23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Lk. 14:25-33) “Pondering my Commitment”
We might picture Jesus as spontaneous. He seems to react to surprises in his ministry with ease. A person comes to him with a terrible illness. He heals the sickness. A Pharisee asks a tough question; Jesus responds with a tougher question. A storm blows up while Jesus is in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee; he calms the storm. Yes, trust seems to be so natural to him.
But if we look at Jesus’ life in another way, he seems to be extremely cautious. We could ask why it took him so long to start his public ministry, for example. In the Gospel accounts, we have a whole period where Jesus disappears from out view. We see him as a boy approaching manhood in the Gospel of Luke. He leaves his parents while they are visiting Jerusalem to talk to the scholars in the temple. He seems to be trying to discuss his path in life. But he stops his studies to go home to live with Mary and Joseph. We are told simply that, “Jesus progressed in wisdom and age and grace before God and man.”
The next time we pick up the story of Jesus, it is twenty years later when he is baptized by John. He goes to the desert where he is tempted by Satan. Following that he begins his mission. Why did Jesus take so long to get started? We get a sense that he had to prepare. He grew in wisdom. What did he study? Was it the sacred texts of the Jewish faith? Certainly, he knew them well. We can see that in his preaching and teaching. He grew in grace, which meant he took time to deepen his relationship with his Father. Jesus obviously prayed every day for guidance. Finally, Jesus grew in age. Jesus had to have life experience before he would be a credible leader. When he started his ministry, he was looked upon as mature. Young people looked up to him. Older people saw that he had life experience. He wasn’t naïve. Jesus knew he had to prepare himself well for his earthly mission to be a success.
He uses examples in today’s Gospel that speak of his caution. He helped build many structures in his life for he was a construction worker. Did he see buildings fail? He probably did. When construction isn’t planned with care, disaster happens.
The world has seen these many times. One of the most famous construction failures was “Galloping Gertie.” Galloping Gertie was a suspension bridge that was constructed over the Tacoma Straights in Washington State in 1940. The bridge was meant to be flexible so it would sway in the wind. It was the third longest suspension bridge in the world. Costs were kept to a minimum because of its lightweight design. Unfortunately, on November 7, 1940, a forty- five mile an hour wind caused what was called an aeroelastic flutter which made the bridge sway until it collapsed, falling into the sea. A film made at the time captures all this. We can see the bridge bouncing up and down with a car bouncing around on top of it. Fortunately, no one was killed by the bridge failure.
If structures can collapse because of a lack of foresight, so can nations, so can churches, so can personal faith. Can we be disciples of Jesus? We need to take this question seriously. Before we commit to following Jesus, we need to consider what this will mean in our life. Can we commit to Christian moral behavior? Do we want to be a person who prays? Are we willing to make sacrifices to help our neighbor. Can we love as Jesus did? We need to look at all this before we say we want to be a Christian. As a Church we need to ponder the path we must take as well. Part of church life is making sure we have adequate resources to continue the mission of Jesus.
We do that as a parish. We do that as a diocese. We try to do that as a worldwide church. This involves sharing what we have at every level. Each year the Diocese of Peoria asks us to make a material sacrifice for the good of the diocese during our Annual Diocesan Appeal. Each parish is assessed a financial amount to support the diocese. This year Sacred Heart’s Parrish assessment is approximately $110,000. You should have received a letter explaining the drive in the mail with an envelope. Please mail that to Peoria. If you didn’t get a pledge card in the mail, please take a moment now to fill out a card…….
Each day we make choices that reflects our commitment to Christ. Hopefully, each of us will ask how we can support the work of the church. May the Lord bless all of us as we recommit at the Eucharist to be intentional disciples of Jesus.