Homily, 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: 1 Kings 19:16,19-21; Galatians 5:1,13-18; Luke 9:51-62

When I was in grade school, I would often get the same “command” from my teacher repeatedly. And it wasn’t because I was a bad kid. Not at all. And I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. Yet, the truth is, often I would get a little bored if the teacher talked too much about the same thing. And so, I would start to fidget or whisper to one of my classmates. And before I knew it, the teacher would call my name and say those two words we’ve all heard at one time or another. . . Eyes forward. When I heard those words, I would always immediately apologize, sit up straight, and give the teacher my full attention. (Until the next time, of course!) 

“No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God” 

These are puzzling, challenging words from the mouth of Jesus in today’s Gospel reading from Luke. And this statement from our Lord came immediately after two requests from a couple of people who were considering following him. One simply wanted to go home to bury his father, and the other just wanted to say farewell to his family. Jesus doesn’t give them an emphatic “no”, but rather gives them the cryptic words above. What is Jesus saying?

It’s easy to interpret these words as being insensitive, or possibly even cruel. Does Jesus not care about our families? Does Jesus not care about the relationships that are so important to us? Does Jesus not believe in duty or responsibility or basic kindness?  As we know, Jesus often uses extreme examples to make his point, or tells parables in which things are often the opposite of what we think they should be in order to force us to evaluate the depth of our belief and the depth of our commitment. And that seems to be what he’s doing here. And so, I believe Jesus is basically telling me and all of us the same thing my teachers told me over and over and over again . . . . Eyes forward.

“No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”

I know there is a kind of danger in belonging to a community of faith that is rooted in historical events. And we are part of just such a tradition. We have sacred texts that tell us story after story after story, texts that show us the hand of God in the lives of real people. And we have two millennia of history that is very well-known, a history anchored in a person, a historical person, Jesus --- the foundation upon which all of it rests. And Jesus was a real person who lived in a particular time and place. And his passion, death, and resurrection were two thousand years ago. All of that is true. But faith --- true and deep faith --- is always forward looking. A life of faith is not about who we were yesterday. It is not just the faith of parents or guardians. It’s not about the mistakes and sins we have made or the hurts that were inflicted on us or the troubles that have come our way. Rather, faith is all about making honest assessments of who we are today and imagining who we want to be tomorrow. It’s about embracing a whole new way of thinking and seeing and acting. And it’s about following --- not someone who is behind us, but rather following someone who is right in front of us and within us --- inviting us to love more and give more and be more.

So, how do we fit the practice of our faith into the demands of everyday life? 

Putting our faith into action is the challenge of every believer. We are pulled between making time for prayer and good works on the one hand; raising a family and holding down a job on the other. It is difficult to pray the rosary or study the Bible when supper needs to be prepared, the kids need a ride to soccer practice or when we must work overtime on a project. It is difficult to keep our minds focused on the kingdom of God when so many other demands are made on our time and energy. Nonetheless, Jesus calls us to love him no matter what the circumstances of our life may be. 

This Sunday’s readings give us some important clues on how to balance the practice of our faith with the demands of life in today’s world. In the second reading, Saint Paul reminds us to “serve one another through love.” Love is the calling of every Christian. It makes everything we do pleasing to God. By adding a little love, we can take whatever we’re doing and make it an opportunity to serve Jesus. When we offer our thoughts, words, and actions up to God in love, then the demands of job and family no longer get in the way of our life of faith but help us to grow closer to God and others. They become opportunities for prayer as we draw on the power of his Spirit to enable us to love as he does. By offering our work up to God in love, by not allowing our busy lives to be an excuse to overlook the needs of others, we can discover a sure path to holiness in our everyday lives. Eyes forward, just as my grade teacher used to tell me when I got absent-minded! ###