Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 13:8-10; Luke 14:25-33)
Gospel commentators call Jesus’ saying that his followers are
to hate their families a Semiticism.” This
term means the way Jesus’ contemporaries expressed themselves in their own
language. Evidently the Aramaic
language, which Jesus spoke, did not use comparatives. For Jesus to mean that his disciples had to love
him more than their families, he had to say that they were to love him and to hate
their families. Of course, he never
intended that they were to scorn their loved ones. After all, how could Jesus -- who taught
about the primacy of love long before St.
Paul
But still some of us may have trouble with the idea of
loving Jesus more than our children and our parents, to say nothing of our
spouses. “How could we do that?” we
might ask. The answer is both simple and
hopeful. First, we can and should love
Jesus above all because he is so good – really perfect. Then, by loving Jesus above all, we actually love
our children, our parents, and our spouses not less but better. Primary allegiance to Jesus means doing what
is truly good for all. We will not
confuse indulgence with care and give in to the whims of our children. We will not accept the prejudices that lived
in our parents’ home but treat all people with respect. We will not allow communication with our
spouses to shrivel but make a continued effort to express our thoughts and feelings.
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