Another Practice Homily: God Only Knows!

Reflection on Readings - September 8, 2013
(23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Wisdom 9: 13-18b; Ps. 90: 3-4, 12-13, 14-17; Philemon: 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14: 25-33

God Only Knows What I'd Be Without You!

Today’s Liturgy of the Word begins with our First Reading asking the question that all of us have come to realize and say out loud at some point in our lives, “Who Knows?” When the subject of God comes up in a discussion, a lot of us feel the strong urge to simply conclude with a phrase like, “Only God knows.” The Beach Boys wrote a love song about it singing, “God only knows what I’d be without you.” If we’ve ever used this sort of phrase, then we have stumbled upon a very necessary starting point for understanding the true nature of discipleship. It was King Solomon in today’s reading from Wisdom that asked the opening question, “Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the LORD intends,” as he went on to define true wisdom as starting with the notion that it is God who gives us the insight and the desire for knowledge, and it is the Spirit that helps us all “straighten the paths” of our journey.

Like with all things, beginning a process is only just that, a beginning. After that, there are many important steps to learning along the Way. The process of becoming a disciple, another word for student, relies on this same starting point, that God knows, or that Christ the Teacher has the answer you need, but your commitment to continuing this journey also dares you to be open to the possibility that God, in His wisdom, is trying to tell you all that He knows, and Christ has some very particular answers for you to consider as you grow into His disciple. In the case of the Beach Boys love song lyric, “God only knows what I’d be without you,” the answer most definitely is nothing, or at least the singer would be worse off because he would not be with her. In the case of our accepting the Gospel the answer is quite blunt, and a tad uncomfortable to say the least. “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Now as harsh as all that sounds, history has a small gift for us. In the context of Jesus’ time, the words love and hate were not necessarily used to convey emotion, rather they were chosen to imply the appropriate attitude when one is springing into action. The Beach Boys sang of the emotion of love, and dare I say the selfish feeling that I would be nothing without you, never mind the possibility that the person being serenaded to in the song might just be better off without the singer. In today’s Gospel, Luke’s notion of love and hate refer to an attitude of primary commitment (or not). In his own love letter or sorts, Pope Benedict XVI wrote, in his Encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love), that “love... is an ongoing exodus out of the closed inward self, towards its liberation through self-giving,” that is, we move from the sort of love song notion wondering if my life would be better if you were in it, to that of serving someone else’s needs before our own. Benedict continues with the ultimate reward of such an attitude in action, as it moves us “towards authentic self discovery and indeed the discovery of God.” This must be where the cross comes in, for the true Christian disciple must be willing to act as Jesus Christ, his teacher. If we’ve defined love as an action, and not the feeling of a love song, and God so loved the world that he gave his only son, and that Son Jesus Christ loves us so much that he carried the cross for us, then love, as defined in Benedict’s encyclical, is best personified in the action of Jesus Christ carrying the cross, making it all the more true that if you want to be a true disciple, don’t come to Christ still clinging to your own self, or even your spouse, children, mother, father, brother or sister. Rather, cling to your cross, and commit your whole self to the job that you must do!

Enter Onesimus. In today’s second reading, Paul writes from prison to his friend and leader of a Colossian house church, Philemon. Paul’s good news is the conversion of Onesimus, Philemon’s run-away slave. Paul offers his friend a very significant and useful challenge: Welcome Onesimus home, and accept him as a free man. You may remember that it was Paul’s letter to the Galatians that said “there is neither Jew nor Greek… slave nor free person… not male or female; for all are one in Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 3:28) As a disciple of Christ, and most certainly for Paul as well, Philemon must have heard this teaching from Paul along the way. Paul offers us here today the same true lesson in discipleship. First, Onesimus himself is converted and at the beginning of his own “Who Knows” kind of process of understanding that in God alone lies the wisdom, and in Christ alone lies the answer that he seeks. So as one who is ready to take his faith to the next level, carrying his own cross back to the home where he was once a slave, ready to freely give of himself in a new kind of service to others; who is he to be denied such an opportunity to become a disciple of his Lord Jesus Christ? After all, Onesimus is now truly one with the Colossian community of believers! Secondly, Philemon himself has an even deeper step to make in his ongoing discovery of what it means to truly love and be an authentic witness of this faith which he has so boldly led, for God knows, the challenge that Paul offers is the same challenge revealed by Christ in today’s Gospel: Unless you renounce all possessions you cannot be a disciple! This means Philemon releases his slave, and you and I decide not to cling to our flat screens on Saturdays and Sundays…

So let’s bring it all together. All wisdom comes from God, and in order to attain the goal of your journey to becoming a disciples, you must give up everything, carry your cross, and follow Christ! Do you have to stop loving your spouse, or your children, or your mother and father, or brother and sister? No. Love them with all of your heart, and serve them daily in the selfless way that they deserve as a child of God; the same way you would serve all who are in need of God’s love! But the key challenge is to let your love spring into action, not clinging to this world; rather, working for that which is to come, for if you want to be a true disciple, don’t come to Christ still clinging to your own self, or even your spouse, children, mother, father, brother rather sister. Rather, cling to your cross, the ultimate act of love, and commit your whole self to the job that you must do… the outward movement from the inward self to the liberation of self-giving, so as to discover your authentic self, and the Lord God. Who knows… It might just work.