The readings for Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time may be found at:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062622.cfm
It’s the first weekend of Summer.
School’s out, the weather is good and lots of people get out, travel and go somewhere for a while.
In today’s gospel, Jesus and his disciples are traveling at the front end of Luke’s ten chapter long “journey narrative”.
This journey and where it ends, in Jerusalem at the cross is about what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
What it means to follow Jesus.
As I reflected on this gospel this week, it’s probably no coincidence that I was also listening to songs from the Christian music group, Casting Crowns.
Many of their songs are about what it means to follow Jesus.
And they boil it down to two things.
“To know Him and to make Him known”
Simple, but not easy.
Simple because “To Know Him” means we have the answers to the test.
We already know how the journey ends - with vindication and glory in eternal life.
But not easy - because “To make Him known” often means misunderstanding, suffering and death to our own selfish desires.
Following Jesus is hopefully why we are here in church today.
But in each of our lives there will come moments, when Jesus calls us to follow Him more deeply, when He calls us to make Him known.
Jesus meets three such people as he is traveling today.
Will we respond like the first person who at first says “I will follow you wherever you go” dreaming of the future, until Jesus reminds him of the true costs of discipleship.
We want a strong and vibrant parish community, but don’t always want to make the time to get involved or make the first move.
We want events and outreach, but don’t want to give time to volunteer.
Following Jesus means a concrete commitment and Jesus asks this first person and us “What sacrifice are we willing to make to follow Him?
He then comes upon a second person who has things to take care of before he’s ready to follow Jesus.
“Let me bury my father first”.
In other words, I’ll follow you when it’s more convenient for me, I’ll do that tomorrow, when I have more money, more time, more whatever, when things settle down a bit.
But, let’s be honest - to follow Jesus sometime in the future is to not follow Him at all.
The world will never be perfect. Things will never be exactly right.
Jesus responds to the second person by telling Him to follow Him right now.
The third person Jesus meets is the one he tells not to “set a hand on the plow and look to what is left behind”.
He is saying that when we look back and not towards Him we are not fully invested. We are not “all in”.
When we don’t follow the Lord more faithfully because of something that happened years ago we only hurt ourselves.
None of us had a perfect childhood, perfect schooling or perfect families.
Whatever our past, the Lord calls us to follow Him now and as we are.
Jesus’ answer to this third person is to focus on what is ahead, not what is behind.
Now what does this have to do with us?
In the life of every disciple, there is a critical moment when the Lord speaks to us personally and individually.
What we do when that call comes is everything.
If we don’t act upon it when it comes, the less likely we are to act on it at all.
It’s like receiving a gift and not writing a thank you note right away - it probably never gets written.
The same thing happens with moments of special grace.
This week, let us reflect on these moments.
When they come, do we recognize them?
Do we dismiss them because we are dreaming of a future that may never happen?
Do we shrug them off because the timing is not quite right?
Do we use our troubled past as an excuse not to answer?
We are called to be disciples.
Let us ask Jesus to give each of us what He knows we need to better “Know Him and to make Him known”.
