These readings are difficult, very difficult. They are difficult because they remind us of the true cost of discipleship. To be a disciple of Jesus is to be inflamed with the love of God. Consider the plight of Jeremiah. He was persecuted because he dared to proclaim the truth of God. Life would have been easier for him had he kept quiet, but no, he dared to speak out. The princes who did not want to hear his message mocked him, then, they threw him into a muddy cistern to die. Jeremiah was rescued but the near death experience did not silence him. He would not reject the burning of God’s truth within his bones. We then heard a passage from the Letter to the Hebrews. The author tells the second and third generation Christians to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus and persevere in running the race set before them. Keep in mind that being a disciple in those times was perilous. Then and now, being a follower of Jesus was never promised to be an easy undertaking. The early Christians were reminded that Jesus himself endured much opposition from sinners who rejected him and his message. He did this so that they and we could endure the wrath of sinners who reject him. If, like them, you think being a Christian is too demanding, just think, you haven’t resisted the evil one to the “point of shedding blood.” Finally we came to a very demanding gospel passage that began vividly. “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” Jesus wasn’t talking about forest fires. He was talking about the fire of God’s love. Alas, he knows that too many people have yet to experience that love because not all his disciples endeavor to truly love others and God. He then delivers this rather startling statement, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three…” Yes, Jesus cautions us that being one of his disciples is costly. We don’t want to hear that choosing Christ can put our lives at odds with those around us or that we will be persecuted for our beliefs and mocked. Instead we want our religion to be easy and private. We don’t want to have to pay a price for living our faith but sooner or later we may have to since we live in a culture that opposes many tenets of our faith. When we encounter resistance to contemporary moral issues like capital punishment, the treatment of immigrants, racism, caring for the poor, abortion, artificial contraception, sexual activity outside of marriage, porn, to name but a few, we are at times tempted to be quiet on the matter or even join the opposition and reject the moral truths of our faith. But if we are to be true disciples, we can do neither. In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer makes a distinction between what he calls cheap grace and costly grace. He didn’t use the term grace in the manner that we Catholics do, as something coming from God. Rather for him grace was another word for religion. To paraphrase Bonhoeffer, “cheap religion is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, or communion without confession. Cheap religion is a religion without the cross, a religion without Jesus Christ.” Cheap religion is to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ as this, “Of course you have sinned, but now everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are.” Costly religion confronts us as a gracious call to truly follow Jesus. It comes as a word of forgiveness to the contrite heart and broken spirit.Bonhoeffer calls this costly because it compels us to be willing to die for Christ, which as you and I both know, many martyrs have literally or figuratively. Because we have chosen Christ, we are sometimes mocked perhaps even within our family for our beliefs. The pseudo-intellectuals of our times belittle the truths of our faith as children’s tales or may even think of us as Jesus freaks. Because we have chosen Christ, we are confronted with difficult decisions at times that we need to make if we are to be true to our convictions as Catholic Christians. We embrace the cost of discipleship when those of us who are married or ordained remain committed to our vows in difficult times as well as easy times. There are no perfect marriages because marriage is the union of two, normal yet imperfect people. The cost of discipleship demands that spouses accept each other’s limitations and love each other even when they don’t like each other. We embrace the cost of discipleship because God’s kingdom is more important than even one’s family. Infused with God’s love, we are more concerned about others than ourselves. We are more concerned with their eternal salvation than anything they can do to us in this lifetime. We know God loves us and we know that God wants others to experience His Love. Filled with the warmth of his love, we will happily join the Lord in setting the world on fire with love. And we will do this no matter what personalcost this entails: For the cost of discipleship is temporary, but the Treasure of God’s Love is forever.
St. Hubert Catholic Church
As Roman Catholics, centered in the Eucharist, our mission is to live Christ's Gospel message to love, teach, pray, and serve.