Readings:
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Luke 9:22-25
Reflection:
Human choice seeps through these readings. Moses challenges the people to “choose life” as they poise themselves to enter the land they were promised. But the deeper message concerns the heart, the heart of the people, the heart of each person. The land is secondary. The call to listen, to love and obey the true God is primary, as it was for Jesus.
Jesus describes the fate that would be his because of his choice to love and obey. As he calls us to follow him, there is no hidden message. Moses declares that possession of the land is dependent on commitment to God’s ways. Jesus expands this teaching to include the whole world, contrasting it with the price that some are willing to pay for its possession. The loss of the self in the pursuit of wealth, power and privilege is declared by Jesus to be the total disaster, the ultimate ruin, the consummate stupidity.
But the message is not just for the bigwigs of today and yesterday, clear and all as their strutting toward personal ruin was and is. We are challenged by the words of Jesus because they apply to each of us regardless of our situation. At home, at work, at sport and as we relax we are called to follow him by doing what is good, generous and forgiving, regardless of the personal cost.
Learning from and leaning on him, we are definitely up for it, and he is there when we stumble.
Sister Susan Connelly RSJ, past teacher and Motor Missioner has been involved with Timor-Leste since the 1990s and is concerned about West Papua. She is involved with the Passionist Parish of Marrickville, NSW.