­Homily for the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary time Cycle C Sept 4, 2022

 ­Homily for the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary time   Cycle C   Sept 4, 2022

 We have some tough readings today.   “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”  Well, that does not leave a lot of room for discussion.  Even tougher perhaps is this declaration: “anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”  How does that grab you?

          Our second reading today, from St. Paul, is not any better in terms of making a big demand.  You see, Paul’s big request to Philemon is asking him to accept back his runaway slave, Onesimus, as a fellow Christian and brother. 

          Did you like the readings today?  I find these readings hard to get my head around.  The demands are pretty straightforward and clear, yet what they ask – no, demand - is so counter to our usual way of thinking that it boggles my mind. 

          Our first reading was well chosen therefore when it asks, “Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the LORD intends?”   It is mysterious, counter-intuitive, almost repulsive. …

          But what God conceives, and the Lord intends, is the fullness of life and love.  Life and love.   However, we are so constrained and restricted by fear, and by greed, and by possiveness, and the urge to cling to what we have, that we find it extremely hard to let go of what we concretely now have in order to open ourselves to receive something far better, richer, more beautiful, much more satisfying, and certainly more lasting. 

          In the second reading today St Paul, in prison, came across a runaway slave, named Onesimus, that lo and behold belonged to someone St Paul had converted to Christianity, a man named Philemon.   In the reading St Paul sends Onesimus back to his owner, Philemon, and asks Philemon to accept Onesimus back as a brother and believer in Christ.   Wow.        

          Could Philemon be that open, that daring, that trusting in faith, to let go of all the social conventions and rules about slavery to welcome back Onesimus, his run-away slave, as a brother in the Lord?  What would his family think?  What would his neighbors do?  He would be upsetting the whole social and economic order.  If Philemon welcomed back his slave Onesimus as Paul asked, how long would it be before all his slaves got religion????   The whole society would fall apart and change. 

          Paul is bold enough to ask, indeed demand this, because Jesus Himself made even bolder demands previously.  “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.”

          What do you think of that?   Sisters and brothers, we cannot just chalk this up to Jesus having a bad day and did not really mean what He said.  We cannot explain this away as simply Semitic hyperbole, a way of speaking exaggeratedly that does not mean to be taken literally.  Because it still means to be taken seriously.  Very seriously.

          It is a challenge.

          The challenge is beyond us.  I don’t think that any of us, or only very few of us, are up to it.  But it is doable because Jesus went there first before us.  The Son of God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, emptied himself and took the form of a slave, and accepted death, death on a cross.   WHY?   Out of love for you and for me. 

          And that power of love is great.  Very great.   So great that when it is shared with us we too have the power to let go of everything and anything that holds us back from loving and living as the children of God, as brothers and sisters of Jesus, even to giving up our prized possessions to live more freely in the love of God.

          Philemon was asked to give up his relationship as Master to Onesimus his slave and accept him as a brother.   What is Jesus calling you to let go of?  to empty yourself of?  Not so that you will be empty, but rather that you will be open and free enough to accept the much, much better and truly wonderful gift God longs to give you, which is God’s own love, God’s own life. 

          To our ordinary and usual way of thinking, to our human ears, this forceful Gospel today does not sound like good news, but rather bad news: news of loss and deprivation.  Only the Holy Spirit can remove the veil of fear and greed from our souls so that we can see the beauty and freedom of living as the Children of God.  And that insight is a wonderful gift.  Be free. 

          God Bless!