The passage from Wisdom shares a prayer attributed to King Solomon who asked God to give him wisdom to rule his people with holiness and righteousness. Wisdom, the first gift of the Holy Spirit, helps us to judge things as God sees them. We need that wisdom to understand what Jesus is telling us in this rather unusual gospel passage in which he is essentially asking, “What really matters to you?”
What came to mind as I pondered this gospel is the first commandment. “I am the Lord your God, you shall not have other gods before me.” We must not have idols in our lives and yet many of us do. Movie stars, rock stars, sports stars and politicians, idolized by their fans, command more of their attention than Jesus does.
Making Jesus a top priority in our lives challenges us to let go of other things that mean much to us. Years ago I read about a tribe in Africa that had a clever way of trapping wild monkeys. They would hollow a huge pumpkin and then cut holes just big enough for a monkey’s hand to slip through; fill the pumpkin with peanuts, tie the pumpkin to a tree and leave. When all is quiet, curious monkeys would investigate. Smelling the bait they would reach through a hole to grab the peanuts. But the opening is not big enough for the monkeys to pull out their clenched fists. Refusing to open their fists to release their prize, they are stuck. The hunters then would pick up the trapped monkeys and ship them off to live in a zoo… all because they were too stubborn to let go.
Often we refuse to “let go” of things that are making our lives so much less than we want them to be. We cling to the things that enable us to have the trappings of a lifestyle but at the cost of a life in which joy, love and fulfillment are the center. The gifts of God can only be grasped with the open hands of humility and prayer. The closed fists of materialism and self-centeredness condemn us to a life of emptiness.
Jesus used exaggeration to tell us what it takes to be one of his disciples. True discipleship isn’t a matter of convenience but of strong conviction in and commitment to the person and teachings of Jesus Christ. To get our attention, Jesus cautions that we cannot be his disciples without hating our parents, our spouse and children even our own lives. Huh? On the one hand Jesus tells us to love, so what gives?
The Hebrew word for hatred has no clear English equivalent; it does not necessarily mean reject or disdain. Rather, it has more to do with priority. Jesus seeks to be first in our lives. Our love for others and things must be less than our love for God. To be his disciple, nothing, as many saints have demonstrated, should keep us apart from Jesus, not even our families, what we own, our careers, or our idols, not even our very lives. Following Jesus sometimes means putting the Lord ahead of our loved ones. For example, when the values of the Gospel and your commitment to Christ cause you to differ with them.
To be his disciple, Jesus leaves the impression that we must turn our back on our loved ones, renounce our possessions and take up our cross. Judging by what he says elsewhere in the gospels, that makes no sense. I doubt Jesus wants us to live in poverty or abandon our families and friends, so what is the bottom line here?
Above all else, Jesus wants us to have a close relationship, not a casual one, with him. Obviously, the depth of our relationship with Jesus depends on the choices we make. If the relationships in our lives or our possessions or our idols matter more than our relationship with him, then we aren’t really one of his disciples. As he said, unless we take up our cross and follow him, we cannot be one of his disciples.
Becoming a Christian is not something that automatically happens at baptism, any more than gaining the endurance to run a marathon comes with putting on a pair of running shoes. Discipleship must be continually nurtured and that, Jesus says, must be a top priority in our lives. We do that through prayer, worship and service to others. We do that by placing God first in our lives.
If we ignore the demands of discipleship, our relationship with God in this lifetime will grow more distant with the passing of time. Just ask anyone who has fallen away from practicing his or her faith.
Nurturing our faith and carrying our cross doesn’t come easily but Jesus isn’t asking us to take this leap alone. Consider Paul, who risked much to follow Jesus. No matter what crisis he faced, he never wavered because he wisely knew that Christ loved him and died for him. Christ did the same for us.
What really matters to you? The idols in your life, whatever they may be, or Jesus? The choice is up to us. A deepening relationship with Christ can truly change our lives and our world just as it changed Paul. This is why the Holy Spirit has blessed us with wisdom to see the value of placing Jesus ahead of all other priorities in our lives, for none of them will grant us the gift of eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom or the fullness of a satisfying earthly life in the mean time.