Homiletic Reflections
1. Introduction
In the first reading, which serves as an introduction to the gospel story, the First Book of Kings presents us with the figure of Elijah, the great prophet of the Old Testament, and the vocation of Elisha in a very suggestive way. Elijah passes by and throws his cloak over the young man who is plowing a field. Elisha gets rid of everything he has, quickly says goodbye to his people and follows the prophet, but before he has a meal as a sign of communion before assuming his new life.
The prophetic call it is like a new birth that implies a “break” with the past and the affections and investment gives a new personality and pushes the one who has been chosen to the mission. Elijah’s mantle is a precursory image of Christ’s words: “Come and I will make you fishers of men”. God in some way “needs” us to reach men, our baptism has conferred on us a prophetic character, not to evade the world, but to announce the mystery of God in the world, that is why the prophet is a man of God in the world of man.
2. Gospel
Luke’s gospel takes on a new tonality from the resolution by which Jesus has to go on a trip to Jerusalem (to be raptured and immolated on the Passover). Based on this trip, the outcome of his redemptive mission is articulated: it will be in the holy city –the scene of the great drama of the passion–, in which the Lord will offer his own existence on the altar of the cross, like a lamb without blemish and innocent for the salvation of unfaithful, idolatrous and sinful humanity.
The journey to Jerusalem is described as the “ascension” because there is a clear geographical reference, since the city is located high in the mountains of Judah. For this reason, in the biblical tradition, many psalms were prayed by the people on pilgrimage going up to celebrate the great festivals in the temple, but also the ascension indicates in the mentality of John, the glorification of God that takes place in the humble attitude of Christ being raised to the top of the cross, to overcome death by rising and becoming the Lord and Judge of history (cf. Jn).
This resolution was manifested in the three advertisements of the passion that Jesus made after Peter’s profession of faith and of the divine revelation that occurred in the mystery of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor (Lk 9,). From that moment on, Jesus can speak openly about his mission as Son of God and savior of men. Two scenes are part of the fragment of the gospel proposed by the liturgy of the Church on this Sunday:
First scene. On the route of this trip, Jesus passes through Samaria, a province of the old territory of Judah, which is in the middle, between Galilee, which is in the north, and Judea, which is in the south. The relationship of the Samaritans with the Jews was very tense, because they had moved away from the traditions of the ancients and had created their own spirituality, thus becoming a schismatic (separate) group, in such a way that they were treated as heretics by part of the Jews, therefore, the reaction of the Samaritans was generally hostile towards any Jew. On this occasion, two disciples feel offended and decide to do justice with their own hands, which is why Jesus rebukes them, since they had not realized that in his message there is no room for revenge, violence and rancor.
Second scene. After this little incident, three types of people appear on the scene in a context of “vocation” along the way to Jerusalem. Two men offer to be with Christ, a stranger without imagining what it means to be a disciple proposes: “I will follow you wherever you go” and another impulsively and enthusiastically states: “I will follow you, but first let me say goodbye to mine”Instead, Jesus personally calls a guy and tells him: “Follow me!”. The Lord proposes something to each one that implies a “break”, causes scandal or great surprise and the gospel does not present us with a response from these three people (they followed him or left scandalized) but the force of the radical words of Jesus resounds. Christ. Perhaps because we are the ones who must identify ourselves with these figures and respond to the Lord with humility and sincerity, because the first temptation is to think that it is a question of a specific vocation to priestly and religious life which, incidentally, at that time the Church was not yet structured, since the call is to be a Christian.
3. Catechetical update
In the itinerary of Jesus we find the proposal to live discipleship, following Christ implies some options and renunciations. For this reason, the gospel scene places the necessary conditions to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, this appears in the situation that serves as an introduction (the passage through Samaria), and in the dialogues with the various characters who offer themselves to follow Christ, or in the case of the one who is called. These conditions are:
Patience in adversity. Juan and Santiago feel outraged by the attitude of the Samaritans who do not welcome their Lord, and decide to take justice into their own hands using the power that the fact of being disciples of Christ confers on them. Following Christ means knowing how to face adversity, and not responding to evil with evil. Previously, Jesus had presented the message of the kingdom of God in forgiveness of the enemy, and in the love that transforms and disarms violence. That is why the gospel says that Jesus rejected this behavior and rebuked his disciples.
