Thirteenth Sunday of the Year  "C"

                      Cycle “C”: Luke 9, 51 – 82

Introduction: Today’s Gospel reading brings out the cost of being a disciple of Jesus. The cost of discipleship can be very real. For some it can be laying down their life for their faith. For others it may be losing friends or position. But for most of us it means the daily cost of resisting temptation and sin, of keeping away from squalid politics, corruption and immorality. But while we are aware of the cost of following Jesus, let us focus more on his enabling grace, and the joy and fullness of life he came to give us.


The Homily:

The late Secretary General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mr. Dag Hammarskjold, wrote only one book, but a powerful one. It is entitled, “Markings”, and was published after he died in an air crash in Africa in 1961. In it Secretary Hammarskjold wrote: “The longest journey is the journey inwards of him who has chosen his destiny.” As today’s Gospel opens, you must have noticed how Jesus is about to begin his own “longest journey”. It is a trip on foot but it is also a “journey inwards”, as he moved determinedly to reach the destiny marked out for him by his Father. In fact, St. Luke has Jesus constantly on journeys. Mary, while bearing him in her womb, journeyed to spend time with her cousin Elizabeth. His parents set out with the Infant to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Then faithfully they take the boy Jesus along to the capital city to celebrate the solemn Passover. These trips were a sort of preparation for THE great journey which begins in today’s Gospel: “Jesus resolutely took the road to Jerusalem.” That momentous itinerary, beginning here in chapter 9 will close out in chapter 19. There we will read of his arrival in Jerusalem ready to begin the procession of palms. With that arrival the Master was preparing himself for death, resurrection and ascension. The gospel says, “Now as the time grew near for him to be taken up to heaven, he resolutely took the road to Jerusalem.”
That Great Journey is the model for the pilgrimage that every disciple of Jesus must take. In Old Testament days a man chose choose his teacher or rabbi, spend a few years listening and learning, and then leave in order to establish his own school. Not so with the disciples of Jesus, to whom he says, “You did not choose me, I chose you. You will follow my way, and there is none other.” Obviously, we disciples of Christ will need instruction and guidelines for such an important march. And happily we shall find them in the 10 chapters of the Journey Narrative of St. Luke. They make up a textbook of pilgrim’s instructions, a how-to-manual of Christian discipleship. They tell us how we shall walk with the Nazarene on this none too easy and slippery road. In this journey there is no such thing as retreat or defeat. At all costs, we must keep advancing. If we stumble and fall, we must, like our Master pick ourselves up and move forward once again. If success were easy, it wouldn’t be true success. Great people have learned more their failures than from their successes. The late Corie Ten Boom once said, “You are on the road to success if you realise that failure is only a detour.”
As Jesus strides on resolutely towards Jerusalem, a man cries out his undying loyalty and a
As Jesus strides on resolutely towards Jerusalem, a man cries out undying loyalty and a willingness to follow him. Jesus, however, points immediately to the cost  -  no security, and unlike the foxes and birds, no roof above one’s head. Another man wants to bury his recently deceased father before joining. Jesus’ riposte seems abrupt and unfeeling. “Leave the dead to bury the dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another potential disciple wants first to bid farewell to his family; again the Lord’s response sounds ungracious: “No one who puts his hands to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom.”
In reality, the call of Jesus is not harsh or unfeeling. His words are meant to reflect the urgency and demand of the gospel and our vocation. The world needs very urgently conversion and salvation. Why talk about the world? We need them too.
Jesus’ call to discipleship is radical and uncompromising. Disciples must attach themselves to Jesus so he becomes to them more than father and mother. Disciples cannot lay down their own conditions; they are on the move and cannot put down roots, because the Teacher always confronts them with new challenges inviting them to change and grow. There is an urgency to following Christ who is moving on. We must follow. Our travel is a long haul and often goes through heavy weather. But we shall press on the company of the Lord. In the words of Shakespeare, “Master, go on, I shall follow you, to the last gasp, with truth and loyalty.”
Let me end with a true story. In a certain country in Latin America the Church was undergoing severe persecution. The Catholics of one village were gathered together for the Eucharist in their church. Suddenly the door was kicked open. Standing before them was a soldier brandishing a machine gun. He shouted, “If any of you do not really believe in your Christ, get out immediately and save your lives.” A number of people slinked out one by one. The soldier kicked the door shut after them. Then he said to those remaining in the church, “I believe in Jesus. We are better off without these people.”


Prayer: 
Jesus, where are you taking me?
Into joy.
Into pain.
I am afraid.
But to do anything than to go with you would be to die inwardly;
and to look for wholeness apart from you would be to lose my true self.
So I come to you, protesting and confused,
but loving you all the same.
You will have to hold on to me
as we walk together through the compelling
and frightening landscape of the kingdom of God.