September 8^th 2019.  Twenty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Luke 14:25-33

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   Luke 14:25-33

Great crowds were travelling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . This week’s Gospel is the most radical in all of the Bible. If we are to be disciples of Christ, then we must “hate” our own lives. What can this shocking phrase mean? Is Jesus giving a list of things that must be done in order to be a disciple? Is he saying that if we do not make these renunciations, then we are not wanted as disciples? No, he is saying that attachments are overwhelming obstacles to following him. If we try to follow Jesus whilst remaining attached to these material things, then we are like the builder who begins to construct a tower without at first calculating what was required for its completion. The Christian life is not about ethical actions, or doing “good” things. It is about having the life of heaven in us! And how can we have the life of heaven in us if we love the mediocre and infantile things of this world? If I draw life from petty entertainment, empty pleasures, workplace rivalries, the superficial affections of others, possessions, etc., then I am not drawing life from Christ! The Greek language has different terms for “life”. There is the biological-psychological life I receive from my parents, and then there is the fullness of life that only God can give. If am to possess this second kind of life, then I must “hate” the first. It is very clear. The life I lead is either one sort or the other. That is why St Paul could say. “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20). The first kind of life – biological life - is given to me as a gift without my consent. I did not choose to be born. But the second kind of life – the life of God - requires my consent. Today, you and I are being called to have this life flowing through our veins. God cannot impose this kind of life on me because it requires freedom to live it. We can have a church filled with decent people of good will, but they will not be true followers of Christ until they “lose” their own lives based on infantile things and abandon themselves in freedom to the life offered by Christ. How often our Christianity has failed and our evangelisation has borne no fruit because we put our own projects, our own interests, our own affections, in first place instead of abandoning the governance of our lives into the hands of Jesus. It is not a question of being strong and competent, but of being weak, entrusting ourselves to the power of God.

There are two types of life: the biological-psychological life that we receive from our parents, and the life of heaven which Christ gives to us

This week's Gospel is one of the most radical of all Bible literature. If we take it as an ethical demand, or as a "good work" to be accomplished, it just doesn’t lead us anywhere. We need to start from another perspective. Even if we “sweeten” up the translation, it is still difficult to understand this most absurd of demands: "If anyone loves me no more than he loves his own life, he cannot be my disciple." What does it mean to love Christ more than one's life? The original text speaks of "hating" one’s own life. What exactly does Jesus mean? The word "life" in this text translates the Greek term psyché. This expression indicates human life, with its sophisticated consciousness. It is not just simple bios, which is life in the biological sense. But it is also different from zoé, that in the Gospels is used to indicate the fullness of life, the life that only God can give. And this is the point. There is not only biological-psychological life, which is the one we receive from our parents; there is also life according to Heaven, which is eternal life. In Greek, “eternal” does not mean "very long" but "without limits" – it refers to the fullness of life that Christ gives us.

We desire this fullness of life, but it cannot be achieved with our human efforts. It must be received from God. And this is where our contribution finally comes into play. The Lord does not impose but offers us life, and we must freely accept it.

Paradoxically, this life that we ​​desire so deeply is not something that we can obtain for ourselves. It is an existence that is received, not achieved with human efforts. Nevertheless, we are created in order to receive it, but this requires that we lose our life in order to have the life of Christ. So much so that St. Paul says: "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20). In fact, Baptism represents the passage from the biological-psychological life to that of the life of the children of God, which is altogether new. On God's part, this gift is offered, not imposed. We were born into human life without anyone asking for our permission, but the fullness of life does not come to us without our authentic consent.

While we remain satisfied with the mediocrity of this life, we will never be true followers of Jesus. If we draw “life” from the esteem of others and possessions, then we cannot draw life from Christ. It is not about doing good actions, it is about abandoning ourselves to Jesus and drawing life from him.

In the Church, there is always the risk that we have plenty of members who are people of good will, but who have never “lost their lives”. In order for us to want to lose this life, it must start to bore us. We must become nauseated by the insufficiencies of what we call “life”. We need to become disillusioned with its affective compensations and its reassuring possessions. We must get tired of living on petty things, infantile amusements, work rivalries, empty “victories”. The trouble is, if we remain satisfied with the mediocrity and the certainties of this world, we might well find Christ interesting or moving, but we do not follow him.  If we are drawing “life” from the affections of others and objects, then it will be very difficult for us to lose the esteem of others or those possessions that have such a hold on me. It is not a question of being good or bad, but of being content with mediocrity or wanting something more. Do I want to open up to something that is truly worthwhile and leads me to follow Christ, or do I want to continue to live as if survival is all that matters? Christianity is not for the superficial. In reality, nobody is superficial, but so many people make their existence into a superficial thing.