The disciple of Christ will encounter adversity, especially from the world and its mentality. In our generation, Christianity is increasingly being seen as something of the past, which hinders the development of cultures, impedes the autonomy of peoples and is fundamentally considered as a religious experience that represses human freedom (Christianophobia). In this way, man begins to live as if God did not exist, and the values of the Christian faith are replaced by relative and immoral fashions. This way of thinking is the essence of neo-paganism.
Precariousness. During the trip, Jesus hears someone say to him: “I will follow you wherever you go.” This character does not really know what he is saying, he has good intentions and is willful, but the Lord does not want to elude his ideal, that is why he presents him with the mystery of the precariousness of his ministry: there is no human security, nor opportunities to stop and settle down , because following Christ implies accepting this reality. There are people who want to be Christians, but without assuming the cross, Jesus said: “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”, because the place where He really rested was when He embraced the will of God on the cross, He embraced it to the ultimate consequences, even assuming death in order to save men.
The opposite of precariousness is to settle in a bourgeois and disgusting way, thinking that in life and in its offers of happiness there is fullness. The man “settles on the tip of a needle” as a wise old priest said, since man wants to guarantee life in what is ephemeral and for that reason he becomes corrupted. Accepting precariousness indicates that the disciple of Christ understands that everything passes, that nothing is final and that we follow the Lord as pilgrims in this world. Precariousness can manifest itself economically, affectively, professionally, emotionally and spiritually. If we really have the spirit of Christ we can face and accept this reality implicit in the nature of things and in humanity itself.
Affective freedom (detachment). Continuing on his journey to Jerusalem, the other case presented by the Gospel reminds us of another condition to be a disciple of Christ. A person is called by Jesus: “Follow me!” This call appears as an imperative, not a suggestion, but we meet an immediate objection: “Let my father bury…”. Christ takes advantage of this circumstance to give a word about detachment and affective detachment.
Human affections that are wonderful, because through them we express our feelings, can also be the cause of much suffering, slavery and quarrels. How many people for affective reasons feel frustrated and unsuccessful! How many people did not know how to cut off affective ties that infantilize and make people sick! To be a slave to affection is to beg love from others, not knowing how to correct, not drawing attention so that the esteem and affection of friends, relatives, etc. are not lost. Being a disciple of Christ implies acquiring and having affective freedom, leaving “Let the dead bury their dead”to be able to correspond to the call of the kingdom of God that often generates conflicts and tensions, because we are called to go against the mentality of the world with its lies and seductions, and in many cases, even our families are impregnated or infected with this spirit or mindset.
Learn to restart. Finally, we find in the itinerary of Jesus’ trip another character who wants to follow Christ, but to this one, since he does not want to make an immediate decision, but intends to continue in his world, Jesus says: “Whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven”. The image that Jesus uses is very clear: a farmer cannot pretend to plow the land looking back, because he will do everything wrong. We are called to sow the Word of God, we collaborate with the farmer (God) to throw the seed (God made man: Jesus) in the countryside of this world and in the heart of people, but we are trapped (traumas, wounds, unhealed complexes) by many things from our previous life.
Everyone who wants to be a disciple of Christ must learn to act diligently in the encounter with Him, or better, learn to start all over again (conversion of heart), forgetting and reconciling with the past (errors, failures, sins) that accumulate in our history and prevent us from taking definitive and serious steps. Finding Christ, everything is renewed and shines. Touched by the grace of God that justifies and transforms, we feel “fit” for the kingdom of God, not because of our merit, but because of the free love manifested in Christ that allows us to follow him despite our weaknesses and miseries, because we have the experience personal forgiveness that transfigures and saves. Not looking back means letting ourselves be led by God who is our Father and loves us, and he cannot deceive us. We are not following an ethereal being, an interesting idea or an attractive philosophy, but the personal God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God who has created the universe, and saves mankind.
XIII Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)