“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… In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”
These words spoken by Jesus in today’s gospel seem pretty extreme. We are all called to be disciples of Christ by loving one another and doing His will, but it seems pretty outrageous that we would have to hate our loved ones and renounce everything we own. But what Jesus is really saying here is that the love we have for our families, friends, our possessions, and ourselves must be a distant second to the love we have for Him. That is how much we are supposed to love God. As much as he expects us to love one another, that love should pale in comparison to how much we love Christ.
We cannot do this halfway. We cannot say we love God, but then put other people, things, our commitments, and other things of this world before Him. But we do. We do this all the time. We are human. We are selfish by nature and we often put other things and other people in our lives before God. And we may justify it and say we were doing God’s will for this person, or serving the community through groups we’re involved in, or taking care of our families needs, or being there for our students or co-workers, and helping those in need. Each of these, in and of itself is a work of love and doing God’s will. But when our commitments to others, even if its through love, interferes with our relationship with God, well, that is what Christ is talking about today.
Many times, we get so wrapped up in our careers, our volunteer activities, our families, and serving others, that we often put our relationship with Christ second, even if we say its through Him that we do all of these things. Often, we get so wrapped up in our service to our careers, families, communities, and even our parish that we lose sight of why we are here. We lose sight of Christ that He is our reason for being. We put others things and people before Him, before attending Mass, before receiving His grace through His sacraments, and before spending time with Him in adoration. Even when we are doing God’s work and being of service to others, He needs to be first and foremost, before everything, and we need to remember why we are doing these things. Being a disciple means to be a follower of Christ and spread his Gospel; therefore to truly follow Him, there can be no one else in-between.
But it has a cost. Everything worthwhile has a cost. We may have to make sacrifices within our relationships, careers, families and communities in order to keep God central in our lives. We will continue to have trials and run into issues in our lives that try to distract us. As Jesus continued to say:
“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
We need to work through these storms, and never lose focus on Christ and on His teachings amidst the turmoil that comes. St. Paul wrote:
“Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world.”
We need to grin and bear it! Take what the world gives you, but do as Christ tells you, and we’ll be okay. If we stay centered on Christ, persevere, and embrace our faith and His grace, we will be that light to our loved ones and people around us that we so desire. As Paul continued to write:
“For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work.”
Christ wants us to desire good things, things of His creation, and to do His work. He wants us to be fulfilled in life. But Christ knows that fulfillment comes through Him. He could give us everything in this world; our dream job, the perfect family, the rewarding volunteer ministry, or that perfect house, but if we do not have a life centered on Christ, none of it will fulfill us. It’s only when we seek fulfillment through Him that everything else – our desires, our work, and our purpose, will fall into place.
