Thirteenth Sunday Ordinary

Thirteenth Sunday Ordinary
June 26, 2005

"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;Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:37-42)

Jesus continues his instructions to his new apostles, stressing the radical demands required of people who would follow his teachings. Statements like those in this passage point up the insufficiency of "literal" interpretations of the Bible. In truth a "literal" approach is impossible as well as out of step with traditional Christian theology. The Bible was not lowered from heaven as we find it today. We understand the meaning of the words of Scripture by paying attention to the personal and historical context in which they were written. Jesus, as most rabbis of his day, used metaphor, hyperbole and contradictory statements intended to provoke deeper thinking.

If we took a this saying out of the total context of the gospel, we might conclude that loving our parents and our children is secondary to following the Spirit of God wherever it leads. In real life "Jesus or family" seems to be a false dichotomy. Don't we, at least in the vast majority of cases, know that loving and honoring our parents and children is not only obeying the commandments, but a primary way to love God? Isn't the family of faith also the body of Christ? So, in what sense are we to take Jesus' statement that we must prefer one to the other?

I was talking recently with a close friend about how changes occur in our lives, especially for us 50 and 60 somethings. It occurred to us both that some of the most significant changes in our personal and work lives must be made alone. I wonder if this isn't some of what Jesus is referring to. Following the lead of the Holy Spirit is sometimes a lonely and dangerous undertaking.

This saying of Jesus should be reminding us of an important dimension in the life of the spirit. We can "love" parents and children to the point that we avoid this frightening reality. There are times when we must let them go to find their own way to God and the world while we find ours. God is sometimes discovered most dramatically when we are willing to let go of every security, including family, when the time comes to do that. We may deprive our loved ones of this experience if we overprotect them or ourselves. In a similar way, there are also times when we can be over attached to this life as we think it should be. In doing so we will miss the opportunity for a new life in a more fulfilling way than we could have possibly imagined.