20210628 FRIENDSHIP GROWS OUT OF DISCIPLESHIP
28 June, 2021, Monday, 13th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading |
Genesis 18:16-33 © |
Abraham negotiates with the Lord
From Mamre the men set out and arrived within sight of Sodom, with Abraham accompanying them to show them the way. Now the Lord had wondered, ‘Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am going to do, seeing that Abraham will become a great nation with all the nations of the earth blessing themselves by him? For I have singled him out to command his sons and his household after him to maintain the way of the Lord by just and upright living. In this way the Lord will carry out for Abraham what he has promised him.’
Then the Lord said, ‘How great an outcry there is against Sodom and Gomorrah! How grievous is their sin! I propose to go down and see whether or not they have done all that is alleged in the outcry against them that has come up to me. I am determined to know.’
The men left there and went to Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Approaching him he said, ‘Are you really going to destroy the just man with the sinner? Perhaps there are fifty just men in the town. Will you really overwhelm them, will you not spare the place for the fifty just men in it? Do not think of doing such a thing: to kill the just man with the sinner, treating just and sinner alike! Do not think of it! Will the judge of the whole earth not administer justice?’ The Lord replied, ‘If at Sodom I find fifty just men in the town, I will spare the whole place because of them.’
Abraham replied, ‘I am bold indeed to speak like this to my Lord, I who am dust and ashes. But perhaps the fifty just men lack five: will you destroy the whole city for five?’ ‘No,’ he replied ‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five just men there.’ Again Abraham said to him, ‘Perhaps there will only be forty there.’ ‘I will not do it’ he replied ‘for the sake of the forty.’
Abraham said, ‘I trust my Lord will not be angry, but give me leave to speak: perhaps there will only be thirty there.’ ‘I will not do it’ he replied ‘if I find thirty there.’ He said, ‘I am bold indeed to speak like this, but perhaps there will only be twenty there.’ ‘I will not destroy it’ he replied ‘for the sake of the twenty.’ He said, ‘I trust my Lord will not be angry if I speak once more: perhaps there will only be ten.’ ‘I will not destroy it’ he replied ‘for the sake of the ten.’
When he had finished talking to Abraham the Lord went away, and Abraham returned home.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 102(103):1-4,8-11 © |
The Lord is compassion and love.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
all my being, bless his holy name.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
and never forget all his blessings.
The Lord is compassion and love.
It is he who forgives all your guilt,
who heals every one of your ills,
who redeems your life from the grave,
who crowns you with love and compassion.
The Lord is compassion and love.
The Lord is compassion and love,
slow to anger and rich in mercy.
His wrath will come to an end;
he will not be angry for ever.
The Lord is compassion and love.
He does not treat us according to our sins
nor repay us according to our faults.
For as the heavens are high above the earth
so strong is his love for those who fear him.
The Lord is compassion and love.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn8:12 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
anyone who follows me will have the light of life.
Alleluia!
Or: | Ps94:8 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 8:18-22 © |
The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head
When Jesus saw the great crowds all about him he gave orders to leave for the other side. One of the scribes then came up and said to him, ‘Master, I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’
Another man, one of his disciples, said to him, ‘Sir, let me go and bury my father first.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead.’
FRIENDSHIP GROWS OUT OF DISCIPLESHIP
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Gn 18:16-33; Ps 103:1-4,8-11; Mt 8:18-22 ]
In the gospel, we read of two potential disciples of our Lord. The first was a scribe. He initiated his desire to be a disciple of the Lord. He said to the Lord, “Master, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” He had a mistaken notion of discipleship. He failed to count the cost of being a disciple of our Lord. He presumed that his enrollment to discipleship was similar to that of being enrolled in the theological school where he was trained as a scribe by a rabbi. Being a scribe or a rabbi was to hold a position of authority and respect. They were well- treated and given much honor by the people. They belonged to an established institution and had a synagogue to do their ministry.
In the case of Jesus, He was an itinerant preacher. He did not come from any rabbinic school. He had no synagogue or place of worship which he owned. He was frowned upon by the religious authorities. His disciples were a motley mix of uneducated fishermen, tax-collectors and revolutionaries. There was no school where they could be trained under Jesus. They just followed and observed what the Lord did and listened to His preaching. The way Jesus formed His disciples was more by mentoring than by a systematic form of education. There was no comfort, no luxurious living because they were out on the streets, in the countryside and at sea. Did the scribe consider all these before he even dared to ask Jesus to accept him as a disciple?
