Authentic discipleship means loving those who hate and persecute us
This liturgical year, we’ve been making our way through the Gospel of Mark. Throughout the Gospel, we hear about the misconception that people have of the kind of Messiah that Jesus was to be. Jesus asks people to be quiet about proclaiming Him to be the Messiah, while He attempts to teach people through example of what it really means to be a loving savior of the world. It was His way of cautioning people to be careful what they ask for or imagined.
As we make our way through this the selection of readings for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, I think that Jesus would give us the same cautionary tale He gave to His disciples. If we claim to be Christians, which many people are boldly doing today, we need to make sure that we have a clear understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. This has nothing to do with Christian nationalism and certainly nothing to do with the Christian community lording power over others.
Two of Jesus’s disciples wanted to have places of honor in His kingdom. Following this request, Jesus asks them if they are able to do what He is about to do. The test of Christian faith is not about thrones or power. The test of Christian faith is whether or not we are willing to love and die for our enemies and those who persecute us. As we are reminded in the Scriptures, anybody can love those who love them back. Anybody can profess faith in Jesus, but does that faith in Jesus translate into actions of service when nothing is expected in return?
Following a political candidate or party, following a particular economic system, ascending to various thrones of power or any other worldly measure of success and achievement: These truly mean nothing in the kingdom of God. Where our discipleship is practiced, measured and observed is not how we love those who love us back, but how we love those who hate us. This might be a particularly important time for us to examine this in our own lives. It might be time for us to look deeper than outward appearances and make sure that the attitudes of our minds and hearts are where they need to be.
“Whoever wishes to be great among you will be the servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be the slave of all.” For me, it takes a while to dig below the surface of the religiously correct answer for that reflection. We’ve all heard this teaching 1,000 times, and we’ve all made our excuses for not following it or for following it in our own interpretation. How often have we looked at the choices in the lifestyle of Jesus and actually formed our lives according to His pattern and not our own? Can we imagine being half dead and being nailed to a cross and choosing to forgive those who are killing you? Can we imagine knowing that someone is about to betray or abandon us and we choose to wash their feet and to choose love?
This is not a time for grandstanding. This is a time for authentic discipleship!
Father Donald Wester is retired and serves as lecturer of homiletics at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.
