In this Sunday’s Gospel, things take a turn and get quite serious – all because Jesus is going up to Jerusalem. Until this point in Luke’s Gospel, things have been pretty straightforward and fairly rosy when it comes to getting to know who Jesus is, what He can do, and watching it all unfold. But as he makes His way to Jerusalem toward the drama of passion and death, it all takes a turn. We find out that following Jesus is a gift AND a challenge. In the scene for today, Jesus and his followers are not welcome, and they hear that following Jesus means experiencing rejection, feeling unwelcome often, not having a comfortable place to be who you are and say what you believe, and maybe suffering worse than all of that! No wonder a “follower” would hesitate to get right behind the Jerusalem-bound Jesus. No wonder they would come up with a few good excuses before signing up for full-time Jesus-following!
True discipleship means dying to self and embracing all of the truth, beauty, and goodness that IS Jesus who literally died for love of God and love of sinners. “Going up” to Jerusalem with Jesus means accepting the splendor AND the sacrifice that comes with living an authentic life in Christ. Put more simply, life is hard; but life without loving Christ and letting Him love us is harder.
Lately my priestly life has been a balance of life and death and love. After a long break caused by distance and COVID, I met a toddler who I baptized when he was an infant, and what a joy it was to see him and carry him in my arms and revel in the fact that God and his parents poured life and love into this happy and loving little guy. That reunion made it easier to heal from the death of a 50-something friend whose funeral Mass I celebrated and my Father’s Day visit to my dad’s grave. All of it was blessed by the life-giving love of Christ that washes over our lives every day and gives us hope beyond our wildest dreams and darkest despair.
We follow Christ who is human and divine, and as we “go up” to the places where life brings us and make those sacrifices along the way, we are comforted because this God-made-Man goes with us and loves us every step of the way. I can’t think of a better situation, so let my bumper sticker read: I FOLLOW JESUS: NO EXCUSES AND NO TURNIN’ BACK!
It’s a joy to be on the journey with you.
Welcome to the Saint Aloysius! Our parish was founded in 1896 to serve the Catholic families that were settling in the greater New Canaan area.