30 June 2013. Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Luke 9:51-62

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

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

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GOSPEL:        Luke 9:51-62

As the time drew near for him to be taken up to heaven, he resolutely took the road for Jerusalem and sent messengers ahead of him. These set out, and they went into a Samaritan village to make preparations for him, but the people would not receive him because he was making for Jerusalem. Seeing this, the disciples James and John said, 'Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?' But he turned and rebuked them, and they went off to another village.

As they travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go'. Jesus answered, 'Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head'.

Another to whom he said, 'Follow me', replied, 'Let me go and bury my father first'. But he answered, 'Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God'.

Another said, 'I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say good-bye to my people at home'. Jesus said to him, 'Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God'.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The key to interpreting this text, according to Don Fabio, is the simple resolution with which we must follow the call of God. Often we get caught up doing a thousand things that seem good in themselves; working for justice; burying the dead; resolutely “being a Christian”. We follow so many “goods” that we often neglect the real good that the Lord is calling me to do here and now. The primary and elementary things that each of us is called to do are modest and few in number. If we concentrate on doing these things, then Jesus will bring them to great fruition. But if we distract ourselves doing other “greater” goods, whilst neglecting our primary mission, these “goods” will accomplish nothing. How much “good” is done in the world that leads nowhere! When we make Jesus the centre, instead of our own action or volition, and do the things that he is calling us to do, then these things will truly bring salvation.

The call of God must be answered with resolution, not with hesitation!

Jesus resolutely sets out for Jerusalem and sends his messengers before him. He knows that he will suffer and die in Jerusalem, and yet he makes for the city with resolve and determination. This is how all of us must behave in the face of the things that God asks of us: do them willingly and courageously, instead of asking ourselves a hundred times if we will do them at all or not! So Jesus sets out, and his departure is accompanied by a series of episodes that are well articulated in the text.

James and John are focused on the wrong thing. Jesus rebukes them, insisting that they maintain their focus on their primary mission

First of all, a Samaritan town refuses to give hospitality to Jesus because the inhabitants know that he is heading to Jerusalem, and they have a long-standing antipathy to Jerusalem. James and John are indignant and want to call fire down on the city, as happened long ago to Sodom and Gomorrah when these towns similarly refused to offer hospitality. James and John want revenge, but Jesus rebukes them. His primary intention is not to deal out retribution to those who oppose him. His singular desire is to continue his journey to Jerusalem and fulfill his mission there. Here we discover the key to the entire text. Sometimes there are things that we feel are right and proper to do, and we expend great energy in doing them, but these things are often mere distractions from our primary mission. Three other cases are then presented to us in this Gospel.

Following Jesus is not simply a matter of choosing between good and evil. It involves choosing between the primary good and secondary goods, between the real good and the apparent good.

A man meets them on the road and declares to Jesus that he will follow the Lord wherever he goes. Here the emphasis is on the tenacity and fidelity of the man’s following of Jesus. The man is focused on himself and what a wonderful and loyal disciple he can be. A second man tells Jesus that he will follow him, but that he has to go and bury his father first. Still another man expresses his desire to follow Jesus but wishes to say goodbye to his family first. All of these are expressions of sentiments that are good in themselves and that are held up as virtuous elsewhere in the Bible. The first man wishes to follow the Lord tenaciously; the second expresses the desire to bury the dead with dignity; the third wants to salute his family properly before severing ties completely. What this brings home to us is that following Jesus is not simply about choosing between good and evil. Sometimes it involves choosing between the primary good and secondary goods, between what is really good and what seems to be good. Burying the dead, for example, was of central importance in the Hebrew tradition, as we see in the book of Tobias. But this Gospel emphasizes that all of these goods must take second place to what is primary in life. What is primary in life, by definition, is one only. There cannot be two things that are primary! And what is primary is to do the will of God as it has been revealed in our lives. James and John primarily wanted justice to be done to that Samaritan town. The first man primarily wanted to exercise his volition and determination in being a disciple. But Jesus allowed none of these urgent desires to take precedence over the business of resolutely following the path the Father was calling him to follow.

There is a risk that we might not do some of the good things that we ought to do, but there is a GREATER risk that we will distract ourselves doing “good” things, whilst overlooking the accomplishment of our real mission

This business of resolutely following the path of the Lord is not the business of walking along blindly without understanding where one is going. This is an internal journey; the journey of interior simplification; the journey towards personal truth. The problem often is that we wish to keep everyone happy and solve everyone’s problems. But the problems that most of us are capable of resolving are very few. The things that we are capable of accomplishing are relatively trivial. There is a risk of overlooking the good things that we ought to do, but there is a much greater risk of doing good things that should not have been priorities for us at all, whilst overlooking our own mission. We regularly see people with a vocation who are doing one thousand different things, whilst failing to do the basic things that should be primary for that vocation. Sometimes, in order to comply with evil, it is sufficient to do good things that are secondary, and as a result omit to do those very things that I ought to have done. In every vocation there are the elementary Christian things that we are called upon to accomplish. Instead we busy ourselves doing apparently “great” things that we were not called to do at all.

Following Jesus is a dynamic way of life that must be centered on Him. If we focus on ourselves, even in holy things, then we end up corrupting those things

We end up answering to emergencies that seem to be sacrosanct, and at the same time failing to respond to the emergencies that are truly ours. This results in the complete dispersion of our energies and the negligence of our authentic mission. Jesus does not have time to dole out justice to the towns that do not welcome him. Jesus is not in the business of creating a “den” or “nest” for those who say they want to follow him. In fact the home of Jesus is not a place but an experience. In John’s Gospel the disciples ask Jesus where he lives. He responds, “Come and see”. His home is not a dwelling but a way of life. Following Jesus is a dynamic thing, not a static thing! The man who declares that he will follow Jesus wherever he goes is focused on his own tenacious act of the will. The focus is not on Jesus! Whenever the focus is on ourselves, even in matters that are holy in themselves, we end up corrupting those things. It is not me who is the priest. The Lord calls me and it is He who must act in me. It is not me who follows the Lord wherever He goes. It is the Lord who opens the road to me in His great mercy and enables me to follow Him.

Without Jesus we can do nothing. The “goods” we do without Him are nothing. The modest good that we do with Him brings salvation

There are “priorities” in our lives that are not priorities at all. There are “emergencies” that do not need to be responded to. Sometimes we need to learn how to abandon a great good for a greater good. It is not enough for something to be merely good in order for us to follow it. It must, rather, be something that is essential to our following of Christ. It must be something that is relevant to our relationship with Him. In Chapter 15 of John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Without me you can do nothing”. How true this is! How much “good” is done in the world that leads nowhere in the end! We must search out the more modest and authentic good that we have been called by Jesus to do. This is the good that truly brings salvation.