Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel passage are startling, and a bit scary taken at face value. “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.” And again, “Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” How are we to take this message?
Our God knows the world we live in; He knows we all have responsibilities to various people and institutions. I don’t believe Jesus is telling us to abandon our relationships with our loved ones and friends, or to walk away from all our responsibilities. Rather than a call to irresponsibility, I see this message as a call to a greater, altered responsibility. The first commandment says to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, etc. God must be first in our lives, above everyone and everything else. But, how do we show our love for God? It isn’t enough to read scripture and pray, although certainly those things are important. The way we truly show our love for God is through loving our neighbors as ourselves…words put into action. The message in today’s Gospel, then, is a call to reorient our thoughts and actions away from selfishness and self-centeredness towards generosity and love for others. All our thoughts and actions should be centered around Jesus and His teachings; we need to see the world and live in the world as Jesus did. This means putting others ahead of ourselves; their needs and wants come first, even if that means making a sacrifice.
What things keep you from putting God first in everything you do? We all have something that we hold onto dearly…possessions, titles, security, our time, bad habits, etc. We all need to see how we can adjust our priorities to put others first. We can’t do it alone; as the first reading tells us. We need God’s grace to first identify and then work to correct these issues. Thankfully, God’s grace is free for the asking.