Monday, June 27, 2022

 

Monday of the Thirteenth Week in ordinary Time

(Amos 2:6-10.13-16; Matthew 8:18-22)

Characteristic of Matthew’s gospel, a narrative about Jesus follows a section of his preaching.  In today’s passage, the narrative gives examples of what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. 

Two disciples approach Jesus telling of their desire to follow him.  In the Sermon he admonished them to enter by the narrow gate.  Now he warns the first disciple approaching him that following him will not be easy.  “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” he tells him.  Also, he advised in the Sermon to “…seek first the Kingdom of God.” Now he tells the second disciple that following him takes precedence over everything, even the obligations to one’s parents.

Jesus does not want us to neglect our parents nor our children.  But he insists that submitting to his ways supersedes all other considerations.  We are to always put his will above our own.  We do not have to worry that it will lead to our ruin or other’s detriment.  Quite the contrary, we can be confident that prioritizing his will shall lead to our glory.

Monday, June 27, 2016

Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Amos 2:6-10.13-16; Matthew 8:18-22)

Last year a couple of women completed the Army Ranger training.  It was a significant achievement.  The Rangers are the Army’s elite, and their training is grueling.  It includes days in the wilderness with mostly one’s wits for survival.  In today’s gospel, Jesus challenges his disciples to a similar ordeal.

People want to join Jesus’ travelling group of disciples perhaps unaware of its costs.  Jesus disabuses them of notions of instant glory.  He tells one that he will not provide a home to rest in and another not to expect home leave.  The life of discipleship is not easy.

We should not expect it to be so today.  We may not have to leave family or even a house to be disciples, but following Jesus still requires sacrifice.  We are called to give up some comforts to provide for the needs of others.  More costly still, we are instructed to let of the egotistic will so that God’s glory may radiate to all.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 18:16-33; Matthew 8:18-22)

A novel begins with two soldiers saying “good-bye” to their girlfriends at the train station. Both are going to fight in World War II - one with the army in the Atlantic theatre; the other with the marines in the Pacific. Few would deny the right of their country to conscript such young men into service even if they are about to marry. In the gospel today Jesus claims such a right for himself.

What gives Jesus this authority? The passage hints that Jesus can make a claim upon his followers’ lives because he is the anointed Son of God. This will be expressed outright at the scene of the Transfiguration and again when Peter answers Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” Now Jesus indicates his divinity when he makes the otherwise outrageous demand that the disciple not go home to bury his father. No one should doubt that the situation is urgent as Jesus suggests when he states, “…the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” That is, because he must spread his message as far and as fast as possible, he will not sleep in the same bed for very long.

Fortunately we can be present at our parents’ funerals. Yet as followers of Christ we will be called upon to make sacrifices for his sake. Beyond the regular requests to give of our time and treasure parents looking forward to grandchildren may have to bless their children entering the seminary or the convent. Also, any one of us may be called out of our zones of comfort to speak up for the goodness of God in creation and the wisdom of the Church in her teachings in the face of contemporary cynicism and doubt.

Homilette for Monday, June 30, 2008

Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Matthew 8:18-22)

Normally the Christian tradition gives high priority to burying corpses. Entombment not only renders homage to the memory of a dead person but also regards as sacred the shell that enveloped the very breath of the Creator. We should be shocked then when Jesus demands that his disciple abandon his dying father to follow him.

Jesus’ radical order indicates the urgency of his mission. His disciples must learn as much as possible before he is given over to be crucified. Empowered by the grace of his cross, they will advance his project. But first the lessons of the Kingdom must be taught and faith in him must be secured. There is no time to look for a place to rest. He will teach his disciples on the road. There can be no delay to tie up loose ends at home, even to bury a parent. Others who do not yet see the kingdom on the horizon can attend to those matters.

We might compare what is happening in this gospel to triage – the method of selecting patients for medical treatment in time of calamity. Not everyone who is injured can be treated. The practitioners must decide who is beyond hope, who is to be given immediate help, and who might wait for assistance. The dying are forsaken, not out of negligence but out of necessity. The first treated are not the most severely wounded but the ones who with limited attention might assist in the care of the others. Then all the able-bodied treat those who are more severely wounded. Jesus, of course, is the divine physician overseeing the project. We are his disciple-assistants caring for one another as he directs us.