THIRTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR C

THIRTEENTH SUNDAY OFTHE YEAR – C (1Kings 19:16b, 19-21; Gal 5:1, 13-18; Luke 9:51-62) Theme: Firm and Radical Decision is Demanded for the Discipleship of Jesus Reflection: Journey Towards Jerusalem - We enter into the thirteenth Sunday of the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year. Today’s readings present to us the conditions for the discipleship of Jesus. Before entering into the Gospel passage, it is needed to note the overall context of Jesus’ words. The chapters from 9-19 make the central part of Luke’s gospel. These pages can be put together under one title: the journey of Jesus towards Jerusalem. In fact, the first verses of today’s gospel passage point to it: “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Lk 9:51). John puts the same with the different words: “Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father” (Jn 13:1). Jesus has come into the world, not to live and stay longer. But only to accomplish the will of his Father. Each and every moment of his earthly life, he is conscious of this mission. His only aim is to fulfill the action that is asked of him and for which he is sent by his Father. The verses above make the intention of Jesus evident: he has to leave the world; he has to be taken up; he has to re-enter into his Father’s bosom; all this will take place with his death and resurrection. For this he moves towards Jerusalem. For this he takes firm decision to make his journey towards the place of his self-sacrifice and departure to his Father’s house. - For Luke, the holy city of Jerusalem represents the culmination and the point of arrival of entire mission of Christ. He insists with the precision for six times that Jesus is in journey towards Jerusalem. For him, Jerusalem is the point of accomplishment and the point of re-initiation. It is in Jerusalem that the whole mystery of God’s salvation takes its final realization, with the Paschal Event. The episode of Jesus ends there and the episode of his disciples start from it. The story of salvation concludes in Jerusalem and restarts from it. departing from there that the Apostles have to make their mission journey in order to announce good news of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8 – the Gospel will start from Jerusalem and reaches to the ends of the earth). - Jerusalem, thus, is the centre of all the decisive events of salvation. The other two synoptic writers – Mathew and Mark – have different prospective. For them there is a clear opposition between Galilee and Judea. Galilee is the cradle of the Gospel because it embraces Jesus. Whereas Judea is the land of refusal. Jesus goes to Jerusalem only to die. Whereas the first meeting of the disciples with the Risen Jesus will take place in Galilee. It is from here, that everything has the beginning. It is from here that the movement of evangelization re-starts towards the entire world. For Luke, the prospective more theological than chronological. His narration of the events – the teachings, miracles and parables etc. – has theological significance and explanation. For this the mission of Jesus – particularly his journey towards Jerusalem – has the vital and dynamic role to play. He dedicates almost half of his gospel for this. His intention is to present Jesus as “moving above”, “rising upwards”, “going towards his Father” and finally “walking towards the heaven”. For him, Jesus is the one who is firm in fulfilling the divine plan. He heads towards this accomplishment keeping his face straight towards Jerusalem. His face is turned towards the city of ultimate realization of God’s will. He turns his thought and action towards the destiny because he is aware of his mission both in his mind and in his heart. In fact, for this he has come and for this he has to go forward towards Jerusalem. Readings: The Conditions the Authentic Discipleship - In the gospel Jesus presents three conditions which can be applied for the discipleship. Among the three people who receive the call of Jesus, there is only some sort of curiosity and fascination to be with Jesus who is working great deeds and gaining the population. Jesus observes this and puts forward the life-style of the one who desires to be his disciple. Already in the last Sunday we have meditated the invitation to all: who wants to follow him has to deny himself, take up his daily cross and follow him and in a word, he has to lose his life in order to gain life in him (Luke 9:23-24). Jesus continues the discourse taking the occasion of his journey towards completion of his mission. He himself is set to give his life in order to accomplish the will of his Father. In the way of the mission, anyone who really wants to be his disciple has to assume the same attitude as his: moving towards mission with firm commitment and to pour out one’s life for the cause. This is the attitude that the one has to learn and Jesus points it with the radical teaching in today’s gospel passage. - The first one desired to follow Jesus and says: “I will follow you wherever you go” (v.57), and Jesus’ reply is very hard: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (v.58). Jesus demands the unconditional answer with the full knowledge of the situation. The disciple should know that in the world he has to place to live. He should never claim for the security of life in this world. He has to be like a pilgrim who makes his journey. The teaching is affirmed by his own life: Jesus is born in the world with nothing and he dies on the cross with nothing. He has never treated himself as belonging to this world, but only as passenger. This is the attitude that Jesus expresses both by his words and his actions. The disciple should be aware of this. The Christians have to be aware of the truth: Jesus never promises a life of roses and a life of full security in this world. If the disciple fails to comprehend this, his following will become soon superficial as the seed thrown on the rock (Math 13:5) and as the one who built his house on the sand (Math 7:26). There is long standing in the confrontation with the demand of Jesus. - The second one, indeed, receives a call from Jesus: follow me! (v.59). He might be happy and content when Jesus called him. But he was not ready to accept it. He thought he needs