Proper 18 / Pentecost 16 / Ordinary Time 23
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.
-- Luke 14:33
By the use of what is generally considered Middle-Eastern hyperbole, Jesus confronted potential disciples with the cost of discipleship. Occasionally a Christian group will try to implement this ethic as a literal prescription. What they usually discover is that some person or people enrich themselves off the devotion of the others and the community falls apart. Saint Francis of Assisi probably came closest to living out this ethic, but the community he founded increasingly found it difficult to maintain his strict adherence to the discipline of poverty. At the same time, those who seek to explain away Jesus' words quickly discover that there is a cost to true discipleship that is ignored only at one's peril. The essential truth that is conveyed through these examples and our reaction to them is that we are shaped by our attachments. While we often have a hierarchy of the attachments in our lives, and they sometimes shift in varying circumstances, we all have our personal set that shapes who we are.
To follow Jesus is to give a different priority to the attachments of our lives. Jesus recognized that the two primary sets of attachments in most people's lives were those that they have to their family and their possessions. It is not unusual for our attachment to one to loosen our loyalty to the other. Many families have had their bonds shattered because of disputes over an inheritance or some other financial decision within the family. Occasionally a sudden need within a family will cause someone to reevaluate their relationship to their possessions. To follow Jesus can challenge our loyalty to both sets of attachments. If a person is in a lucrative profession and suddenly feels a tug to serve God in a manner that means giving up their source of income, how do they handle the objection of family members who enjoy the material benefits that would be sacrificed? If people feel that their faith calls them to take an uncomfortable stand in the community that might embarrass their family, how should they choose? How are we to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind if we are so attached to other people or things that we are not free to respond fully to the love of God? The cost of discipleship is not an easy thing to sort out, but it is not something to be taken casually.
-- Luke 14:33
By the use of what is generally considered Middle-Eastern hyperbole, Jesus confronted potential disciples with the cost of discipleship. Occasionally a Christian group will try to implement this ethic as a literal prescription. What they usually discover is that some person or people enrich themselves off the devotion of the others and the community falls apart. Saint Francis of Assisi probably came closest to living out this ethic, but the community he founded increasingly found it difficult to maintain his strict adherence to the discipline of poverty. At the same time, those who seek to explain away Jesus' words quickly discover that there is a cost to true discipleship that is ignored only at one's peril. The essential truth that is conveyed through these examples and our reaction to them is that we are shaped by our attachments. While we often have a hierarchy of the attachments in our lives, and they sometimes shift in varying circumstances, we all have our personal set that shapes who we are.
To follow Jesus is to give a different priority to the attachments of our lives. Jesus recognized that the two primary sets of attachments in most people's lives were those that they have to their family and their possessions. It is not unusual for our attachment to one to loosen our loyalty to the other. Many families have had their bonds shattered because of disputes over an inheritance or some other financial decision within the family. Occasionally a sudden need within a family will cause someone to reevaluate their relationship to their possessions. To follow Jesus can challenge our loyalty to both sets of attachments. If a person is in a lucrative profession and suddenly feels a tug to serve God in a manner that means giving up their source of income, how do they handle the objection of family members who enjoy the material benefits that would be sacrificed? If people feel that their faith calls them to take an uncomfortable stand in the community that might embarrass their family, how should they choose? How are we to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind if we are so attached to other people or things that we are not free to respond fully to the love of God? The cost of discipleship is not an easy thing to sort out, but it is not something to be taken casually.
