Spiritual De-Cluttering

Today’s gospel is one of those times when Jesus is really misunderstood. It’s hard to get past sentences like, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sister, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”!!!!! OK, Jesus, you have some “splaining” to do, am I right? 

So we need to start by replacing the word “hate” with the word “detach” or “put aside” and it might make it a little easier to get into. Love, in the ancient world, meant to be attached to, and hate meant to be detached from. While we are called to love our families and our neighbors as ourselves, we are never to do that apart from loving God first and foremost, whole-heartedly. Jesus’ point today is that sometimes in living a Christian life, we may be required to detach from the things that perhaps get in the way of us being whole-heartedly focused on God’s will and plan for us. He identifies that our attachments to people, our fear of suffering, our lack of planning and discipline, and our possessions are all things that can and do become the idols that we worship before God. I know for me, I suffer from all of the above. Being a follower of Christ also requires surrender, sacrifice, and discipline. 

A familiar example of this is the testing of Abraham. God had no plans of allowing Abraham to actually kill Isaac, but rather he was testing Abraham’s heart to see if he was really “all in” or not. God greatly blessed Abraham for his willingness to pay full price for the promise of eternity and his trust in that promise made the promise so. The same is true for us. God wants our whole hearts, undivided, and in that undivided-ness, our trust without borders, will fix our eyes on the prize, and that prize will be so. 

Detachment is one of those currently trendy slightly overused words that we tend to associate with material things. We have self-diagnosed our own hoarding and are on purging our homes of clutter campaigns like you never before. We aspire to be minimalists, tiny-home builders, backpackers through life, “does this whatever it is bring me joy?” questioners of every little thing, and de-cluttered garage gurus so we can make room for our fancy cars! Today, Jesus encourages us with some pretty severe words, to get our attachments in order, our priorities straight, and to choose to be “all in” as disciples. Spiritual de-cluttering is simply fixing our eyes on Jesus, bending our ears to His voice, and making room for Him to occupy the emptied out spaces of our lives with simplicity and wholeheartedness. So let’s detach from people and stuff today so as to go “all in” for what truly matters. When we put God first, when we go all in for Jesus Christ, everything else in our lives will be rightly ordered, including our relationships, and our blessings will be as abundant as the stars. It is well with my soul. 

Reading 1 ROM 13:8-10

Brothers and sisters:
Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, You shall not commit adultery;
you shall not kill;
you shall not steal;
you shall not covet,
and whatever other commandment there may be,
are summed up in this saying, namely,
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does no evil to the neighbor;
hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.

Responsorial Psalm PS 112:1B-2, 4-5, 9

R.( 5a) Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in his commands.
His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;
the upright generation shall be blessed.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He dawns through the darkness, a light for the upright;
he is gracious and merciful and just.
Well for the man who is gracious and lends,
who conducts his affairs with justice.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Lavishly he gives to the poor;
his generosity shall endure forever;
his horn shall be exalted in glory.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia 1 PT 4:14

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 14:25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
"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.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion? 
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
'This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.' 
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? 
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. 
In the same way,
everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple."