THIRTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Cycle
“A”: Mathew 10, 37 – 42
Many men and women respect, admire and
honour Jesus. They say, “If more people followed his teaching, the world would
be a better place.” His teaching on love, ethics and morality are supreme and
surely make for a better world. His love for the poor and those ignored point
to a wonderful new world order - a civilisation of love, justice, and truth.
(What heavy words !) The point is, however,
- and here’s the rub - that
Jesus is so much more than a moral guide, an ethical teacher or a social
revolutionary. So it’s not quite as simple as respecting, honouring and
admiring Jesus. Let’s make a comparison, or rather a contrast. World leaders,
past and present, call for followers to support their cause. And when those
leaders died, so did their agendas. But Jesus Christ is more than that. Deeper
and more fundamental than his message is himself in person. We are persons,
meant to love other persons, not merely projects. And Jesus teaches us that we are
meant to love him first and foremost over and above our family, relations and
friends. He is the first love that explains all other loves. This is the person
who taught us to love our enemies, turn the other cheek and lay down our lives
for our friends.
“Anyone who does not take up his cross and
follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me” (Mt. 10, 38). Let me tell you the
story of the young missionary who set out for a pagan island to introduce
Christianity. After landing he spoke to the natives about such subjects as
virtue, justice and sin. But his audience was decidedly unimpressed; his
sermons bored them out of their skulls, and they wondered whether he wouldn’t
taste better boiled or roasted. The young missionary concluded it was time to
cut his losses and head for home, and his would be converts concurred in his
decision. But now since his steamer would not arrive for a long while, he spent
his time translating the Gospels into the native dialect. Then he wanted to
test the value of his translations. So he read to the natives the details about
the sufferings and death of Jesus on Calvary. The native were wide-eyed,
totally overwhelmed by his story. They asked him to reread the chapters. They
didn’t boil or roast him, they rather grilled him with questions: “Why did you
wait so long to tell us about a God who freely suffers for us ? You must not
leave now. Tell us about this strange God who died for us.” In short order, the
missionary had to write to his superiors for help to cope with his many converts.
He had learned that people are not attracted to Christianity by dry
catechetical recitals but by the crucified Christ.
There are many Catholics, especially in
Italy and France, who go to church on three occasions of their life: baptism,
marriage and funeral. Or, to put it in popular terms, to be hatched, matched
and dispatched. But notice, these people wear crosses round their necks, on
their fingers, hanging from their earlobes, and now also from their noses. The
cross was the most brutal form of execution ever devised for the worst
criminals. Cultured people with good taste would turn up their nose at this.
They will ask, “Why would anyone want to wear something as morbid as a cross
?” “Why not wear a tasteful symbol of
the resurrection and final victory of the Saviour?” St. Paul declared, “I
preach Christ, and him crucified.” And in another place he said, “I am not
ashamed of the cross.”
Can you imagine our churches without the
crucifix? Can you imagine the Catholic Church without Good Friday ? The biggest
crowds flock to church on Good Friday.
I am not ashamed of being a Good Friday
Catholic ? Why ? Because there’s
something about death that brings us together.
Do you know something ? When the Gospel
writers wrote the story of Jesus on papyrus (woven leaves), they began with the
passion narrative and the resurrection. The story of the birth of Jesus was
written much later, just to round out the picture.
Why are old and young drawn to the cross
like a magnet ? Firstly, the cross conveys the truth that God is a tremendous
lover. The cross reminds its wearer that this mad world does have a purpose and
that God does not make junk. The cross proves how precious each one of us is to
him.
Secondly, the cross tells us that if there
was a cross in the life of Jesus, then we must not go into a tailspin if a
cross appears in our own. Somehow we must grin and bear it. Jesus Christ will
give us the steel to follow in his footsteps, and like him we shall walk out of
the other end of the tunnel a winner.
PRAYER: (Eric
Milner-White, one time Dean of King’s College, Cambridge, and of York. Died
1964 aged 80)
O Lord Christ, Lamb of God, Lord of Lords,
call us, who are called to be saints. along the way of thy Cross; draw us, who
would be nearer our King, to the foot of thy Cross; cleanse us, who are not
worthy to approach, with the pardon of thy Cross; instruct us, the ignorant and
blind, in the school of thy Cross; arm us, for the battles of holiness, by the
might of thy Cross; bring us, in the fellowship of thy sufferings, to the
victory of thy Cross; and seal us in the kingdom of thy glory among the
servants of thy Cross, O crucified Lord, who with the Father and the Holy
Spirit livest and reignest, one God, almighty, eternal, world without end. Amen
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