23RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, SEPTEMBER 04, 2022, YEAR C, WISDOM 9:13-18, PSALM 90; 3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-17, PHILEMON 9-10, 12-17 LUKE 14:25-33.
WHAT IS NEEDED TO DO GOD'S WILL
“For what man knows God's counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends? (Wisdom 9:13).Who ever knew your counsel, except you had given Wisdom and sent your Holy Spirit from on high?” (Wisdom 9:17).
Dear brothers and sisters, these verses come from the prayer of Solomon in the book of Wisdom. The young Solomon, the son of David, had been crowned king at his father's behest. When David died, he took over the governance of Israel. His first act was to go to the place where the Ark of God was kept by his father to seek God's blessing in order to govern God's people well. The Lord appeared to him there in Gibeon and asked him to request anything he would. Solomon asked for Wisdom, discernment to know what is right.(1King 3:11) God gave him that and riches and glory in addition (2 Chronicles 1:12). Solomon understood that the Wisdom of God, the Holy Spirit is the Gift of all gifts. Every good gift is contained in the Holy Spirit.
The gift of wisdom is necessary to do God's will and understand his counsel. For what man really knows God's counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends? (Wisdom 9:13). It is the man who had received the Holy Spirit. It is the man who heeds God wholeheartedly. This is where the first reading and the gospel meet. In the gospel, the Lord said, "Anyone of you who does not renounce all possessions cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:33). To be a disciple means the Master has accepted you and sees in you the capacity to be like him.To be Christ's disciple means that you are no longer alien but you are a fellow citizen with the holy ones. You are a member of God's household. To attain this, you must like Solomon, ask for the one thing that matters, the Spirit and Wisdom of God. The parable of the Great Feast throws light on this. God invites all to the eternal banquet with him. You cannot excuse yourself from heaven like the people in the parable of the Great Feast. The first gave the excuse, "'I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused."And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused. And another said, 'I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come." ( Luke 14:18-20). These things are good in themselves but seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be given you besides. Your parents, wife, husband, children, brothers and sister and the entire country will come to God's embrace. You cannot pit them against God. You must love them in God and bring them to God. St Augustine said, “Love God and love everything else for the sake of God.”
Can you see now why the Lord says, "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even his own life, he cannot be my disciples. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." ( Luke 14:26-27). Is the Lord commanding us to hate our family members and ourselves and put a wooden cross on our shoulders and carry it every day? No, to understand the first command, we must look at what he said in another passage. "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:37). This means that we are commanded to love them but we must love God more. What does it mean to carry your own cross and follow the Lord? Carrying the cross means accepting God's plan for your salvation and salvation of those whose lives intertwine with yours. It means readiness to do the will of God as Christ did. It might lead to the radical death of “ me, my, and mine agenda.”
How can we apply this insight? We see examples in Paul, Philemon and Onesimus. Soon after Paul encountered the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, he realized that he was on the wrong side of God's plan. He made a U-turn. He got baptized and abandoned the persecution of Christians and became an apostle of Christ. Encountering an enslaved Onesimus, Paul shared the good news with him and treated him respectfully. This led Onesimus to open his heart to Christ and became Catholic. Before he set his eyes on Paul, Onesimus knew that there was something more to life than being enslaved, so he escaped, met Paul and accepted Christ. Philemon who had previously enslaved Onesimus also became a follower of Jesus and was urged on to receive Onesimus not as an enslaved but as a brother in the Lord. This way of following the Lord is visible in the life of all the Apostles as well. Remember that when the Lord came to Peter, James and John while they were fishing, they left the boat, the nets, their fishing partners and the fish too and followed the Lord. St Leo the Great observed that was how Peter could say to the crippled beggar at the Beautiful Gate. "Silver and gold I have not; but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk." ( Acts 3:6). "Abandoning all their worldly property and possessions the Apostles were enriched with eternal goods, and in accordance with the apostolic preaching, they rejoiced to have nothing of this world and to possess all things with Christ." ( St Leo the Great, Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, A Sermon on Beatitudes, Office of the Reading, Friday 22nd Week in Ordinary Time).
In your life here and now, "Is there anything that tends to separate you from God? Should you not show your back to that? Who is the Onesimus in your life ? Who do you need to accept as a brother or sister in Christ and no longer treat as an enemy, nuisance or a discardable or an object of pleasure?
“Like Onesimus in today's Epistle, we have been redeemed. We have been given a new family and a new inheritance, made children of the Father, brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are free now to come after Jesus, to serve Him-no longer slaves to the ties of our past lives. In Christ, all our yesterdays have passed. “((Scott Hahn, Counting the Cost, Sunday Bible Reflections, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, St Paul's Center for Biblical Theology, Steubenville OH, 2022).
