23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
September 8, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke 14:25-33<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today we listen to one of Jesus\u2019 hard sayings.\nIf we want to follow Jesus, we need to hate our fathers, mothers, our other\nsiblings, and even our own lives; otherwise we are not worthy of Him [Luk\n14:25]. Is Jesus serious? Jesus must be kidding around. NO, he means what he\nsays. So, how are we going to understand this hard saying? Jesus teaches love,\nmercy, and compassion, and the only thing He hates is a sin. Does Jesus change\nhis mind and now turn to be the promoter of hatred? If we can hate our family,\nwe now hate practically everyone. Is this what Jesus intending to say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To answer this hard question, we need to\ncomprehend also the broader context. Jesus is journeying towards Jerusalem, and\nHe knows well what awaits Him in this city: crucifixion and death. There are\ncrowds following Jesus because Jesus is a popular public figure. Many want to\nbe healed, others wish to see Jesus\u2019s miracles, and the rest just like to\nlisten to His authoritative teachings. This is the crowd mentality: following\nsomething or someone because of our selfish interest. This is not true\ndiscipleship. This is entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus understands this too well, and He needs\nto rebuke them that following Him is not entertainment. He makes them decide\nwhether to remain as a crowd or to become disciples, to leave or to walk in His\nway of the cross. Yet, this kind of decision is only possible when we are not\nattached to things and persons we hold dear. We cannot carry our cross unless\nwe are ready to give up our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question remains, though, is Jesus\npromoting hatred? One of Jesus\u2019 favorite style in preaching is hyperbole, or to\nexaggerate to emphasize a point. For example, Jesus once says, \u201cAnd if your eye\ncauses you to sin, tear it out and throw it away [Matt. 18:9]\u201d Of course, Jesus\ndoes not literally demand us to plug our eyes out, but He strongly underlines\nthe severe consequences of sin. Thus, when Jesus speaks that we need to \u201chate\u201d\nour parents and our lives, Jesus does not mean to promote hatred and violence.\nJesus powerfully reminds the people that unless they love Jesus above all, we\nare not worthy to be His followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has tremendous implications in our lives.\nYes, we need to love our family, but we should love Jesus first, or we should\nlove our parents in Jesus. It is just natural to cling to life, but this life\nonly has true meaning when it is offered to Jesus. In marriage, the couple\nshould love each other, but unless they love Jesus first, the marriage will\nsimply be a social contract. It is the duty of the husband to lead his wife to\nlove Jesus and the wife to follow Jesus together with her husband. It is also\nthe primary duty of parents to teach their children to love God and His Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus surely loves His mother, Mary and respect\nhis foster father, Joseph, but it is clear to Jesus that His love for them is\nrooted and directed to His Father in heaven. It is true discipleship, that\nunless we hate our lives and everything else, we are not worthy of Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]
\nSeptember 8, 2019
\nLuke 14:25-33<\/p>\n
Today we listen to one of Jesus\u2019 hard sayings. If we want to follow Jesus, we need to hate our fathers, mothers, our other siblings, and even our own lives; otherwise we are not worthy of Him [Luk 14:25]. Is Jesus serious? Jesus must be kidding around. NO, he means what he says. So, how are we going to understand this hard saying? Jesus teaches love, mercy, and compassion, and the only thing He hates is a sin. Does Jesus change his mind and now turn to be the promoter of hatred? If we can hate our family, we now hate practically everyone. Is this what Jesus intending to say?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[57,58],"class_list":["post-8803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renungan","tag-english","tag-sunday-reflection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8804,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8803\/revisions\/8804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}