Wednesday of the 31st week in ordinary time
Philippians 2: 12-18 Luke 14: 25-33
Theme: Self emptying
In the gospel reading of today from St. Luke, Jesus made it explicitly clear that if we want to be his followers, we must be ready to let go and let God. What this simply means is that we must be ready to put God first in everything we do, by living a life that is worthy of our calling as children of God. When we do this, we will be witnessing to Christ in our daily life and be attracting people to the kingdom of God as we impact on them. To embrace the message of Christ that St. Luke is presenting to us today in the gospel reading, is to declare for Christ and embrace his cross in our daily life.
This is when our call to discipleship becomes very difficult for many Christians, carrying our cross daily to follow Christ. It means we are declaring for Christ, and we are ready to face the challenges that we will encounter because of the choice we have made for Christ. The good news is that God will never desert all those who declare for him at any point in time in their life. We see this in the lives of all those declared for God in the scriptures, he will always come through for you, even when other people fail or disappoint you. However, this does not mean that you will have a smooth life that is devoid of challenges and difficulties, it simply means that God will be ready to come through for you when it matters most. Jesus is our model, and we all know how his story went until he went to the cross to win us salvation. So, there is a price we must be ready to pay, if we decide to declare for Christ.
Dearly beloved in Christ, Jesus is encouraging us today to renounce everything we have and follow him. He is the main thing that we all need in our lives, and every other thing will be added onto it. Like the scripture says, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness… The more we work for the kingdom of God, the more we attract the blessings of God to ourselves. Remember, we cannot out do God in generosity. Just like Jesus said, anyone who has given up anything for the sake of the kingdom of God, will be blessed a hundred times over. We pray for the grace to let go and let God, in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, Amen. Peace be with you.