Please read Luke 14:25-33 and get a pen or pencil and write down the answer to this question on a piece of paper. When you meet a person, what words do you use to introduce yourself other than your name? Please write the words you use to describe yourself down on the paper.
In answering what words you use to introduce yourself, did anyone write down (You must be a registered user and "Log In" to read more. Click on "Create an account," if you are new to the site.) “Christian?” It is what and who we are when we become disciples of Jesus Christ.
I think I have written before that whenever I have to fill out an application for credit cards, financing, or any other application I can think of, there is a category that says “Race” with several boxes after it. You can choose, “White”, “African American,” “Asian,” “American Indian,” and “Other,” which has a space after it for you to put what you are. I used to check “Other” and write “Slavic-American”. That is, until I realized that who I am is not defined by the color of my skin or my ethnicity, but by who I worship. I am a Christian, by race. Now, that is what I write down on the application. Here what St. Peter says in his First Letter,
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
When we follow Jesus, our identity is changed. All our relationships are now defined by our relationship with him and our relationship with his community of believers. This is why Jesus says,
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."
It is a stunning statement. A very strong statement. But it is a statement we need to hear in 2010.
What Jesus is saying is this: Our religion must be the most important thing in our lives. Following Jesus must be front and center. All things we do must be judged by that. I want you to take that piece of paper and cross out whatever it is that you wrote down there and write this, “I AM A CHRISTIAN. I LEAVE EVERYTHING TO FOLLOW CHRIST.”
Now what do I mean by “everything?”
Well, it is like one of those houses we see where about six or seven years ago someone built the foundation and maybe put up the frame of one wall. Then it just sat there year after year. Who would want to live there? It is an unfinished house. The thing is sad at best and just ridiculous at worst. When we say that we are a follower of Jesus and then do not try to do what he calls us to do, we are like those unfinished houses. No one, not even the Lord, wants to dwell in an unfinished house. We cannot be unfinished houses.
To be an unfinished house is to let your personal feelings, personal relationships or your personal possessions get between you and Christ. What did we think that Christ was asking us to be when we were called to believe in him? Didn’t we realize that Jesus Christ would replace what we wanted to be and do with what he wants us to be and do? Didn’t we sit down and realize that Jesus would call us to do what he needs to have done?
We are Christians, we are to be willing to do whatever it is that needs to be done for Jesus Christ. This doesn’t mean that we are to lose all principle. It means that we are to be willing to give up the comfort of our personal relationships, our personal possessions and our personal feelings so that our lives conform to the principle of loving Jesus Christ with all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our minds.
Today’s passage is hard.
I remember the day my mother told me I could no longer live at home. It was a hard day. I was angry and upset. I huffed and puffed, but I moved out. When I did, I found out I could not only make it, but I could thrive.
I bet that it was hard for those Pharisees and Scribes to hear that the center of our lives should be Jesus Christ. We should sit down and count the cost of discipleship before we follow him. All of us should ask the question, what does my faith in Jesus Christ mean to me? What am I willing to give up to follow Jesus Christ?
I believe that we in the Church are capable of achieving great things at any moment. But friends, I wonder sometimes what we really want in our local churches. We have some of the most wonderful people in the world.
People have asked me if I am frustrated. I am. I see such great potential for the Church in the United States. We, in our Churches, have done and can do incredible things. We have accomplished a lot, but my friends, all that is done is the foundation and a few walls on this house. Someone asked me if I wanted all in the Church to be ‘professional Christians’. My answer is that I don’t want us to be professional Christians, Jesus wants us to put the cares of this world secondarily to what he wants us to do. I am simply the messenger.
Our Churches are at a turning point. It is not about our priest or pastor and his style, about the new liturgy, the way the office does its work, or about somebody else in the congregation and their personality. The central question is, do we want our local parishes to be Churches which makes an impact on our communities on behalf of Jesus Christ? We were at one time. We have great people and can have a great impact on our communities again. Do we want to put in the effort and make the sacrifices which are necessary?
We have good leadership in our chairpersons of our committees and ministries all over, but it is hard to lead a committee to do ministry when the people on your committee don’t show up for meetings. We need everyone in our local Church ministries and committees to show up for the meetings and events as an expression of our love for Jesus Christ. When you get a notice from your local Church on the telephone, via email, or in the mail, it is Jesus who is calling you to be his disciple.
The Church needs teachers, and we need those who are teachers to lay aside their tiredness of teaching and teach for Jesus Christ. It is God who gave us the gift of teaching, and he needs us to teach in our parishes.
We need people to evangelize. We need people who are willing to put aside their dislike of the idea of evangelizing to do it. Jesus Christ is calling you to evangelize the world for Him.
We need youth leaders. We need people who are willing to lay aside their hesitancy of sponsoring youth and do it. We need, the young people need and Jesus Christ needs whoever you are to do it for Him.
When there is a plea for help in your Church bulletin or newsletter, if you haven’t already done so, you need to answer the call. It is simply too big of a job for our priests, deacons, religious and Church leaders to call up every person and ask each one of us personally if we will do something or other.
Whoever you are, don’t volunteer to preserve the institutional Church, do it because you love Jesus Christ.
Whether or not your priest or pastor is popular or likable makes no difference in the future of your Church. If your priest or pastor staying at your parish is the key element to your local Church's future then we have failed already. We are talented and capable people. We have great ability and can accomplish whatever it is we set our minds to doing.
We have got to stop having us pick up speed with one priest or pastor in our local Churches and shift gears downward with another. We need to stop having our energy level determined by the priest's or pastor’s energy level. The priest/pastor is given to you by God to guide us, but we must do the work of the Gospel in our local communities.
It is the work of the lay people that determines the reputation and the future of any church. The future depends upon what the future of your church is worth to you. Our churches should only be worth what Jesus Christ is worth to our lives. It is time for a new Great Awakening in the United States. It is time for a Catholic Great Awakening.
That leaves us with the passage from the Gospel today. How do you describe yourself? Are you a “Christian/Catholic”? If you are, then that means that all other commitments are secondary to your love of Jesus Christ and service to the Church. The success of your local parish of believers in Jesus Christ is directly dependent upon us. If we haven’t done so already, we ought to express our love for God through our service through the Church by the giving of our time, money and talent. Amen? Amen.
