Brian’s Reflection: The Weekend, Sat, September 4, 2010

"Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife
and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot
be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me
cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower,
does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has
enough to complete it?

Luke 14: from the Gospel reading for this Sunday,
September 5 [Proper 18, C, RCL]


Do you seriously wish to believe in a Deity who asks you to hate your family and those you love?? If you do, I suggest that you are spiritually and psychologically ill.

The issue for us in this Sunday’s Gospel is this: Nothing must stand in the way of becoming the person, the human being, that each of us can be. (The description of what that IS is a Life-long work of discovery.) Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Jesus’ language is strong and powerful, so we don’t miss the point. If we put anything before this primary inner work, we will fail.

To “carry the cross” means to be willing to Love. To be a disciple of Jesus means to learn His path of Love. We must love our Self equally with “God” and our “neighbour”. Unless we radically commit ourselves to becoming our most authentic Self, the rest will fail. Every day of our Life, we must ask ourselves, “Am I walking the right Path?”

Others are precious: family, friends, lovers, and yes, ultimately, every human being. But it will be impossible to value that preciousness unless we ourselves are precious and valued. As Jesus said, “A bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit.”

Grow well!

Brian+