around with you!

The Moral of the story: Your nothing can be your most valued possession.

The theme of the First Reading from Wisdom, Chapter 9, underscores our Gospel message on discipleship: The human race requires divine intervention if it is to do what is pleasing to God: “Or whoever knew your counsel, except you had given Wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? And thus, were the paths of those on earth made straight” (Wisdom 9:18).

The second “cannot be my disciple” this Sunday is about cross-bearing (Luke 14:27).

You can understand “cross-bearing” as a perpetual discipline which includes suffering and self-denial. It’s similar to the “hating one’s own life” also mentioned, which means denying self to submit one’s human thoughts to God’s thoughts ... to his will, his plan, and his purposes, to have an intimate, instructive, and imitative relationship with the teacher, Jesus. Keep in mind that, in the Aramaic language, hate is not necessarily a feeling word, but a word that denotes priority.

Lastly, there is going to be a behavioral consequence of commitment to Jesus. Some people might construe that as the family ‘hatred’ spoken of in our Gospel—but, again, it is not a psychological hostility. 

Action

The philosopher Diogenes was dining on bread and lentils. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus who lived in considerable comfort by fawning on the king.

Said Aristippus, “Learn subservience to the king, and you will not live on lentils.” Said Diogenes, “Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to cultivate the king. 

When you make Jesus the center of your life, you will be a better spouse, son or daughter, and friend to yourself, but only if you choose your highest allegiance to follow God’s will as a disciple in and through Christ, Our Lord.

Amen.