Twenty Third Sunday of the Year

Jesus has some strong, uncompromising and challenging words about the cost of discipleship and the cost of liberation that goes with it. Some might see as an offence to family-centred sensibilities and family values. Jesus is calling for a seismic shift in consciousness – hitting us in places where we are comfortable and drawing us into conversations that matter. They expose our real loyalties and offer us wider and creative horizons. It may come to detesting the ways of our forebears or society, who gave us full bellies and empty hearts, or despising our own ‘lifestyles’, organized as they are around beautiful things. Jesus asks more of us than the Church has ever done, or will need to.

Twenty Second Sunday of the Year

I imagine that for some people their loneliest times are mealtimes. Ì feel sad when a person, usually elderly, is eating alone at a restaurant, cage or take-away. What’s going on for that person? There are people who have been widowed or divorced. There may be a new student trying to find a place to sit at the cafeteria waiting for someone to say ‘pull up a chair’. Jesus was killed because of who he ate with. He refused to stop eating with the wrong people: the unclean; the outcast; the sinner; the heretic; as well as his foes. Jesus’ words capture the reality of his life: ‘…. when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.’ Jesus calls us to associate with those who are outcast because they are weak, damaged, deemed inferior. Jesus sought out the company of those who were powerless and despised which caused contempt to come upon him.  

Twenty First Sunday of the Year

Jesus rarely gives straight answers to questions posed to him. Today is no exception. Though the question, ‘Will only a few people be saved?’ seems straightforward, the question seems to be about personal inclusion in the final headcount rather than as a concern for others. Jesus' reply to the question flips the focus back on the questioner. Jesus is asking, "Are you seeking my way of life or prestigious status?" Those who seek rank will find it, and find it shallow. Those who follow Jesus down his road and through his gate will find that they are the least made first, the lowly who will shine with God's own glory.