2 KINGS 4:8-11, 14-16A | ROMANS 6:3-4, 8-11 | MATTHEW 10:37-42
As a teacher and preacher, Jesus often used the tool of exaggeration to get the attention of his audience. I’m sure his message today got the attention of all of us.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” I’ve lost track of the number of people who have questioned me about this sentence. How could Jesus possibly ask that of his disciples? I always bring up the following sentence to add more stress to their question. “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.”
We don’t hear this sentence like the people who first heard Jesus deliver it. During Jesus’ lifetime, when he was around eight years old, there was a revolt in Galilee lead by Judas, a zealot. In retaliation, Varus, the Roman general who squelched the revolt, lined the roads leading to Galilee with the crosses of 2000 Jews. The memory still haunted people’s minds. Why would he dare say something like this? His first demand to love him more than our fathers and mothers is clearly exaggeration. The second image would have sent chills down the spines of his listeners.
We Christians speak a lot about love, and much of our talk is warm and cuddly. That’s fine. A commitment to love should have the benefit of loved returned. Jesus loved his apostles, his special group of twelve disciples, and they loved him in return. We know that their love crumpled horribly during the last day of his life. All but one, the young man, John, abandoned him. They feared for their own lives, so they ran away and let him die alone.
Jesus’ teaching is so very important for our reflection. His command to “love one another as I have loved you” isn’t to be taken lightly. The love Jesus models is a sacrificial love. It’s love that gives without expecting to be loved in return. It means loving others even when they act unlovingly. It means carrying the cross of love.
