Hearing The Word

A weekly newsletter delivering context and insight into the Sunday Gospels.

The Hard Truths About Discipleship

~ Rev. Paul Galetto, OSA

Pastor, Saint Paul Parish + Philadelphia, Pa.

This passage is about Discipleship and its choices. Three examples are given.

The first is in the harshest of terms: to be my disciple you must hate father and mother. Jesus speaks using hyperbole – a literary device that uses extreme exaggeration to create a strong impression or emphasize a point; it's not meant to be taken literally, but rather to evoke emotion or create a vivid image in the listener's mind. We know these words are hyperbole because we know the overwhelming content of the Gospel message: Love. You are called to love God and neighbor; but should you be forced to make a choice, a disciple knows the answer. If you won’t go to help the poor because your mother doesn’t want you to, whom did you love more? Jesus or your mother? If you can’t love Jesus above all, you can’t be a disciple.

The second lesson is about total commitment. Jesus bore his cross and, should it come to this, you must, too. Thus, the Christian martyrs shine brightly in our worship. Would you risk your life to protect someone you love? This second lesson is especially exigent when it comes to the political realm. Do you choose the Gospel over political policies? Sometimes we expose our hypocrisy by thinking we can live in both realms; we are just fooling ourselves by living with these blatant contradictions and not carrying the cross of Christ first and foremost. A disciple knows the answer and abhors hypocrisy.

Lastly, the question a disciple must ask: Who is in charge? Do I possess my possessions or do my possessions possess me? I love my adult children, but I will never say anything that might upset their unchristian behavior. I love my friends, but I don’t have the courage to talk about their self-destructive behavior. Do you fear the loss of their affection or do you love them? A disciple knows the answer.

Are We Followers or Disciples?



~ Matthew Gambino + Saint Teresa of Avila Parish, Norristown, Pa.

What Christians don’t imagine themselves among the “great crowds traveling with Jesus,” following him everywhere? Followers yes, but perhaps not disciples.

Discipleship isn’t only about listening, like an entertaining podcast in our ears as we go where we please. Discipleship is demanding. Today, Jesus tells us what it takes.

Unless we radically change our way of being, unless our whole mind and heart is converted (metanoia, in the Greek), we cannot be Jesus’ disciple.

Our Lord shocks his hearers by saying we must “hate” our family and even our own life. I can’t imagine hating a stranger, let alone my beloved wife, children, parents and siblings.

The point Jesus makes is that no concern and no relationship should come before my relationship with him, and that I am called to love the Lord with my whole mind, my whole spirit, my whole soul.

Not only must God be first in my heart, but my head as well.

If I am going to erect a metaphorical “tower,” a tribute to my wealth built to be seen by all, I ought to “calculate” the cost at the start or be seen as a fool.

Or if I am going to prepare a show of my power like a “king marching into battle,” I ought to “decide” that I might not be as mighty as I think I am, and opt for peace instead of war.

Wrapping up the lesson, Jesus warns us to “renounce all (our) possessions” – not only the shiny trinkets but also those interior signs of pride and insecurity we cling to – and to keep God first in our lives and our relationships.

Only by this radical conversion effected by divine grace in our open hearts can we “carry (our) own cross” and follow Jesus by the narrow way.