Wednesday, October 03, 2018 26th Week in
Ordinary Time First
Reading: Jb 9:1-12.14-16
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 88:10bc-11
Gospel Reading: Lk 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)
Discipleship has three components to be accomplished in the following order: self-denial, the taking up of one’s cross and the following of Christ. Matthew 16:24 establishes this order. Jesus said: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” No discipleship can be established if the order is not observed. Self-denial without taking up the cross and without following Christ is self-imposed sadism. Similarly, to take up the cross without self-denial and following Christ is useless suffering. On the other hand, to follow Christ without self-denial and carrying the cross is hypocrisy.
In today’s Gospel an applicant said: “I will follow you wherever you go”. When Jesus talked about the hardships of discipleship which could include having no place to lay down one’s head, nothing was heard of the applicant anymore.
A second one imposed a condition to his discipleship. He said, “Let me go back now, for first I want to bury my father.” But even burying the dead was not serious enough to compromise discipleship. Jesus said: “Let the dead bury their dead; as for you, leave them and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Discipleship is more urgent than anything else. Jesus was sort of saying there are very few people who respond to the challenge of discipleship while many would be willing to bury the dead. But the man did not follow Jesus. He had problems with self-denial and the carrying of the cross.
The third applicant too imposed some conditions. He said: “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to my family.” Jesus told him frankly that he was no different to a farmer plowing the field who keeps looking back. Such a one is not fit for the kingdom of God.
We too are asked to examine the quality of our discipleship –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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