Faith and Costly Discipleship

June 26^th, ‘16  Sunday homily-  Fr.Francis Chirackal CMI

I Kg 19: 16, 19-21; Gal 5: 1, 13-18; Lk 9: 51-62

You might have heard this story about Abraham Lincoln. He was a man of gospel values and one of the world famous former American presidents who drew strength from his life of faith in God and His teachings. During the Civil War, Lincoln was often criticized for not being severe enough on the soldiers of the South. On one occasion after a battle, a general from the North asked him, “Why didn’t you destroy the enemy when you had the chance? President Lincoln answered with words adapted from today’s gospel passage: “Do I not destroy my enemy by making him my friend?” Many times we may think of hurting those who cause unbearable sufferings in our life. In today’s gospel Jesus, however, says: “That is not my Spirit”.

 The first reading presents the call of the Prophet Elisha as the successor of the Prophet Elijah, who worked hard to preserve the faith of ordinary people in the true God. St.Paul teaches to experience freedom by obeying the law of love as we are set free by Jesus and are obliged to obey his law of serving-love.

When the Samaritans acted against Jesus and his disciples will, John and James expressed anger and revenge. Seeing it, Jesus expressed the divine spirit of tolerance and forgiveness. Looking at the life situations in today’s society, we may find the cause of many tensions and destructions at individual level, family level, community level and even national level, is the actions of man based on his first instinct without seeking the divine advice and wisdom, or misinterpreting the human instinct as divine inspiration.

The second part, deals with our call and requirements to follow Jesus and its mystery aspect and uniqueness. We see a man who approaches Jesus and expresses his desire to follow Jesus. But Jesus discourages him telling of the risks. At the same time He calls the other to follow Him, even when the man puts forward certain conditions.

The example of plow is well used here by Jesus. A man who plows has to concentrate on the track ahead of the plow to keep the plowing straight and even. The same way if we want to work for the Kingdom of God, we have to focus our eyes on our eternal joy with God. If we want to follow Jesus in a radical way it demands extra sacrifices. This we see in the life of Apostles, martyrs, saints and even today in the life of many missionaries and Christian communities under persecution in different parts of the world. For example, on July third, we observe the memory of the Apostle Thomas, who preached the gospel in India and became a martyr for Christ. According to the tradition he was killed, while praying in his hide out in a cave on a hill, by a Hindu fanatic. We know the story of persecution in Mexico in the last century. They had to suffer this due to their Christian faith and they retained their faith even at the cost of their lives. Even these days we hear of Christian communities suffering under severe persecution.

In our living circumstances, we may not be in a situation, which requires extreme sacrifices and sufferings for the faith, as it was in the early church or some of those persecuted Church communities from the beginning of the Church to  today. But, our living situations demand a certain level of sacrifice on our part, when we try to live our faith with due seriousness and depth, as we have to spare time, for our family prayers, holyday obligations, Christian charities, to forgive unconditionally at individual, family, and community levels. There may be issues and problems affecting our life of faith. Jesus wants us to submit ourselves fully and trust God while fulfilling our call-demanding responsibilities. Today, as we reflect on these gospel messages, let us make our lives more fruitful by growing in our faith. God bless you.