TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
4 SEPTEMBER 2022
Jesus
continues his journey to Jerusalem. On
the way, he has been announcing that the Kingdom of God has arrived. He is the promised Messiah. He invites everyone to respond and follow
him. He offers a special invitation to
the poor the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
These people may be on the fringes of society. But they are first in the kingdom of
God. The great crowds who are traveling
with him have taken that first step.
Today, he
tells those great crowds that they need to take the next step. If they are to become authentic disciples,
they must consider the implications of their choice. They must put Jesus first, even before family
members. The Greek text uses the word
“hate” not to tell people how to feel about their family members, but to love
them less than loving Jesus. Knowing
that his journey will end by dying on the cross in Jerusalem, Jesus insists
that they carry their crosses. Finally,
he tells authentic disciples to renounce their possessions.
Philomen
became a disciple of Jesus Christ when he and his family were baptized in
Ephesus. In his letter to Philomen,
Saint Paul challenges him to take these same three steps as an authentic
disciple. Philomen has a slave, Onesimus. The slave had run away from the family and
had sought refuge with Paul, who is in prison.
Paul had welcomed him and found him useful. In fact, that is exactly what the slave’s
name means. Paul had baptized him. No matter how useful Onesimus may have been
to Paul, the Apostle knows by law that the slave belongs as property to his
master. So, he sends Onesimus back to Philomen,
reminding him that his status has radically changed. He is no longer just a slave. He is a baptized brother in the Lord Jesus.
In the
first century, Onesimus is a valuable financial asset to the family. Paul tells Philomen that his discipleship
puts the Lord Jesus ahead of the needs of the family. Paul is aware that Philomen and his family
will bear a heavy cross if they welcome Onesimus back as a brother in the Lord,
instead of a slave who takes care of so many family details. Paul invites Philomen to renounce Onesimus as
one of his possessions.
We have no
idea how Philomen responded to Paul’s letter.
Maybe he recognized the new dignity of his slave as a brother in Christ
and welcomed him back. Maybe he punished
him severely and put heavier burdens on him for running away.
However, we
can listen to Paul’s words and ask ourselves about the quality of our
discipleship. Do we put Jesus ahead of
all our relationships, even spouses and children? Paradoxically, those bonds can be
strengthened if we have the faith to put Jesus first. Are we willing to carry the crosses that come
to us, especially those crosses we endure in living our faith? Do we express gratitude for the many material
blessings God has given us and share a portion of them with the poor? Or do we hoard them, thinking that they will
save us?
Jesus
invites us today to reflect on the quality of our discipleship. His demands can be frightening. But they also have the power to free us. Saint Paul challenges us, as he challenged
Philomen, to see Christ in everyone. In
the 18th and 19th centuries, people from Africa were
brought to the new world against their wills and forced to be slaves. Christians who owned slaves saw them as less
than human. Slavery may have ended with
the 13th amendment. But the
temptation to regard people of other races or people who different from us as
less than human remains. In our
polarized society, we are tempted to regard those who disagree with us in the
same way. As faithful disciples, we are
called to treat people of all races and those who live on the fringes of
society with dignity and respect.
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