On The Necessity of Sacrifice

In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

Our Blessed Lord addresses us today with very difficult words, “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.” Such a hard teaching, we think, must of course have been given to a group of only His most dedicated followers, those who would be called to make great sacrifices in His Name. Yet, the Scriptures say, “Great crowds were travelling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, ‘If anyone […]” These challenging words were and are meant for anyone who wishes to follow Jesus and be His disciple in any meaningful way. They can be understood in two ways: the potential and the actual.

The Necessity of Preparation

First, the potential way. While we can recognize Jesus was using hyperbole to bring His point home, it does not make the point less jarring. To follow Jesus requires an entire commitment of our whole lives, placing Jesus before all else, even those most dear to us. Nothing can stand in the way of our devotion to fulfilling God’s will, and this will require, at times, very painful sacrifices. This requires us, as the men in the parables, to take stock of ourselves and ask, “Am I willing to make those sacrifices?” “Have I fully committed myself to the Lord?” “Are there ways in which I, for the sake of pleasing others, maintaining relationships, comfort, or a worldly desire for safety or security, am sacrificing my love for Jesus?” If and when the answers to these questions are less than perfect, we must beg the Lord for the strength to follow him without limits. He never imposes on us a command without the grace to fulfill it.

The Necessity of Sacrifice

Jesus’ final words in this passage change the tone, “In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” This is not a mere potential future event; this is a requirement for the here and now. Even at this very moment, we must sacrifice our most treasured possessions and relationships to follow Jesus. Yet, what does Jesus mean by this? All of the familial bonds He mentions earlier are, in many cases, a great help to our growth in holiness and, in almost all cases, should not be cut off. Jesus is here pointing to our need to be transformed in grace. We do not fully lose these relationships, but they must be reborn in Christ as an extension and embodiment of our love for God. These natural loves are sacrificed, and do die, but they are raised with Christ and exist, even in this life, with a heavenly glory. By loving others with the love of Christ rather than a limited and often selfish natural love, we fulfill this Gospel passage.

[Readings: Wisdom 9:13-18b; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33]