13h Sunday in Ordinary Time

13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Mt 10:37-42

Today's Gospel reading from Matthew is not an easy one on which to preach.  Oddly, over thirteen years I've never preached on these particular verses.  Apparently I've been in hiding on the 13^th Sunday in Ordinary time every time Matthew came around in the lectionary. Overall, it was a good idea to hide.  As I was puzzling over how to approach the gospel I got a text from Fr. Peter Li Jiang-tao, a Chinese friend, asking if I could read over and edit his homily.  He recently moved into a parish just down the street from the theology school and had today's 8 AM Mass, I pretty much had to interrupt my work to get his done so he could put in the corrections.  We had both been working on the same gospel at the same time.  I was still in the scrawling unrelated thoughts and smacking my forehead phase while he was finished.   A teenage experience illustrated the difficulty preaching on this narrative.

'When I was a teenager I invited a friend to go to my parish for Mass.  He was interested in Christianity and wanted to learn more about it.  I remember that the Gospel passage was Luke's parallel to this passage.   As we walked home my friend said, "Hey, Jiang-tao, I have learned about the teachings of Confucius, Buddha, and Lao-zi.  None of them ever taught their followers to carry a cross and hate their parents and relatives.  Why did Jesus teach in such a way.  It is too harsh for his followers."  Peter's friend was correct.  It is harsh. It is off-putting.  

In his version of this teaching Luke wrote, "If anyone who comes to me and does not take up his cross and hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."  As we just heard, Matthew softened the sentiment a bit by writing, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me."  However, both commands are harsh no matter if they are proclaimed in Mandarin or English.  Both versions can cause us to bristle. Both are difficult sayings that we have to work through. 

Peter noted that it took years in college, seminary, and his early experience as a priest to figure out these verses.  One of the points he made had me reach for the phone to ask if I could use part of his explanation.  

Jesus is not commanding us to hate family members in the way we understand the word hate today.  Rather, he is telling us to realize who we truly are, and to whom we truly belong. We can say I am a daughter, a son, a teacher, a social worker, a nurse . . . . the list of self-descriptors can go on for pages.  Each of these identities shapes our lives, and perhaps the lives of others,  but none contains the fullness of those lives.  Our true identity grows out of being created in the image of God and being a child of God.  That is the identity out of which our other identities sprout, be they personal, social, professional, or religious.  We must keep in mind that before we assume any of the roles by which we define ourselves, indeed, from the moment of conception, we are sons and daughters of the Father.  Peter's take on this radical nature of discipleship pointed out something I'd never considered or heard.  

When Jesus makes such radical demands of us he is speaking first of all about himself and his own radical discipleship to the Father.  Out of obedience to the Father, Jesus descended from heaven and dwelt among us.  Through that obedience and because of his love for us he died on the cross and brought us forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life.  We can only follow Jesus when we carry our own crosses, the crosses that are sure to fall on our shoulders in the future, and the crosses we are bearing now as a result of the loneliness and pain of quarantine, social distancing, and the chaos the country is experiencing.

Another commentator augments Fr. Li's  interpretation when he notes, "This is the second time in Matthew's Gospel that Jesus instructs the disciples that if they wish to follow him, they must take up the cross." This demand tells Jesus' followers, both then and now, that serving the Lord must come before any other purposes in life, before all those identities we carry, since it is through following Jesus that we gain eternal life. 

The second half of today's gospel describes the result of following Jesus.  Only when we have made that radical commitment will we be able to recognize the prophet we are to receive,   We will recognize the righteous only through our discipleship.  And the compassion that compels us to give a glass of water to one of the little ones will grow out of that radical love that gave us the strength to carry the cross in the first place.  

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And so it continues . . . . The photos below are from the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  Wouldn't mind being locked in there for a few days with an unlimited supply of photo cards and lots of battery, or at least both chargers.  Stunning place and a gold mine for photographers.  

Several years ago a Chinese SJ friend visited.  I took him there with no plans for afterwards.  Good thing.  He took photos of all 72 chapels.  We tacitly agreed that we would split up and I could do my own photography.  It was a great day.  Eager to get back there for a Slovenian Mass on the first Sunday of some month.

Show me a chandelier and the camera will be in evidence in moments.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa.  Note the small round-framed picture of John Paul II.

Votive lights on the lower level.

.  +Fr. Jack, SJ, MD