13th Sunday of Ordinary time year A
This is a Sunday homily for 13th Sunday in Ordinary time year A
Fr. Fred Wekesa, OSA
6/21/20264 min read
Sunday homily for 13th Sunday of Ordinary time year A
Readings: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a | Psalm 89 | Romans 6:3-4, 8-11 | Matthew 10:37-42
“Let go and its rewards”
This is a Sunday homily for 13th Sunday of Ordinary time year A. On this Sunday, we read the conclusion of Jesus’ instructions on mission. In the gospel passage, from Matthew 10:37-42, there Christ singles out what a true disciple should do such as to let go that which is preferable and again to move away from one’s comfort zones meaning to sacrifice. On the same note, when one surrenders, there is a reward for that, as a disciple of Christ. The question that I invite each one of us to ask is: What can I let go or surrender to be more attached to Christ as his faithful disciple today?
On this 13th Sunday of Ordinary time year A, there are two perspectives that we could use to view today’s gospel passage, 1. to surrender or let go and 2. the rewards for letting go. Let’s begin with
To surrender or let go. According to the gospel passage of today, there are 3 things as a disciple of Christ is to let go or surrender. The first is to let go or surrender those who are close to us such as family members like Father, mother, daughter, son, brother and sister. But is it true and correct to let go the parents then follow Christ? This statement does not mean literary abandoning our parents or family members because to honour your father and mother is among the 10 commandments and secondly, biologically speaking, our parents are responsible for us to have been born in this world. To understand what surrender or let go family members, a story is told of 3 children at pre-school who were asked to explain the origin of water. The first one believed that water comes from the tap, the second one believed that water comes from the Dam and the third one was convinced that water comes from bottles in the fridge. Who was right among these three children? I would go with the one who believed that water comes from the Dam because that is the source, but the taps and bottles are the vessels to carry or to make water to be domestically used by many families. When we reason along these lines, our parents have a source that is God as the primary cause for every human being, therefore, to surrender one’s family means to be aware that God is the cause for every human being and even though we may be biologically connected to our parents, a true disciple is aware of God as the source of everything. In fact, to let go our parents does not mean we forget them, we abandon them or deny them because even Christ on the cross, he said to the beloved disciple, “behold your mother” referring to the blessed virgin mary and from that time, the beloved disciple took care of Mary as the spiritual mother. No where in the Bible has Jesus denied his parents and so we too. In summary, to surrender to Christ as a disciple involves having awareness that God is the source of everything and again respecting our parents and other family members as people from the same source, who is God.
The second thing to let go is the comfort zone. This is implied when Christ talks of taking the cross to follow him. This is a call to leave our comfortable zones as disciples and make a choice to follow Christ through his passion up to resurrection. As human beings, we would wish to have easter Mondays without Good Fridays, but the truth is, we are called to live faithfully during Good Friday moments of our life with Christ just as easter Monday moments of our life. From which comfort zone are you called today to quit?
The final aspect to let go as disciples of Christ is to make a personal choice to the point of even losing one’s life for the sake of Christ. For example, a priest who drives many kilometres away to give the sacrament of anointing of a sick to parishioner. He risks his life by travelling even at night for the sake of the people of God. This is the sacrifice that we are called to make as disciples. Even a parent who works hard day and night, ploughing and farming for others so that they may pay him/her some money to buy food, to pay school fees or take a sick child to hospital. This is a sacrifice of some parents and I refer to them as Ordinary saints in our ordinary life. As a disciple of Christ, we are called to make sacrifices to help and in helping others, we are serving God.
The second perspective to look at the gospel passage that I mentioned at the beginning of this Sunday mass homily is the rewards or the benefits that one gets after letting go or surrendering to Christ. In the first reading, Prophet Elisha on his way to Shunem, a couple offered him hospitality and behold the couple was blessed or rewarded with a child the following year. Indeed, a generous heart is rewardable. In the gospel passage, Christ reminds us to welcome others, to offer them hospitality not only to welcome them in our homes but to be kind and generous with the words that we use in our conversations with others. As they say, one can forget how he ate, danced or played, but no one will forget how one was made to feel, to feel welcomed, to feel at home and to feel accepted.
To conclude, on this 13th Sunday of ordinary time year A, we are called to let go what distracts us from Christ, to sacrifice to follow Christ and finally to quit our comfortable zones to follow Christ’s footsteps. AMEN.
HAVE A BLESSED SUNDAY!!!