some time to take decision. He thought he has the responsibility of the parents to take care. He requests Jesus to permit him to go home and fulfill his duties in time and return: “Lord, first let me go and bury my father” (v.59). Jesus’ invitation seems to be very demanding and very much challenging. He does not want any hasty and slow response. The answer to his call is to be very quick and immediate. He tells it in the radical way: “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (60). Jesus uses the proverb of his time and announces the quickness of the response. For him, those who are attached to the passions of the world are already dead. Only those who are immersed in the things of the world will take care of those who are in the world. Let the dead bury the dead means this. In other words, the call of Jesus demands the total and ultimate detachment from every worldly bond. Those who want to follow him has only one thing to worry about and only one thing to carry forward: announcing the kingdom of God. These words remind the main task that the true disciple should have: seek first the kingdom of God and the rest will be added to you (Math 6:33). The disciple of Jesus does not belong anymore to the world. With the acceptance of the call he has been raised up from the desires of the earth and of the flesh. He is empowered with the Spirit and thus he belongs to the kingdom of God. Attachment to the world and to its attractive and fascinating passions is to be given up for the sake of Jesus. - The third one is happy to follow Jesus but he also expresses his desire to go home first and come back as the second one: “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home” (v.61). Jesus response to him is as hard as the second: “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (v.62). There is no turning back once the call is offered. The call is either wholeheartedly and immediately accepted or it has to be rejected. No second thought. The second post is not permitted for Jesus. With regard to Jesus there is only one decision and that is immediate. He is to be put in the first place. The disciple is given the plow to work in the vineyard of the Lord. Once he accepts to labor in it, he has to continue until the end. Be in the field or out of the field. Be in the kingdom or away from it. No third way. No half-hearted response. Once the disciple turns back, he loses the his credibility and he plumbers in his stand. Like Lot in the Old Testament he loses his originality and his natural figure (Gen 19:26 – Lot, turning behind, becomes a pillar of salt) and becomes a foreigner and stranger for the kingdom of God. Conclusion Let us understand the urgency of the Christian vocation - We are called to the discipleship with Christ Jesus. We are indeed his follower and it is for this we are named Christians. We are given a mission. We are entrusted with a vocation to be his witnesses. We need to keep this in mind: we have the urgency to live our vocation. We need to carry always in our hearts the demands that Jesus puts forward. We can put the three demands in our language of today. - First one is the life of comfort. Not that Jesus is envious of our comfortable life and calls us to the hard life. His demand is this: in the comfort we should never forget the vocation we have received from the Lord. We may have security of life, we may have luxurious life and we may strive for the well-built life. There is nothing wrong in it. If only the seeking for the comfort, or the comfortable life becomes a hindrance for the profession of faith and charity, only then the actual error arises. We have the urgency of understanding this truth. - Second one is the life of attachment. Jesus might have said that anyone who wants to follow him has to leave his father, mother, kith and kin and his properties and follow him (Lk 14:26). Yet it is not in the literal sense but in the spiritual sense. One has to give the priority to the spiritual bond that we have with Jesus than to the relations. Relations are important and the keeping the bond is always spiritual, yet when it comes to the matter of Jesus, he is to be given the first place. No one has to fall deeply into the worldly attachments and take pride in the belongingness to the earth. The intention of Jesus is clear: we need to give up all the possible bonds that drive us away from his relationship. - Third one is the life of passing glory and false prestige. We have already received the Christian vocation with the baptism. We have decided to be the disciples of Jesus with the profession of faith. It is good. Yet, often we have the tendency to look back: to move to our past life. It is because of the false illusions we have about the future and because of the false glory we had been enjoying in the past. We do not want to take risk anymore. If the way is not clear and is full of thorns and stones we need to leave it immediately and take another safer way. By doing this, we forget that we are completely neglecting the way of the cross that Jesus himself has destined for us. With all the comforts and family bonds we have, we, as long as call ourselves Christians, cannot forget that our way is of the Cross, our truth is of the Death and our life is of the Resurrection. It is with the Cross, by the Death and through the Resurrection that Jesus Christ becomes for us the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). - The cross is placed on our shoulders. The first reading of today shows that there is sign or symbol is placed on the disciple by the master. Elijah throws his mantle over Elisha and with this the latter becomes the disciple of the former. The mission of the master is passed to the disciple with this gesture of placing the mantle on the shoulders. In the similar, yet profound manner, Jesus the Master places the sign of his cross on the shoulders of his disciples. As the consequence we have all received the cross from Jesus. As long as we truly bear this cross and offer ourselves on it, we are his disciples. if we neglect or reject to hold on to the cross – as the symbol of our Christian vocation – then, we lose our identity as the Children of God and as the authentic followers of Christ. Therefore, today let us renew our decision: let us make it Firm and Radical in order to be the Disciples of Jesus