WHAT IS NEEDED TO DO GOD'S WILL
“For what man knows God's counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends? (Wisdom 9:13).Who ever knew your counsel, except you had given Wisdom and sent your Holy Spirit from on high?” (Wisdom 9:17).
Dear brothers and sisters, these verses come from the prayer of Solomon in the book of Wisdom. The young Solomon, the son of David, had been crowned king at his father's behest. When David died, he took over the governance of Israel. His first act was to go to the place where the Ark of God was kept by his father to seek God's blessing in order to govern God's people well. The Lord appeared to him there in Gibeon and asked him to request anything he would. Solomon asked for Wisdom, discernment to know what is right.(1King 3:11) God gave him that and riches and glory in addition (2 Chronicles 1:12). Solomon understood that the Wisdom of God, the Holy Spirit is the Gift of all gifts. Every good gift is contained in the Holy Spirit.
The gift of wisdom is necessary to do God's will and understand his counsel. For what man really knows God's counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends? (Wisdom 9:13). It is the man who had received the Holy Spirit. It is the man who heeds God wholeheartedly. This is where the first reading and the gospel meet. In the gospel, the Lord said, "Anyone of you who does not renounce all possessions cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:33). To be a disciple means the Master has accepted you and sees in you the capacity to be like him.To be Christ's disciple means that you are no longer alien but you are a fellow citizen with the holy ones. You are a member of God's household. To attain this, you must like Solomon, ask for the one thing that matters, the Spirit and Wisdom of God. The parable of the Great Feast throws light on this. God invites all to the eternal banquet with him. You cannot excuse yourself from heaven like the people in the parable of the Great Feast. The first gave the excuse, "'I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused."And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused. And another said, 'I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come." ( Luke 14:18-20). These things are good in themselves but seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be given you besides. Your parents, wife, husband, children, brothers and sister and the entire country will come to God's embrace. You cannot pit them against God. You must love them in God and bring them to God. St Augustine said, “Love God and love everything else for the sake of God.”
Can you see now why the Lord says, "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even his own life, he cannot be my disciples. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." ( Luke 14:26-27). Is the Lord commanding us to hate our family members and ourselves and put a wooden cross on our shoulders and carry it every day? No, to understand the first command, we must look at what he said in another passage. "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:37). This means that we are commanded to love them but we must love God more. What does it mean to carry your own cross and follow the Lord? Carrying the cross means accepting God's plan for your salvation and salvation of those whose lives intertwine with yours. It means readiness to do the will of God as Christ did. It might lead to the radical death of “ me, my, and mine agenda.”
How can we apply this insight? We see examples in Paul, Philemon and Onesimus. Soon after Paul encountered the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, he realized that he was on the wrong side of God's plan. He made a U-turn. He got baptized and abandoned the persecution of Christians and became an apostle of Christ. Encountering an enslaved Onesimus, Paul shared the good news with him and treated him respectfully. This led Onesimus to open his heart to Christ and became Catholic. Before he set his eyes on Paul, Onesimus knew that there was something more to life than being enslaved, so he escaped, met Paul and accepted Christ. Philemon who had previously enslaved Onesimus also became a follower of Jesus and was urged on to receive Onesimus not as an enslaved but as a brother in the Lord. This way of following the Lord is visible in the life of all the Apostles as well. Remember that when the Lord came to Peter, James and John while they were fishing, they left the boat, the nets, their fishing partners and the fish too and followed the Lord. St Leo the Great observed that was how Peter could say to the crippled beggar at the Beautiful Gate. "Silver and gold I have not; but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk." ( Acts 3:6). "Abandoning all their worldly property and possessions the Apostles were enriched with eternal goods, and in accordance with the apostolic preaching, they rejoiced to have nothing of this world and to possess all things with Christ." ( St Leo the Great, Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, A Sermon on Beatitudes, Office of the Reading, Friday 22nd Week in Ordinary Time).
In your life here and now, "Is there anything that tends to separate you from God? Should you not show your back to that? Who is the Onesimus in your life ? Who do you need to accept as a brother or sister in Christ and no longer treat as an enemy, nuisance or a discardable or an object of pleasure?
“Like Onesimus in today's Epistle, we have been redeemed. We have been given a new family and a new inheritance, made children of the Father, brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are free now to come after Jesus, to serve Him-no longer slaves to the ties of our past lives. In Christ, all our yesterdays have passed. “((Scott Hahn, Counting the Cost, Sunday Bible Reflections, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, St Paul's Center for Biblical Theology, Steubenville OH, 2022).
