I remember back when I used to travel a lot for my job, all those hours going from airport to airport, slogging around my suitcase and my backpack, both of which seemed to be busting at the seams, filled with stuff. I always tried to maximize space, because I never wanted to check a bag and risk the airline losing it, or it being delayed in arriving at my destination, or having to wait at baggage claim after my flight, because I just wanted to get home.
And so here I was, pulling this suitcase behind me, backpack weighing me down, briskly walking through the airports from gate to gate. Just sitting at the gate, you have to think about it. Oh, I need to go to the restroom – got to lug my suitcase and throw my backpack over my shoulder just to go across the walkway into the restroom.
Then there was always the anxiety in carrying this baggage onto the plane. Is it too big? Will they make me check it anyway? Will there be enough space in the overhead bins by the time I board? Traveling to me always had a certain level of stress about it, always a bit of anxiety, even though for the most part I did like it as I was doing it.
But adding on even “small” things like an extra suitcase just to save some time, tended to pile onto that anxiety. There is enough to worry about, I started to think, without having to pull around this extra baggage through the airport terminal and onto the plane.
And so I started to let go. For small trips I’d consolidate, and I found a bag that would work better and be more efficient. But for longer trips, I’d put essentials in my backpack, an extra change of clothes, and then check the rest. I trusted that the airline would do its job and that my baggage would arrive with me at my destination. When I did this – my travel experience always seemed to be better. I didn’t have anything weighing me down. I could come and go to different places in the terminal as I waited for my flight with relative ease.
It was freeing. Today’s readings remind me of this.
Jesus says in Luke’s gospel – “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
We all carry so much already every day, in our travels through life. We have our crosses to bear. Why pile more on? This is one of Jesus’ points in this gospel, that we have enough burdens in life, we need dismiss those things that weigh us down even more, that make it that much harder to reach our destination.
Do we need to completely get rid of them? Some yes, but not all of them. It’s simply like checking your baggage. Trust someone else to take care of it, and it will get to where you are going. Make it a lower priority.
But what about the other statement Jesus makes, where He says, “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…”
Are we to discard our family?
No, of course not. Well, not in a literal way. But we do need to keep things in check. We need to love God through our family, and know that God comes to us through our family – but He is the central Figure. He is our destination. And to do His work – He must increase in importance, and our families, and most especially ourselves, must decrease.
And in those families where you have some extra baggage – those families with discord and conflict and tension – sometimes you need to check that baggage and let God handle it, and don’t let it weigh you down. You’ve got enough to burden you; you don’t need more.
Let Him help you with your own cross, by carrying those extra bags for you.
I think this is what Paul was dealing with in his Letter to Philemon today. He loved Onesimus – he had become like a child to him. But Paul knew that there was some turmoil there with him, as he was a slave or servant who had left his master Philemon for whatever reason. And so Paul brought him under his care, and Onesimus grew into a good Christian disciple. But Paul also knew that he and his master Philemon needed to reconcile.
And I also think that Paul needed to let go. His cross and burden in being a key disciple of Christ was already hard enough, perhaps the extra baggage of Onesimus was distracting him from his primary mission. So Paul, knowing that there was some unfinished business there, sent him back to Philemon, but encouraged them to reconcile and to build their relationship.
Paul “checked his baggage”, so to speak.
When we’re carrying too much – more than we need to – it’s hard to keep our head up and see where we are going. Gods will and His plan are mysterious and beyond our understanding, and so we need to be focused on Him.
The Book of Wisdom builds on this, saying, For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
The extra baggage in our lives pulls us down, to the point where we stop looking ahead sometimes wandering off track.
We’ve all got our carry-on bag that we carry, our essentials that we need to bring with us and sling over our shoulder. This is our cross. Some of us have bigger carry-on bags than others, but they’re manageable, matched for each one of us. It can be a burden, but we can keep our head up and see where we are going.
But it’s those other bags that weigh us down. If we keep piling those on, and dragging them behind us, it makes traveling to our destination so much harder. It’s harder to get there, and do our job along the way if we’re overburdened by the stuff we’re carrying with us.
Sometimes it’s easier just to “check the bag”, and let someone else handle it, trusting that it will go along for the ride, and let your mind be free of that extra burden.
Such is life. Check your baggage to Christ. Let Him worry about the things you keep piling on. Look to Him for the mercy to clear your head, and cleanse your soul, so that you can bear the task with which He has put before you, the purpose that He has for you.
The path will be straighter, it will be more manageable, and you can better do your job as His disciple.
WIS 9:13-18B; PS 90; PHMN 9-10, 12-17; LK 14:25-33
