By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Homily by Archbishop Thomas Wenski at Mass with Archdiocese of Miami priests for Convocation 2015. Wednesday, Sept. 30.
"Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey."
Of course, this journey was towards Jerusalem - in other words, it was taking him to his passion and cross. And so, Jesus points out to three would be disciples something of the costs of discipleship. That we are called to discipleship is pure grace - not something we earned but something freely given by God to us. Yet, while grace is free, it is not cheap.
A German Protestant Pastor by the name of Dietrich Bonheoffer was executed by the Nazis in the last weeks of World War II. He wrote a famous book called "The Cost of Discipleship"; in it, he was critical of the Christian church at the time of the Nazi take over - he felt that too many came to believe in a false idea of what Christian living was about. The gospel was no longer perceived as demanding because of what he called "cheap grace."
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without repentance, baptism without discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal conversion. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, it is grace without the cross, it is grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Jesus who is on his way to his crucifixion is not about having any disciple think that he is just about a "cheap" grace and so Jesus challenges three would be disciples - and he challenges us today.
"Foxes have dens...but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head..." This is a challenge to the comfortable disciple. Jesus strips away the romanticism of following him. Yeah, its wonderful to follow Jesus but he's going to take us along some rough roads. He calls us out of our "comfort zones".
"Let the dead bury the dead". Now this might well seem to be a legitimate excuse. But, Jesus' invitation was "to follow him" then, not later - not when it would be more convenient to the disciple. This a challenge to get our priorities straight. Our priorities, our convenience are part of the cost of discipleship. If Jesus says "follow me", you don't answer, "I'm a little bit tied up today, but I can get to you tomorrow." If you're a disciple you go where Jesus goes. It is no longer about you but about him. He doesn't ask us to respond to his call at our "earliest convenience". What kind of disciple will only accompany Jesus when it is convenient to his schedule?
"No one who sets his hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God". A nice image from the rural life that surrounded Jesus and his disciples. Perhaps, today Jesus would have said, "Don't text and drive". In other words, don't let yourself be distracted from what you're supposed to be about. The distracted disciple might love Jesus and all that but he loses his way because he gets involved in other things.
We continue on our journey - "Miserando atque eligendo", lowly but chosen as Pope Francis' motto says. It is all grace but never "cheap grace". May the Word of God and the Eucharist strengthen and nourish us that we may follow the Lord even when not comfortable, even when not convenient. And may we journey with the Lord with single-minded devotion so that nothing distract us along the way.
