Recently we heard Jesus ask this question: “Do you think that I have come to establish peace
on earth? No, I tell you, rather division....” Although no doubt
puzzling to people used to illusions of “world peace,” and the like, a
little reflection clarifies, to some extent, the meaning of Jesus’
words: Christ brings peace, but not an end to wars and human divisions;
what he brings to a faithful disciple is “the peace of God that
surpasses understanding,” and the peace of a cleaned conscience. But he
also brings division, for anyone who seeks to follow Christ
faithfully will encounter hostility from people who resist God.
Furthermore, each of us discovers that as we obey Christ, there is often
a division in our own hearts, for we must say “yes” to God and
to genuine love of neighbor and “no” to our own selfish desires and
strivings for power or prestige. So Christ brings peace to a human soul
only to the extent that one is utterly faithful to the LORD.
The saying from St. Luke’s gospel on “renouncing all your possessions” is yet more challenging. It is an absolute demand, for Christ did not say, “renounce your excess possessions,” or “give up luxuries,” but that one must renounce everything that one has--not only luxuries, but all things, even human relationships, and “even his own life.” If a Christian wishes to take Christ seriously, than he or she would have to try to understand his meaning in these absolute demands, and respond accordingly. Christ gives a human being no place to hide from God or from his word. If we take the gospel seriously, we are exposed to the penetrating light of God who gives all and demands all.
“This is a hard saying. Who can bear it?” Many hear what Jesus Christ says, and choose to turn away. Others filter out the difficult sayings, and hear only words of “forgiveness,” “mercy,” “love.” To those who want Christ on their own terms, he says: “No one can be my disciple unless he hates father, mother, family, children, even his own life” (Luke 14:26). What does he mean? Does Christ actually want one to hate his own family, and his very life? He is speaking as a Jew to Jews, using a Hebrew form of speech. It is extreme in order to get the main point across without “wiggle room.” To be a disciple, one must choose and love Christ more than his family, himself, his “stuff.” To be a disciple means to place God and Christ first and foremost ahead of anyone, anything. What Christ keeps saying to us is that anything less than complete loyalty to God, perfect love, all-giving, all-costly love, is not genuine.
If anyone of us can hear Christ’s words and feel comfortable or satisfied with the quality of his discipleship, his love of God and of neighbor, he should at least realize that he is spiritually dull or even dead. More to the point, one satisfied with his love of Christ should wonder if he or she really loves Christ at all, but is just playing a religious game. On the other hand, to one who seeks to be an ever-better disciple, who strives to grow in God’s grace, that soul lives in the stream of God’s mercy, and despite failures, keeps on stretching forth into God. To one who “forgets what lies behind, but strains forward” into God, one knows well that in God’s time, everything will be stripped away, and the soul will be found stripped and alive in God alone.
The saying from St. Luke’s gospel on “renouncing all your possessions” is yet more challenging. It is an absolute demand, for Christ did not say, “renounce your excess possessions,” or “give up luxuries,” but that one must renounce everything that one has--not only luxuries, but all things, even human relationships, and “even his own life.” If a Christian wishes to take Christ seriously, than he or she would have to try to understand his meaning in these absolute demands, and respond accordingly. Christ gives a human being no place to hide from God or from his word. If we take the gospel seriously, we are exposed to the penetrating light of God who gives all and demands all.
“This is a hard saying. Who can bear it?” Many hear what Jesus Christ says, and choose to turn away. Others filter out the difficult sayings, and hear only words of “forgiveness,” “mercy,” “love.” To those who want Christ on their own terms, he says: “No one can be my disciple unless he hates father, mother, family, children, even his own life” (Luke 14:26). What does he mean? Does Christ actually want one to hate his own family, and his very life? He is speaking as a Jew to Jews, using a Hebrew form of speech. It is extreme in order to get the main point across without “wiggle room.” To be a disciple, one must choose and love Christ more than his family, himself, his “stuff.” To be a disciple means to place God and Christ first and foremost ahead of anyone, anything. What Christ keeps saying to us is that anything less than complete loyalty to God, perfect love, all-giving, all-costly love, is not genuine.
If anyone of us can hear Christ’s words and feel comfortable or satisfied with the quality of his discipleship, his love of God and of neighbor, he should at least realize that he is spiritually dull or even dead. More to the point, one satisfied with his love of Christ should wonder if he or she really loves Christ at all, but is just playing a religious game. On the other hand, to one who seeks to be an ever-better disciple, who strives to grow in God’s grace, that soul lives in the stream of God’s mercy, and despite failures, keeps on stretching forth into God. To one who “forgets what lies behind, but strains forward” into God, one knows well that in God’s time, everything will be stripped away, and the soul will be found stripped and alive in God alone.
