Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Looking at the Gospel passages for the several weeks that lay ahead, we see the development of a motif describing the basics of discipleship. The idea of growth is paralleled with a context of physical and geographical movement, as we read of the Lord and His disciples setting their sights for Jerusalem, where that discipleship will eventually be tested.

 

While traveling, the interaction between the Lord and His disciples, as well as His would-be disciples, reveals a development in the essence of discipleship that will speak to us of our interior life in Christ. In the weeks to come we will hear of:

 

+ Call and response

+ Charity as the basis of discipleship

+ Remaining close to Christ as the basis of Charity, and

+ Prayer as the basis for Christian interaction.

 

The three would-be disciples we meet today will know nothing of this process of formation, so their attempt to follow Jesus on their own terms will not be met with success. Their experience is what is known in the process of spiritual formation as “first fervor,” a lovely beginning which is not self-sustaining, but needs a re-orientation for the long haul.

 

So now we can look at these three men as representative of, or living demonstrations of, levels of development in a life with Christ:

 

+ the first demonstrates good, but weak intention

+ the second reveals a certain hesitation,

+ the third shows giving-in to distraction.

 

Let’s look now at these three responses to the Lord, in order to see, perhaps something of ourselves in them.

 

You will notice with the first person that the Lord did not call him personally, but that the man experienced an attraction to the Lord and acted upon it in freedom. With good intentions, and in the joy of the moment of meeting Jesus, he blurts out, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 

 

The Lord, recognizing this earnest but shallow statement, neither affirms nor dismisses the man’s gesture, but offers, instead, a caveat: “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests…” suggesting that following the Lord might bring about an undefined future. We all experience these attractions to the Lord… to deeper prayer… to a more virtuous life, as urgings of the soul, but these admirable pursuits will require some trust in the Lord that the direction in which He might choose to lead us might not be the direction we might have presumed it would be. The Lord warns of a certain spiritual homelessness if we choose to set the course of our discipleship, rather than allowing Him to set it for us. Then we, like He, will find that we have no place to rest our heads, and all will end in discouragement.

 

Our second possible disciple has a different disposition. Where the first fellow approached Jesus, here, instead, Jesus says to this man, “Follow me.” The Lord’s invitation likely didn’t just come out of the blue. It’s more likely that the Lord had previously, or even presently, seen something in him — an insight, or intuition — that compelled Him to make this Call.

 

The man appears caught off-guard, not only by the Lord’s invitation, but by his own response. So, he hesitates. He speaks of cultural obligations which place conditions on his response, so that life with Christ seems attractive, but he just can’t make a commitment, and says, “Let me go first and bury my father.” To this, the Lord makes an unexpected, surprising response: “Let the dead bury their dead.” A look at Jewish culture gives some insight into this unusual exchange: It wasn’t that the man’s father was lying on his death bed, but more likely that the fellow wanted to hold off until he could complete his family obligations before following the Lord, thus limiting his own freedom.

 

We can also experience this hesitation, this caution,, which would limit our commitment to Christ, and to a deeper spiritual life. How often have we heard ourselves think or say, “When I retire… When the kids are gone… When Mother dies…” in putting off a real investment into our ongoing, and developing discipleship? We come upon a simultaneous attraction and dismissal when it comes to discipleship, or the spiritual life, where the Lord, as He spoke to our would-be disciples about the dead burying their dead, warns us about becoming spiritual zombies.

 

The response of our third would-be disciple sounds similar to the second, but is more subtle. His intentions sound reasonable: “… let me say farewell to my family at home.” But in reality, he wants his discipleship to be self-defined.  Distracted by other legitimate interests, his resolve dissolves into reservation, and the Lord questions his fitness not only for discipleship, but for the Kingdom itself. This tells us that there are times for moderation and times that brook no compromise. We should pray, then, for prudence and discernment when discerning the Lord’s continuing Call. We, too, might give in to distractions and find ourselves compromising our heart’s greatest desire.

 

Looking back, we might discover that there are probably elements of these three novice disciples in our own experience:

 

+ good, but weak intentions

+ unintended hesitations

+ bothersome distractions.

 

So, what are we to do? Saint Paul informs us in his Letter to the Galatians. He speaks of liberation from self by living in the Holy Spirit. This Spirit empowers us to love, which is what it means to be created in the image and likeness of God. The choice to love God in Christ, as difficult as this might feel at times, can become a reality when, with the Spirit’s help, we overcome self-determinism and follow the Lord’s invitation to discipleship, a relationship that He will define, without compromise or hesitation, but with freedom and generosity.

 

Saint Luke doesn’t tell us whether or not the three hopeful candidates for discipleship eventually did follow Jesus. He leaves us to think this through, to consider the Lord’s Call personally, and to decide upon our own response.