Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/090510.shtml

The readings today are complex, and offer a conclusion we are familiar with but not in the usual way. What we should take away is this: without God, our lives lack meaning and true purpose, and unless we trust God alone we are not truly His people. It is important that in the readings today Paul renounces slavery, but it is interesting why he does it. To set this up, let’s build ideas upon each other from the readings.

The Psalm presents a theme easily familiar. “You make an end of them in their sleep;/ the next morning they are like the changing grass…Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,/ that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.” One day God will mark an end to our lives. Because of death, we need a way to give meaning to our lives. Living according to the Word of God is that meaning.

But the first reading asks “Who can know God’s counsel?” If our faith was one of mystery, then we could not know. But God has sent His Holy Spirit from on high, when Jesus Christ lived and died for our sins. In his actions and his teachings Jesus gave us wisdom to live aright.

Jesus teaches today that “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 disciple.” This from the man who said “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” The key is in one of the symptoms of hate: those we hate, we have no dealings with. We refuse to rely on them, and will suffer endlessly to avoid being lowered in their eyes. It is in this vein that Jesus teaches us to “hate” others.

In the gospel, Jesus knows he will have to die and leave his disciples to carry out God’s Word. If they really on others to do the work, if they ignore God’s calling because they believe someone else will take up the slack, they cannot be members of the kingdom. God knows our hearts; we know that the world cannot make us happy, only God can give us peace of spirit and joy of heart. We must rely on Him completely for that, and give ourselves wholly to Him. Which is terrifying.

It is easy to use others as a crutch, to live lives they would set out for us. But we must “hate” them, and turn our faces from their expectations. God has a plan for us, and to ignore that plan is to turn away from God. In doing that, we cannot be God’s disciples. It is not enough to be “good.” The kingdom of God can only be made manifest through us, it requires each of us to say yes to Him completely to be present in the world. We must be strong enough, and weak enough to rely on God in our lives.

This is why Paul sends the slave Onesimus back to Philemon. He was becoming a crutch, not only for Paul in comfort but for Philemon. For Onesimus let Philemon feel like he was doing good in supporting Paul, but keeping Onesimus as a slave wasn’t enough in God’s plan. Paul encourages Philemon to accept Onesimus back as a brother, encouraging him to rely on God totally, and bear in his own person God’s plan. God has called each one of us by name; we must be willing to take up our own cross. Onesimus cannot be proxy for Philemon.

It is scary to follow God. He demands nothing less than everything. But God has everything to offer, because the man who loses his own life shall gain it. We cannot let fear keep us from God, instead we must hate the things that keep Him at arms length. Whether those things are family or wealth, reputation or comfort, we must detest everything which will not let us take up our own cross, and follow God.