It is true for us as well. Some ask for baptism but we are not aware of the cost of discipleship. Some become Christians or Catholics because it is a good and respectable thing to do. Some want to be priests or religious because it is considered an office of dignity and of course power and honour. Jesus did not mince His words or hide the price of discipleship from those who wished to follow Him. He made it clear that whoever wished to follow Him had to deny himself, take up his cross and follow Him. (Mt 16:24) He came to serve and not to be served and to give His life as a ransom for many. (Mt 20:28) His disciples would be hated by everyone because of Him. (Mt 10:22) To follow Him, we must give all to the poor and depend on Him alone. (Mt 19:21) If we are not ready, then we cannot be His disciples. Like the rich man, when he “heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.” (Mt 19:22) Are we ready to bear the cost of discipleship?
If this is not demanding enough for discipleship, Jesus demanded absolute fidelity to Him over anyone and anything else. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Mt 10:37) Hence, when a would-be disciple said to the Lord, “Sir, let me go and bury my father first”, Jesus replied, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead.” Far from teaching us to disrespect our parents, Jesus is asking us to love our parents and loved ones more by first loving Him above everyone else. Only a total surrender to His love and discipleship will make us love and care for our loved ones unconditionally and without reserve. But it demands that we willing put Him first in our lives. Unfortunately, many of us love our spouse and children more than we love God. We worship them like gods, instead of giving priority to the Lord. So to be a disciple requires us to have total allegiance to the Lord.
But this incident also reminds us of the dangers of procrastination and lost opportunities. Many are called to be disciples of the Lord but they procrastinate and delay because, like the rich man, they are not ready to leave their lucrative careers or businesses, or their loved ones, to go to another land to be His missionary. Some are not ready to be baptized because their loved ones oppose the faith. Delays result in missed opportunities.
If we find the demands of discipleship too costly, it is because we are still on the level discipleship. Disciples have to go through thorough training, as St Paul wrote. “Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.” (1 Cor 9:25-27) In fact, anyone who wants to master martial arts would have to undergo rigorous training before he could be acknowledged as a master.
But once he graduates from discipleship, he becomes a friend. This was what the Lord told His disciples at the end of His life. He said to them, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (Jn 15:12-15) More than just friends, we are called to be the relatives of our Lord, for He said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mt 12:49f) Later St Paul will write, “When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ – if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” (Rom 8:16f)
Indeed, the model of a true disciple is Abraham in today’s first reading. He was a good and righteous man, blameless in the sight of God. God promised Abram, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.” (Gn 17:1f) His righteousness was not just seen in his faith in God and total surrender to Him in obedience to His command, but his faith was seen in love and friendship. He was a man of great generosity and hospitality to all. By so doing, He unknowingly welcomed God to his tent, as we read in yesterday’s reading. He pleaded with them to take a rest in his tent and prepared a lavish meal for them. After the meal, as a good guest would do, he accompanied the Lord to show Him the way to His next destination, which was Sodom. Abraham truly walked closely with the Lord as His friend and companion. Indeed, God has decreed that “Abraham will become a great nation with all the nations of the earth blessing themselves by him. For I have singled him out to command his sons and his household after him to maintain the way of the Lord by just and upright living.”
Abram was chosen to be the friend of God because the Lord did not keep His secret from Him that He was about to destroy Sodom. The Lord shared with Abraham His concerns as one would share with our friends. “How great an outcry there is against Sodom and Gomorrah! How grievous is their sin! I propose to go down and see whether or not they have done all that is alleged in the outcry against them that has come up to me. I am determined to know.” How intimate was the friendship between Abraham and God! Like an intimate friend, God did not hide His intentions from him. He wanted Abram to understand Him.
Again, we see the intimacy between Abraham and God in the conversation that followed. In spite of his friendship with God, Abraham knew his position and status. Over-familiarity in his case did not breed contempt. Abraham shared the compassion of God when he heard of the impending destruction and of course, his nephew, Lot, and his wife were in that town. Abraham pleaded with God by bargaining from fifty to ten good men in the city. Abraham did this because he wanted to protect the image of God who is just and compassionate. He said, “Will you really overwhelm them, will you not spare the place for the fifty just men in it? Do not think of doing such a thing: to kill the just man with the sinner, treating just and sinner alike! Do not think of it! Will the judge of the whole earth not administer justice?” In truth, God is really compassionate and just, but even ten good men could not be found. Nevertheless, on account of Abraham, God delivered Lot from destruction. (Gn 18:29) When we are friends of God, there is nothing we will not do for the Lord, and there is nothing the Lord will not do for us! Faith in God depends on how intimate we are with Him.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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