23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
St Mary's Cathedral
Luke 14:25-33 Wisdom 9:13-18
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
9 Sep 2001
A couple of weeks ago the gospel reading had Our Lord speaking provocatively about the traffic jam around the narrow entrance to the Kingdom of God; about the weeping and gnashing of teeth by those who were unable to enter. In no way was it a sentimental and universally reassuring message. We could say the teaching was politically incorrect, with a capital P and a capital I.
Today we have another shocking teaching. A person cannot be a disciple, the Lord proclaims, without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters and his own life too! This seems bizarre and impossible; in fact it seems one good reason for not following Christ.
Or have we missed something? Aren't Catholics among the strongest defenders of family life? Wouldn't there be a contradiction between Our Lord's extremist teaching and family values?
Our Lord knew how to provoke the interest of his listeners, because most of his teaching was given in the open, to crowds of followers, opponents and those merely interested or with nothing better to do. He was not writing articles for the non-existent newspapers, nor preparing short grabs for the non-existent television.
He often stated a principle in a startling way, and left his hearers to discover the qualifications, to round off the edges with other teachings. We have no authorization to reject the doctrine, no warrant to water it down beyond recognition, but we are entitled to try to work out what is meant.
There is a parallel teaching of Our Lord in Matthew's gospel, where the message is clearer and somewhat easier; we must not love our loved ones more than we love Christ.
This of course remains a tough test, but at least we are not being urged to hate the ones we love.
The English language we use is highly developed, enabling us to express many particular thoughts very accurately. The every day Greek used in the New Testament, and especially the Aramaic Our Lord spoke, were less developed and I am told, that the use of the word "hate" was a primitive Semitic idiom for expressing a preference.
To hate one's parents as such would be monstrous, but the teaching requires us to oppose even family members when they are opposing Jesus in important ways.
Another way of explaining this is to state that love of family is not the highest love or obligation. We realize that we are not obliged to disobey the laws of the state because our family wants this. We are not a family of criminals, where the rights of others are subordinated to the ambitions, criminal or otherwise of the family. Family love too has to be channelled according to the commandments of God. This is part of what Our Lord is saying.
Our Lord was warning those who wanted to be his disciples, his close followers rather than sympathetic onlookers, that this cannot be done without significant costs. Are you capable of building the sound foundations necessary for a big tower? If you want to go to war, enter into battle, are you capable of wining, or are you foolishly rushing to disaster? It is as though Jesus is saying to his would-be disciples that following him is not going to be all beer and skittles!
In fact, he lays down three tough conditions; a willingness to leave one's family, a willingness to practise radical self-denial and a willingness to give up one's material possessions.
In other words close discipleship is very expensive. We have to take up the cross.
The capacity to make such sacrifices, even to a limited degree, is necessary among those who want to be inscribed as followers of Christ.
Many of us do not have the strength and perseverance, or the wisdom and balance to give up all our possessions. Persons with family responsibilities would be forbidden to do so, without ensuring the family is secure and comfortable. But for radical discipleship, those who aim at perfection, are called to those sacrifices. Many have done so happily and safely, over 2000 years, and been freed to contribute to society.
In Matthews's gospel Our Lord explained that everyone needed a wedding garment to gain entry to the wedding feast. Some of these garments are more beautiful and expensive than others, but everyone needs some sort of uniform.
In the prayer Jesus taught us, the Our Father, we pray that we are not led into temptation. Another translation has us pray not to be put to the test, so that we do not land in those extreme and generally rare situations where our life is on the line because our faith, or where religion requires trouble in the family, or where the state night confiscate our possessions because of our faith. It is a very sensible prayer to pray not to be put to the test and we should pray it regularly.
Today the first reading from the Old Testament book of Wisdom explains how difficult it is to work out what God is doing, to identify His intentions. We are better placed than the writer because we know Christ's teaching, but it remains true that our reasonings are unsure and our intentions unstable. It is sometimes, perhaps often, hard to know and do the right thing.
All of this should be set against the background of the two greatest commandments. The first one is that we love our unseen God and the second is that we love one another. The order of these two foundational commandments is another surprise for many people today.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
