HOMILY WEEK 13 01 – Year I
The Cost of Following Jesus:
Memorial of St. Irenaeus
(Gen 18:16-33; Ps 103; Mt 8:18-22)
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“Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.” Could this be a first century version of our modern “Awoke” movement?
This seemingly harsh and unfeeling sentence spoken by Jesus in today’s gospel has one clear aim: to awaken an often distracted, self-centred and fragmented world of the one clear, most important purpose of our life – to follow Jesus as his disciples at whatever the cost.
In this gospel, Jesus does not sugarcoat the cost of discipleship. For his followers, it might just mean not having a place to sleep at night, or not being able to say good-bye to a dying parent. That was the experience of Fr. Bill Stang OMI when he went to help open up a mission in Kenya. After visiting his ailing mother, he went suspecting she might pass away, and sure enough, his mother died a short time later and he missed her funeral. He was able to come back for his father’s funeral some years later, however. Bill ended up paying the full price of discipleship.
Countless Christians over the centuries have even paid the ultimate price with the sacrifice of their lives. In fact, we see over and over again, paradoxically, that the blood of the martyrs is actually the seed of new life for the church. So, when we read these hard words today, it is understandable that we may feel more than a little anxious. “If I follow Jesus wholeheartedly, what will it cost me?”
If we think about it more, we may realize we are already paying a price. Following Jesus means battling the temptation to succumb to the false gods of possession, prestige, power and pleasure, and dying to that temptation, maybe daily. It might also mean a less prestigious career that enables you to spend more time with your family or to serve your parish and community.
I still remember the struggle Timothy, one lay person I met during a mission, was having with a career promotion that would have taken him away from his family for extended times. He knew in his heart the effect that would have on all of them, yet was very much wanting that promotion. Torn as to what to do, he prayed and discerned this issue for some time, and finally decided to turn down the promotion. During this process, he was just like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, sweating blood. And like Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, Timothy made the decision to put his marriage and family first. He was paying the cost of discipleship.
Following Jesus might also mean living more simply so that we can give more generously to those in need. Thomas made the decision to live in an apartment with, he thought, the approval of his wife when they were married. As time went by, it turned out that she was not honest, was quite materialistic, really wanted a nice house and a big car, and left him. He is still paying the price of discipleship.
In all these ways and more, we make sacrifices to follow Jesus. But why would anyone decide to be a disciple, then? For the same reason many people in Jesus’ time chose to follow him: they couldn’t resist him. His manner, demeanour and actions radiated God’s unconditional love and mercy, and his words spoke to the deepest desires of their hearts.
A reason we choose to follow Jesus is that we also know there’s nowhere else where we will find what we are really looking for: the love that covers a multitude of sins; the joy of being known, accepted as we are and forgiven all our sins, and the hope of living forever with God in the fullness of the kingdom.
Even so, there will be days when the demands of discipleship will cause us to wonder whether it is worth it. It is tempting to look a people on the wide road and wonder why we are plodding along on the narrow path (Matt 7:13-14). Following Jesus always means in one way or another, following him to the cross. But just as he triumphed in the end, so will we when we join him in heaven. In the meantime, we can count on Jesus to be with us, pouring out his love and grace to help us follow him, no matter what the cost.
Psalm 103 today can reassure us when we might be intimated by that cost. It is one of the Old Testament passages that comes closest to describing the true nature of our God that Jesus revealed to us on the cross as the Messiah who came with a two-fold purpose – to redeem and to sanctify. See how accurately this psalm expresses that mission: It is the Lord who forgives all our iniquity, who heals all our diseases, who redeems our life from the Pit, who crowns us with steadfast love and mercy. It goes on to remind us that our God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. God will not always accuse, nor will God keep God’s anger forever. The Lord does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
This is the God Jesus reveals to us, and call us to follow, by following him. There is no greater purpose in life than that. And today, the Church invites us to honor St. Irenaeus, someone who lived this gospel as an early disciple of Jesus. He was born in Asia Minor, probably between 130 and 135, and went to Lyons as a missionary priest sometime before 177. By 199 he was bishop of Lyons. Through his writings, we know he was a disciple of St. Polycarp, who was himself a disciple of St. John the Evangelist; thus, Irenaeus was in the direct line of the disciples. His writings refuting heresies helped lay the foundations of Christian theology and give us a window on the early Church. He fought against the Gnostics (elitism and matter is bad) and Valentinians (secret tradition). Perhaps his most important contribution was his assertion that creation is not sinful by nature, but rather distorted by sin. Irenaeus started the tradition of biblical scholarship and played a decisive role in fixing the canon of the New Testament by going through all the books extent and giving reasons for or against its canonicity.
The Eucharist is our greatest prayer, and an encounter with Jesus as his disciples, who gather to listen to his Word, and share an intimate meal with him as we live out what he commanded us to do at the Last Supper. May our celebration strengthen our faith in him as the Messiah, and empower us to follow him whatever that may cost us, as did St. Irenaeus.
