Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In the 1986 comedy, “Three Amigos,” starring Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short, there is a scene where the the main villain, El Guapo asks his second in command, Jefe, “Would you say I have a plethora of piñatas?” Jefe responds, “A what?” El Guapo answers back, “A plethora.” Jefe tells El Guapo, “Oh yes. You have a plethora.” El Guapo then questions Jefe, “Jefe, what is a plethora?…If you told me I have a plethora, and I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is.” In case you were not prepared for a vocab quiz today, a plethora is defined as a large or excessive amount of something.
Our English word disciple comes from the Latin, discipulus, meaning a student, scholar, or follower. But being a disciple was more than that in the ancient world. Being a disciple meant that you sought to live like the master, and make his or her way of life your own. We don’t often think of students becoming like every teacher or professor they have (indeed, sometimes students really dislike their teachers or professors). But disciples were, in some way, self-selected. You could choose which master or teacher you wanted to follow. But when you did make that commitment, it wasn’t about 9 hours in a classroom each day, or a 18 weeks of meeting twice or thrice each week. Choosing to live as a disciple meant a life-long commitment, even living like the master after he or she was gone.
So when we talk about Jesus’ disciples, that is the mindset in which they sought to follow Him. But, as we heard today, sometimes people didn’t want to make that entire commitment, or Jesus wanted to make sure that they knew with what they were getting involved. Following Jesus, we hear today, is even more important than burying one’s own family, or saying farewell to one’s family. And it means that one may have to give up external stability, like a set place to rest one’s head. But does it still mean that today?
Being a disciple today is slightly different, but the idea of commitment is no different. Jesus has to be our number one priority, if we wish to be the disciples God wants us to be. It doesn’t necessarily meant that we won’t have any home, or that we cannot have time with our family, or even bury family members. But it does mean that we make our life not about ourselves and our desires, but about Jesus.
Consecrated men and women, whom we often call “religious,” do take vows to live as a disciple in a more radical way. They give up a family of their own, a bank account of their own, and even choosing how they want to serve, through the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Diocesan priests also make the promise of celibacy, and seek to live a simple life, detached from their possessions (even though they have their own bank account), and promise respect and obedience to their bishop and his successors.
But being a disciple is not just for consecrated men and women, and priests. Being a disciple is the commitment our parents made for us, or we made for ourselves, at baptism. Our parents promised for us, or we made promises, to live like Christ to the best of our ability, no matter what our vocation. Christ became our Master so that it would no longer be I who live, but Christ who lives in me, as St. Paul said.
So who do we put first in our lives? Whose rule do we follow? We’re here today, at Mass, so we are at least giving Christ this time. But do we do so every week, or only when we feel like it? Is going to Mass our biggest priority, or is going to Mass at a certain time our biggest priority?
Whose voice do we hear first, and to whose voice do we respond? The voice of Christ, or the voice of our preferred political party? Let me let you in on a secret, even while certain political parties espouse ideas which are gravely antithetical to being Catholic, no political party can claim the obedience we owe to Christ. Yes, we are sometimes called to choose the lesser of two evils (as long as we’re not choosing a political party because of evil policies they advocate or adopt), but our allegiance to this or that party should be way down the list, with our allegiance to Christ at the top, and then probably family, country, and friends.
With the decline in religious observance in this country, it is interesting that people have not jettisoned obedience that we would normally give to God; they have transferred it to something else. There is a need to give someone our entire loyalty built into us. So if we don’t give it to God, we will give it to someone or something else. Recently, I think many people have transferred religious submission of will and intellect to political parties, such that disagreement with the latest political platform is akin to heresy.
Do we truly live as disciples, or are we only living in a shell of what that word means? When it comes to major issues of our day–abortion, euthanasia, so-called homosexual marriage, racism, service of the poor, when to receive or not receive Holy Communion–are our positions formed by the Gospel, or by the politician we like the best? We use this word “disciple” a lot, and often for ourselves. But do we really know what it means?
