Thirteenth Sunday of the Year
First Reading – 2 Kings 4: 8 – 11, 14 – 16.
Second Reading – Romans 6: 3 – 4, 8 – 11.
Gospel – Matthew 10: 37 – 42.
God invites every person to be close to him, to trust him and love him. God speaks to us in many ways, particularly through the word of God. The Sunday scriptural readings provide useful background. This leads us to better understand the word of God and link it with our daily activities of life in a meaningful way.
In the Gospel of today Jesus invites his disciples to a great sacrifice even death itself for Christ. All of today’s readings remind us that we become fully alive through the generous giving of ourselves.
In our First Reading, we see, the welcome given to the prophet Elisha by an elderly, childless couple who lived in Shunem. The wife recognised the holiness of Elisha. She showed him reverence and hospitality by inviting him to dine with her and her husband and by arranging an upper room of their house so that Elisha might stay with them when he visited the area. In response, Elisha promised her, “This time next year you will be fondling a baby son.” The promise was fulfilled by God.
Today’s Gospel lesson concludes Jesus’ great “missionary discourse” in which he instructs his twelve disciples on the cost and the reward of the commitment required for being a disciple. The first half of these sayings of Jesus details the behaviour expected of the disciples, and the second half speaks of the behaviour expected of others toward the disciples. Even Jesus’ shameful death on the cross is not too high a price to pay if one is to be a true disciple because the reward is so great. Jesus assures his disciples that whoever shows them hospitality will be blessed. Those who receive Jesus receive the One who sent him. So, too, those who help the “little ones” (messengers) will be amply rewarded. Jesus ate with sinners throughout His earthly ministry. He received children gladly. He taught us to invite the lowly to parties and to welcome strangers. He prepared breakfast for His wayward disciples, including Judas who had betrayed Him. Jesus ate with the Emmaus disciples after His resurrection. Before His departure, Jesus said He was going to “prepare a place” for His people. Jesus also instituted the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharistic celebration, giving new meaning to the Passover meal, and told us that He will drink it again with us when “the kingdom of God comes.”
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me….”
These words may sound a bit extreme, since family comes first for most of us.
What Jesus means is that all loyalties must give place to loyalty to God. The wants of any person or any group of people (e.g. a family), cannot be met by trampling on or denying the rights and needs of others. If members of one’s family act unjustly, one must, in conscience, separate oneself from them. In other words, one cannot condone immoral practices even by members of one’s family. Jesus clearly is not attacking family life. He is giving a warning to his disciples of the conflicts and misunderstandings they will experience through their living out the word and thus becoming prophets, proclaiming God’s Will and living presence among His people through their own lives.
We need to be ready to take up our cross and lose our life for Christ:
In ancient Palestine, the cross had a terrible meaning. Crucifixion was a vicious way of executing people, and it was reserved only for those who were not Roman citizens. Only the worst criminals were crucified. The Jews who heard Jesus’ call for taking up one’s cross in order to follow him must have been horrified. Yet, that is what Christ wants from his disciples. The cross stands for unconditional forgiveness of those who call us enemy, the total emptying of ourselves of our wants and needs for the sake of another, and the courageous, consistent choosing to do what is right and just because we love God. The main paradox of the Christian life is that we must lose life in order to find Life, and we must die to ourselves in order to rise again. Materialism and consumerism dominate our lives and turn our homes into isolated fortresses with iron gates, intruder alarms, and surveillance cameras. Society believes in competition, power, influence, and success. Jesus’ argument is that when we work hard to ensure that everyone has enough, there will be enough for us, too. Hence, the questions we should ask are, “Am I living my life at the expense of others?” “Am I trying to live in solidarity with others?” and “Am I aware of people in my area who are in real need?” In the words of Mother Teresa, “The Gospel is written on your fingers.” Holding up her fingers, one at a time, she accented each word: “You-Did-It-To-Me.” Mother Teresa then added: “At the end of your life, your five fingers will either excuse you or accuse you of doing it unto the least of these.”
The reward promised to preachers and helpers.
Today’s Gospel lesson implies that there might be differing rewards for prophets, righteous persons, and little ones — and differing rewards for those who receive prophets, righteous persons, and little ones. The Good News is that the modesty of our circumstances does not limit our potential rewards. We don’t have to be a prophet to receive a prophet’s reward–we have only to receive a prophet. We don’t have to be a great saint to receive a great saint’s reward–we have only to show hospitality to such a saint. The smallest gift to the littlest disciple brings a certain reward. Just as God knows and cares about every hair of our heads, so too, He knows about our generous acts in behalf of the faithful. Such gifts are counted as gifts to Jesus — and gifts to Jesus are counted as gifts to the Father. Another bit of Good News is that, as we are engaged in the Lord’s work, those who help us are also promised a reward. That is true whether we are clergy or lay people, preachers or janitors. We may not find it comfortable to be on the receiving end rather than the giving end of a generous, loving exchange, but the Lord has ordained that our humble, grateful receiving becomes a blessing for the giver. We need to be hospitable: Christ comes to our door in many disguises. Hospitality means encountering the hidden presence of God in others, usually where we least expect to find Him, and serving Him there in the loving service we give to the person. The virtue of hospitality is the virtue of recognising the presence of God in others and nourishing this presence. We, as a community, are to look for the opportunities to be hospitable— and, of course, there are many ways of offering hospitality. Maybe we offer hospitality simply by offering a stranger a kind word or a smile. When we live in such a busy and hectic world, we tend to brush off people who need help. A kind smile or a “hello” to someone waiting with us in a grocery line may be the only kindness that person encounters all day. In a cold and inhospitable world, a caring person becomes an oasis of encouragement and companionship.
We become fully alive as Christians through the generous giving of ourselves.
What is more important than the sending of checks for charitable causes is the giving of ourselves to people, primarily in the way we think about them, for from that spring will flow the ways we speak to them and about them, forgive their failings, encourage them, show them respect, console them, and offer them help. Such generosity reflects warmth radiating from the very love of God.