Cost of Following

Today’s Gospel Text:  Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 And a scribe came up and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." 20 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." 21 Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." 22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead." Matt 8:18-22

Reflection: We have our priorities and we think we are right. We have our plans and we work towards  our immediate gain or gratification.  

Likewise in the gospel of today each of those who wanted to follow Jesus had their own priorities and plans but God had other plans for them, expressed through rejection of their prayers.

Therefore, one sure plan of God, in all his rejections or unanswered prayers is a call to trust and a deeper purification of our motives. 

The Scribe, who wanted to follow Jesus, seems to have been attracted by the crowd, and the quick overnight popularity may have been his prime motive in wanting to follow Jesus. The crowd around Jesus was a very attractive reason to popularize one’s writing. How often we would like to play to the galleries.  It’s the hard reality of following Jesus is what discourages him.  It is like putting one’s hand to the plough without counting the cost of following Jesus.

The second one too had his priorities wrong, you cannot hold on to mortal relationships in order to follow Christ. You can never be happy, because your attachment to a loving relationship holds you in a bondage that is detrimental to live and communicate the gospel of life or to be his instrument.

Following Jesus is an insecure proposition. The normal human tendency is to be comfortable and secure in the midst of crowd support, positions of power and exercising authority, possessing great wealth and the security of a close friend.  But to a disciple, the master is more demanding, because a man in the service of life cannot serve the dead at the same time.

Prayer:  “Answer me, O Lord, for thy steadfast love is good; according to thy abundant mercy, turn to me. Hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in distress, make haste to answer me.” Ps 69:16-17

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The Inner Circle

                                                                                                            Fr Conrad Saldanha

Bible:  In the meantime, when so many thousands of the multitudes had gathered together that they trod upon one another, he began to say to his disciples first, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

Luke 12:1-3

Reflection: Where are our priorities? Suppose, I have a choice to address a large gathering on worldly matters or it could be my daily time to share with the family and pray together the family prayer. Or it could be the organizing of an office gathering over the family. Or it could be the compulsion of taking an extra job or higher position and neglecting the family. Or it could be the friends over family situation. All this could be done with the aim of going for the greater and forgetting or ignoring the smaller due to selfish ambitions or worldly gain.

The inner circle is more important than the outer circle of friendship, popularity, wealth and power oriented decisions. Jesus values the inner circle and thus teaches us a way of life. He could have said; “look, thousands of multitude and I need to address them first” and thus sidelined his disciples. But the Gospel tells us that he addressed them first. He did so also because he believed in what he preached, he knew that what he would reveal to the inner circle in private will be more powerfully visible to the outer circle, because “whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.”  

Prayer: Lord, help me to discern between human and divine priorities and thus arrive at an action plan which will glorify you.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us