No More Conditions
Scripture
1 Kings 19:16,
1 Kings 19:19-21,
Galatians 5:1,
Galatians 5:13-18,
Luke 9:51-62.
Reflection
My dear sisters and brothers,
Today’s gospel is a sequence of four incidents:
1. The first incident is the encounter between the messengers of Jesus and the Samaritan villagers,
2. The second incident involves a man who says to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go,”
3. The third incident is that of the man who wanted first to go and bury his father before following Jesus.
4. Finally, there is the man who wants to go and say farewell to his family before following Jesus.
By these, we know that these not only mere incidents but also encounters with people.
They all wanted to follow Jesus.
It was a desire.
It was a wish.
It was an aspiration.
It was a want.
It was a need.
It was a longing.
It was a craving.
It was a plea.
It was a yearning.
Nevertheless, they all were held back by their concerns and their motives.
Each incident highlights a different concern.
1. The First Incident: Hatred
The first incident is the encounter between the messengers of Jesus and the Samaritan villagers.
What was the concern for the Samaritans?
The concern for the Samaritans is patriotism.
Samaritans and Jews were bitter enemies.
Perhaps, the Samaritan villagers had heard about Jesus.
The Samaritans had heard what Jesus and his disciples were doing.
The Samaritans had heard what Jesus and his disciples were interested in.
However, as soon as they learnt that Jesus and his disciples were Jews and were heading for Jerusalem, their appreciation turned into opposition.
Of course, patriotism and devotion for the national cause is a good thing.
At the same time, my dear sisters and brothers, when patriotism or cultural ideas or personal bias or preconceived opinion becomes the spectacle through which one sees all reality, including spiritual and eternal reality, then one is in danger of losing one’s own genuine perspective.
Therefore, the concern for the Samaritans is not patriotism but hatred.
Hatred cannot be a part of the Kingdom of God.
Love is a part of the Kingdom of God.
2. The Second Incident: Hunger for Security
The second incident involves a man who says to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go” (Luke 9:57):
Jesus replies, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58).
What was the concern of this man?
We need to ask another question in order to understand the concern of this man.
So, the question is:
Why did Jesus say, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”?
Jesus perhaps observed that here was a man who valued money.
In other words, we can say that it is financial independence.
Jesus possibly perceived that this man was here for his own security.
Jesus could see with his eyes that there was no passion for God’s Kingdom.
The concern was for his own kingdom.
Nothing is wrong to have personal security.
It is a good thing to have high goals.
It helps to achieve one’s own security and at the same time motivates the other as well.
However, when security becomes an obstacle on our way to follow Jesus passionately, then it is wrong.
Therefore, we understand that the concern for this man is not passion and commitment but the concern for his security.
We as followers of Jesus need to depend on God’s providence in our lives by establishing the Kingdom of God.
Moreover, this is the way to witness the Kingdom of God.
3. The Third Incident: Religiosity
The third incident is that of the man who wanted first to go and bury his father before following Jesus.
Burying one’s parents is part of the command to “Honour your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12).
This man follows the Ten Commandments.
This man was of high moral principles.
This man kept the law.
This man is highly concerned of his religious duties.
Again, this is a very good virtue.
No one can deny that this man was a religious person in his life and wanted to keep it up till his last breath.
But Jesus says, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
What does Jesus say?
Jesus says that we should not allow religious observance and rituals to immobilise us.
Religious duties and rituals keep us from following Christ.
Jesus is always on the move into new territories and new challenges.
Jesus calls us to reach out to the periphery breaking all the barriers in our lives so that the Kingdom of God is alive.
4. The Fourth Incident: Focus
Finally, there is the man who wants to go and say farewell to his family before following Jesus.
He wants to follow the example of Elisha (first reading) who bid his family farewell before becoming Elijah’s disciple.
This man has high social and family values.
One could only wish that all men could be this sensitive to let their families know their whereabouts at all times!
Yet before the urgent call of the kingdom of God, social and family concerns take a back seat.
“No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).
Following Jesus focuses on the Kingdom of God.
There is no distraction at all.
Here, we need to understand that the Kingdom of God is love.
God loved us by giving his only Son.
The Son loved us by giving his life for us on the Cross.
The Spirit loves us by giving a new spirit, passion to follow and reach out to all in love…
Our love cannot revolve around our own family alone.
It is a universal love…
It is love for all…
It is our focus as followers of Jesus Christ.
It is the focus of the Kingdom of God.
We are in the same situation as any of these well-meant, valued but mistaken disciples.
Today, Jesus calls us to focus on love, in other words ‘the Kingdom of God’.
Can we follow Christ unconditionally with the terms and conditions?”
NO…we cannot follow conditionally.
YES…we can follow unconditionally.
It is possible.
Unconditional following will turn hatred into love.
Unconditional following will turn hunger for security into providence of God.
Unconditional following will turn religiosity into relationship.
Unconditional following will turn focus on oneself fully into the Kingdom of God.
No more hatred.
No more, hunger for security.
No more religiosity.
No more, turning back.
Everything is unconditional love.
I would conclude by saying that these four incidents show that following Jesus Christ is to love him unconditionally in our lives.
No more conditions…in love.
May the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen…
