TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
7 SEPTEMBER 2025
As
Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem, huge crowds are following him. They have listened to his preaching,
especially about the Kingdom of God already in their midst. They have been impressed with his miracles
and the many ways he has expressed the love of his Father to them. However, he thins the crowd today with his
warnings. He makes it very clear what it
means to be an authentic disciple. He
tells them that they cannot be his disciple without “hating” the closest
members of their families and even their own lives. In using that strong word “hate,” Jesus is
not talking about an emotion that would tear apart family relationships. Rather, he uses that word as a hyperbole to
indicate one’s preference. Disciples
must put their relationship with him first and love the members of his or her
family less. Knowing that he will be
crucified in Jerusalem, he insists that his disciples must carry their
crosses. He uses two metaphors to
underline the conditions of discipleship.
A disciple needs to be like a builder, who carefully calculates the
costs required for constructing a tower.
Or a disciple needs to be like a king marching into battle, making sure
that he or she is prepared for the consequences. Authentic disciples must be prepared for the
costs of discipleship, willing to put the following of Jesus Christ ahead of
all possessions.
As we walk with Jesus Christ on our
own pilgrimage to the new and eternal Jerusalem, he gives us this same message. As disciples, we must put our relationship
with him at the center of our lives, even above our closest family members and
friends. But we also know from our own
experiences that putting our relationship with Jesus Christ as a first priority
will transform our other relationships and make them more precious. We must be prepared to carry difficult
crosses as a result of making these preferences and trust Jesus to be the
center of our lives.
Philemon was a disciple. He was a close enough friend that Saint Paul took
the time to write him a letter. Philemon
owned Onesimus as a slave. The slave’s
name spoke of his worth, because the name means “useful.” We do not know why Onesimus ran away from
Philemon’s household. But we do know
that he was breaking the law in running to Saint Paul. He not only proved to be useful to the old
man in prison. He became a disciple of
Jesus Christ when Saint Paul baptized him.
Through Baptism, Onesimus not only became a sacred child of God. He also became a brother in Christ to all the
other baptized members of the Body of Christ.
Saint Paul now sends him back to
Philemon with this letter. He asks
Philemon to receive Onesimus no longer as a slave, but as a brother, beloved to
both Paul and his owner as a man in the Lord.
He asks Philemon to welcome Onesimus as he would welcome Paul.
We have no idea what Philemon did
when his slave returned. Did he punish
him for running away without permission?
Did he beat him in front of the rest of the slaves to warn them not to
attempt this same trick? Or did he
accept the request of Saint Paul to welcome him back as a brother in the
Lord? If he did this, he would be
carrying the cross of renouncing one of his possessions and even inviting the
rest of the slaves to go to Paul and get baptized themselves. He would be carrying the cross of losing
revenue and security.
We might ask the question: why did Saint Paul not denounce the cruel and
inhumane system of slavery? Even worse,
we are horrified at slave owners in this country using Paul as an excuse to
continue to enslave human beings. The
truth is that slavery was such an ingrained part of the ancient world that Paul
did not challenge it. Instead, he
focused on the transformation of relationships within the unjust system of
slavery. Within the many unjust
situations in our society, we too can focus on ways to transform relationships by
being disciples of Jesus Christ.
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