September 30, 2015 Wednesday
26th Week
in Ordinary Time
1st reading:
Nehemiah 2.1-8
Gospel: Luke 9:57-62
As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 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.”To another Jesus said, “Follow me.” But he answered, “Let me go back now, for first I want to bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their dead; as for you, leave them and proclaim the kingdom of God.”Another said to him, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to my family.” And Jesus said to him, “Whoever has put his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
A repair shop had this ad at its entrance: “WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING”. Below it hanged this notice: “Knock hard, doorbell out of order”. Would you send any of your appliances for repair to a shop that cannot even repair its own doorbell? Nobody relies upon the commitment of one who lacks credibility!
Three kinds of people committed themselves to Jesus. The first said: “Lord I will follow you wherever you go”. But his story ended when Jesus said he had nothing to offer him in return, as he did not even have a bed to sleep on.
While Jesus promises the hundredfold, this promise should not be the primary consideration of discipleship. If a worker in the vineyard of God anchors his motivation on the hundredfold, his heart will remain selfish.
The second had a diffe-rent story. Unlike the first man who volunteered to become a disciple, Jesus invited him to become his follower. But the man’s response was conditional. “Let me bury my father first”, he said. “To bury my father first” was a common expression then. It was a son’s primary responsibility to take care of his ailing pa-rents. In using this common expression he was asking Jesus to wait until he had complied with this filial responsibility.
The third man made a similar bargain. He wanted some time to say goodbye to his family. Jesus turned down both aspirants not because Jesus had little concern for family but because family concerns had already become stumbling blocks to their discipleship. Following God supersedes any and all important responsibilities in this world.
Our commitment to serve God suffers credibility if we continue imposing conditions upon our response to His call. Will God rely upon the commitment of volunteers who are preoccupied with their own concerns?- Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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