What do you hold as the most valuable thing in your life?
Most of us would not think twice in saying it’s our life
and well-being that we value most and, perhaps, equally, our family and its
security. In a survey done among the devotees of the Black Nazarene about what
they pray for, the following are the top three: First, personal health (or well-being);
second, family; and third, work (or wealth).
We pray and work hard in order to take care of ourselves and of our family and
loved ones. These are of highest importance to us. Everything else comes next.
It would not be surprising, then, for us to find today’s
gospel (Lk 14:25-33) really disturbing. Employing Semitic emphasis in conveying
his point on discipleship, Jesus says to the crowd travelling with him: “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” (v. 25). I bet a significant portion of the
crowd started to leave as they heard this hard teaching. And even today, many
Christians would rather ignore this difficult teaching and selectively enjoy listening
only to those themes that promise material prosperity, abundance of blessings
and the grace of salvation. Many of us follow Christ because we want to get
something from him. We want security and blessings for ourselves and our loved
ones here on earth and in heaven. We miss seeing many times that discipleship
is demanding as it is rewarding.
The demand for
total commitment. Jesus makes it clear in the gospel reading today that to
follow him is costly. He demands as a price nothing less than what we deem as
most important to us, our lives and loved ones. “Hating” our loved ones and even our own life
is a Semitic literary expression that conveys strongly the necessary readiness
to give up these great human values in favor of a greater one, or, more
appropriately, in favor of the greatest of all values-- Jesus Christ and
everything that He stands for. Discipleship is choosing to follow Christ and
embracing everything that He represents with total commitment and dedication. Everything
else is secondary, i.e., our lives and personal comfort, our family and loved
ones, our possessions, etc.
Jesus demands that
He be the center of a follower’s life. A disciple who loves Jesus less than he
does his own life and family is not a serious follower. His brand of
discipleship will not make a difference in this broken and sinful world. His
will be a kind of discipleship that easily settles with compromises and, hence,
cannot accomplish anything for the kingdom of God. It is like someone who
begins to build a tower but cannot finish it because of lack of resources or like
a king who decides to oppose the twenty thousand troops of another king without
considering first his own military strength which is actually only half as
strong as the advancing troops and is bound for defeat.
The challenge
posed by Filipino strong family orientation. Philippine society is
characterized by a strong family-centered orientation. This means that for
Filipinos the love of and loyalty to the family comes first. Family concerns
and the security of its members, as well as the respect for the elderly and
authority, are important. These are beautiful values, of course. But as the
Second Plenary Council of the Philippines admitted, the excessive attachment to
this family-centered orientation results in a particularistic values that focus
only on small groups like family and clan and are less concerned about
universal or common good. Some social ills are based on this exaggerated
concern for the family, like the case of political dynasties and economic
inequalities due to the concentration of the resources in relatively few
Filipino families.
This is what happens when we cannot “hate” our family
members and our very own self for the sake of Christ. If we continue to place Christ next only to
the love of family and self, nothing will change. We will all continue to
pursue what is good only for our families and ignore the inequalities and
injustices that cause the suffering of the poor. We will only be very much
concerned about protecting our personal interests. Again, a brand of Christian discipleship
that does not have Christ at the center of its commitment is a sham. It’s a
lame duck. It’s good for nothing. It cannot witness. It cannot proclaim the
good news of God’s kingdom, much less, denounce the structure of sin within
which it finds itself complicit and trapped.
Invitation to a
discipleship that transforms. The gospel today therefore rightly comes with
a strong Semitic way of expression so that we may not fail to see the
point. For a nation that holds the
family so dearly in our hearts, we are invited not so much to literally despise
our family and self as to move beyond this clannish and particularistic love
and self-centeredness. We are invited to become true followers of Christ by
committing our lives to a cause greater than just our immediate family and
personal concerns. We are called to become committed and active member of the
wider family of God where equality and justice abide. We are called to a total
commitment and dedication to Jesus Christ and the values of the kingdom of God.
Total dedication is difficult. It calls for great sacrifice,
giving up what we deem most important to our personal lives. This is the high
cost of discipleship. But this is the only kind that liberates and transforms.
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