Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
[26th June 2022]
1st Reading: 1 Kings 19: 16, 19 – 21
2nd Reading: Galatians 5: 1, 13 – 18
Gospel: Luke 9: 51 – 62
Following Christ without excuse
The best commentary on the first part of today’s Gospel is a story about Abraham Lincoln, who was the finest and most spiritual of all the American presidents. During the Civil War, Lincoln was often criticised for not being severe enough on the soldiers of the South. On one occasion after a battle, a General from the North asked him, “Why didn’t you destroy the enemy when you had the chance? President Lincoln answered with words adapted from the today’s Gospel passage: “Do I not destroy my enemy by making him my friend?”
That is exactly what Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel: destroy our enemies by making them our friends. No doubt the feelings of anger and resentment run deep in many hearts today, and we wouldn’t mind if people who hurt us deeply were punished or suffered from bad luck. Jesus, however, says: “That is not my Spirit—let Me heal your heart.”
Today’s readings are about God’s call and man’s answering that call with commitment.
The first reading describes how Elisha committed himself whole-heartedly, answering God’s call to be a prophet in spite of his initial hesitation when God called him through the prophet Elijah.
The second reading, from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, reinforces the commitment message of the first reading and the Responsorial Psalm.
Today’s Gospel passage deals with the beginning of Jesus’ journey from the northern towns of Galilee to the southern city of Jerusalem through the land of Samaria. Jesus encountered obstacles both from prospective disciples, who wanted to postpone their commitment until a more convenient time, and from the Samaritans. The Jews and Samaritans shared a common origin in the twelve tribes of Israel. But they hated each other and refused to intermingle or intermarry because of a long-standing historic conflict between the two nations dating back to the eighth century BC, after the Assyrian conquest of the Jews. They accused each other of compromising their religious beliefs.
The response of Jesus to the three would-be followers, described in the second part of today’s Gospel, (v 57-62), exemplifies the wholehearted constancy and sacrificial ministry that the Christian mission requires. We are surprised at Jesus’ sharp response to the first man’s willing discipleship. Undoubtedly, Jesus saw more deeply into the man’s heart than we can. Jesus is simply honest about the demands and the cost of a commitment we might make too lightly and a journey we might undertake too easily. “Let the dead bury their dead”: This response may sound too harsh. But this man’s father was not dead or sick. He simply wished to stay with his father until his death. Jesus knew that later he would find another reason to delay the call. Jesus did not want another would-be follower to go home and bid farewell to his dear ones. Hence, Jesus rebukes him saying that the ploughman must look ahead rather than back. Looking back while ploughing causes crooked lines in the field. We see classical cases of initial reluctance and lame excuses in accepting God’s call from Moses (Exodus 3:1, 4: 10), Gideon (Jgs 6:15), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:6), and Isaiah (Isaiah 6: 5). Hence, we should be slow to condemn those who offer excuses in the service of the Lord; we need to offer them proper motivation, support, and encouragement.
We are invited to a Christian life of patient love.
The first part of today’s Gospel gives us the greatest passage in the Bible concerning tolerance, which is really patient love, our “bearing with” one another. Quick anger over little incidents flares up all the time – between parents and children, in the workplaces between co-workers and in the neighbourhood between neighbours. Very often the anger explodes over nothing.
The Spirit of Jesus is opposed to such feelings. Although Elijah called down the fires of God from Heaven to wipe out the four hundred prophets of Baal, Jesus refused to have fire cast on the Samaritans who refused him entry. Hence, let us have this beautiful prayer in our hearts and on our lips: “Create in me a clean heart. O God and put a new and a right spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of loving.”
We need to pray for strength to honour all our commitments, whether in our married life or in our priestly life . We are here because, in one way or another, we have said to Jesus, “I will follow you.”
But the truth of the matter is that most of us don’t want to follow Jesus because we want him to follow us. Hence, we are only partially faithful to him.
But the Good News is that we are following him as best we can. We will leave this hour of Eucharistic worship and return to the world with all sorts of tough choices and difficult demands. Hence, we need to pray for strength, we need to ask for forgiveness when we fail, and we need to renew our determination to walk with Jesus by being loyal to our spouse and family, earning our living honestly, and living not only peacefully, but lovingly, with our neighbours.