C Cycle – 23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 25

Lk. 14:26-33

Take a moment, close your eyes, and imagine yourself in ancient Israel.  Jesus is gaining notoriety.  People are talking about Him; and He is stirring up something in the people – hope for a better future.  People were following Him long before He said, “if you wan to be my disciple, you must hate, our mother, father, sister, brother, even your own life.”  Imagine yourself in the place of Andrew who was curious enough to approach Jesus   and spent time with Him (Jn.1:40). The scriptures do not t reveal what they talked about What we do know is Andrew left Jesus and told his brother Simon, “We have found the Messiah” (Jn.1:410.   

Visualize: that encounter: Andrew is excited the promised messiah has arrived and he wants to share his belief with his brother. Jesus already knows Simon and tells him he shall be called “Capias” (which is translated Peter.  But then Andrew and Peter return to their lives and are indifferent as Jesus is teaching near them on the shore.  You would think that their response would be different, but the scriptures do not indicate a dramatic change in their lives after they encountered Jesus.  T

hat meeting between Andrew, Simon and Jesus shows us we can have an encounter with Christ that is powerful and excites the senses but long term it had no impact on how easily we can fall back into established patterns of relating to God.

Now let us leave the ancient world listen to the words of Christ telling us we must do more than just acknowledging our belief in Jesus Christ.  We must acknowledge we can have a powerful experience with Christ which excites us, but the excitement does not last. After an afternoon with Christ Andrew and Peter returned to their everyday lives.  They sat nearby as Jesus taught on the shore.  We know what happened next, as they fished all night without catching one fish. We know Jesus invites Simon, Andrew, James, and John to follow and become fishers of men. Thy left their nets and followed Him and it was more challenging than they be

Following Jesus as a disciple they found how difficult it was being a disciple. Life was filled with challenges. They experienced rejection, confusion, physical challenges , and spiritual challenges. What they believed and practices was challenged by Jesus. Offering sacrifices and walking away was easier. They faced a new reality.  One where the laws they depended on to please God was not pleasing to the one they believed to be the Son of God. It was not the law that displeased Him but how it was applied. hey also had to reconcile embracing and becoming brothers with men who others viewed with distain.

 Practicing their faith was much easier because they only had to follow the rituals and what they had been taught since childhood. It may require some sacrifice that was difficult at times but that was easier than what Jesus demanded of them.  You may not have noticed this, but Jesus constantly challenged the disciples to do things which seemed not to make sense.  Tat first challenge was to put out into the dep and cost their nets one more tie.   Early in their discipleship, Jesus sent the4m into the villages two by two and cast our demons, heal the sick and proclaim the good news.   Take nothing with you but depend on those in the villages to welcome you, house you and feed you.  What about when Jesus asked them to feed the five thousand by themselves.  Or when He invited Peter to step out of the boat and walk on water or when they were in the boat while a storm raged while Jesus slept.

Well, what about our challenges?  If we are to follow Jesus, it is not enough just to be faithful Catholics, practicing our faith.  These readings today are God telling us to wake up for we know what God expects, and it is more than showing up. God is reminding us how uncertain are our minds and thoughts. The Our first reading tells u: the “deliberations of the: human mind is unsure and uncertain.”  We need to be guided by something much wiser than ourselves.    No, not a scholar or teacher of our faith but someone much more in tune with the mind of God. That is because God knows as we live our lives with “many concerns” each day (Wisdom 9).

We are concerned about what others think of us and yet Jessus is telling us our concern needs discover and embrace the truth of the gospel It leads us to understand the will of God.  Meaning, if we are not living a life that challenges the faith of those who are lukewarm, we are not living our faith boldly. Following God is intended to be uncomfortable. We need to be willing to step into the unknown.  We need to be willing to respond to the challenge of picking up our cross and following Jesus.  That cross is one of rejection and riding out the storms of our lives knowing Jesus is not seeing. He is guiding us and strengthening us.   us.  Discipleship demands trust and faith big enough to move mountains. 

Discipleship demands more from us than we are
willing to embrace. Discipleship demands blind obedience to things unseen but
believed. It is seeking to do God’s will, learning to discern the quiet
whispering voice of the Spirit. Disciples recognize their need for a foundation
much stronger than the law and the reliance on our own discipline. Discipleship
demands a life of surrender. We need to do more than meet some minimum standard
of holiness. It demands we are as holy as God is holy. That is impossible for
us but not if we understand God has equipped us for holiness by the gift of
Jesus and the gift of the Spirit. It demands a willingness to allow the Spirit
to move within us, changing us from fearful, confused, believers willing to go
out of our comforts zones and say like yes lord, I want to walk by faith.