I Am Third

 

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a

Romans 6:3-4, 8-11

Matthew 10:37-42

 

Whenever I hear a Gospel like today's, I find myself thinking, Being a Christian is really hard.

 

I mean, listen to what Jesus says. "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." In St. Luke's Gospel He goes even further: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother...he cannot be my disciple."

 

Those are hard words. It's tempting to say, "Well...He didn't really mean that. He's just exaggerating." But I don't think we should dismiss them that quickly. Jesus is trying to wake us up. What He's really doing is restating the First and Greatest Commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. And don't miss what that means. Jesus is claiming the place that belongs to God alone. He's saying, "Love Me the way you love God."

 

Because He is God.

 

Now here's where I struggle. How do I square those words with another thing Jesus says: "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light"? Because, honestly, giving Christ first place over everything else doesn't sound easy.

 

Unless...Unless that's actually what sets us free.

 

Think about the way Jesus lived. He had no permanent home. He owned almost nothing. He depended on others for His daily needs. It wasn't because possessions are bad. It was because nothing possessed Him. He was completely free. Free to love His Father with His whole heart. Free to love every person He met without selfishness. Free to pour Himself out completely.

 

That's how we were created to live.

 

God gave us this world as a gift—not something to worship, but something to use well. We were meant to master the things of this world, not be mastered by them. And if we're honest...we know how easily that gets turned upside down.

 

Our work can master us. Money can master us. Comfort can master us. Our reputation can master us. Even the people we love most can become disordered loves if they begin to occupy the place that belongs to God alone.

 

That's what Jesus is getting at. He's not asking us to love our families less. He's asking us to love God first. Because when God is first, everything else finally falls into its proper place.

 

Then Jesus says something else that sounds just as difficult: "Take up your cross."

Sometimes we think that simply means putting up with suffering. I think it's deeper than that. The cross is the daily surrender of anything that competes with God for my heart. Every act of forgiveness. Every sacrifice made out of love. Every temptation resisted. Every attachment surrendered. All of it becomes a participation in Christ's own saving work.

 

That's exactly what St. Paul is talking about today. He says we were baptized into Christ's death. Think about that. We aren't spectators watching Jesus save the world. He actually draws us into His saving work. Just as God lets us share in His work of creation, He invites us to share in His work of redemption.

 

That's an incredible privilege. Maybe that's why it's actually easier to love our neighbor than it is to love God. Even people who don't know God can be generous. They can be compassionate. They can sacrifice for someone they love. But making God the center of everything? Making Him the standard by which I measure every decision? Letting Him have first claim on my heart? That's different.

 

That's discipleship.

 

So maybe that's the question Jesus is asking every one of us today. What owns my heart? Because make no mistake...Something does. Whatever sits on the throne of my heart will shape every decision I make, every relationship I have, and ultimately the person I become.

 

Jesus isn't trying to take anything away from us. He's trying to set us free. Free to love our spouse better. Free to love our children better. Free to enjoy His gifts without becoming enslaved by them. Free to carry our cross without fear. Free to become the men and women we were created to be.

 

Because here's the truth. Every one of us is going to give our life to something.

Every one of us. The only question is whether we'll give it to something that cannot last...or to the One who conquered death. That's why Jesus asks for everything.

 

Not because He wants to take everything from us. Because He wants to give us everything.

Holy Trinity

 

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, and I bet very few of us really knows why.

 

The idea of God as Trinity came from the apostles’ understanding of who Jesus was and is. From the very beginning that was a challenge for the disciples. “Who do you say that I am?” The apostles knew that this person, Jesus, was special. At first they thought he was a great teacher, then a mighty prophet, then finally they came to believe in him as the Son of God. But it took awhile. Remember that St. Thomas doubted even the resurrection.

 

Those closest to Jesus struggled with that question for three years, and for the rest of their lives. They never really could wrap their minds around it, and it took another three hundred years before the Church finally put it into words, words that are totally inadequate, especially to those of us today who have no background in Greek philosophy. Our creed was an attempt to organize our beliefs, and it falls short. Because God is so different from us, so infinite, we cannot wrap our limited minds around God. And so we use imperfect images.

 

Why is it important how we image our God? Why is it important that we image God as Trinity? As three in one? The Jews don’t believe in the Trinity, the Muslims don’t, nor do the Buddhists or the Hindus. Even our LDS neighbors don’t. In fact, less than 20 percent of the people in the world today believe as we do. Are they wrong? Are we? Does it matter?

 

The way we see ourselves is the way we see our God. The Hindus believe in many, many gods, that all things have a spirit within them and therefore are sacred. Their image of God causes them to treat the natural world with respect. The Buddhists believe in reincarnation, that we will come back to this life again and again, and the form we take will depend upon how we have lived our previous life, until finally we achieve nirvana, pure freedom and perfection. God is within you until you become god, so a Buddhist’s faith is a deeply personal, internal thing. The LDS church teaches that the Trinity was a creation of the Council of Nicea, part of the Great Apostasy where the Church got it all wrong. There are three separate gods, Heavenly Father, the Savior and the Holy Ghost, and they are really exalted men. They became gods because of what they did in life. Therefore, if men in these latter days do the right things they too can become gods, and so the LDS pattern their lives.

 

We are created in the image of God. Genesis tells us so. Contrary to what the cynics say, we do not create God in our image, we create our images of ourselves after our image of God. People of every faith pattern their behavior after their image of God.

 

So, how does our image of the Trinity affect our behavior as Christians? St. John in his first letter states that God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God and God in him. Whether or not we understand what form God really takes, whenever we love, we are worshiping God. If love is present, God is present. So, we image God as a relationship of love. Two perfect lovers bound by one perfect love.

 

We image God this way whenever we love in relationship. God is love. God is relationship; Father, Son and Spirit, therefore, love also cannot exist by itself. It must occur in relationship, and it cannot be fulfilled unless it is given away. St. Augustine said that “One man is no man”. We are not saved by ourselves. We are saved with each other. Love is relationship, God is relationship, God is love. When we love in relationship we best image God.

 

And God gave us the best example of love, when we read in the gospel of John, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life.” Wow! God not only is a relationship unto himself, he wants to have a relationship with me. He wants me to be like Him. He wants me to enter into the Trinity with Him.

 

I was teaching a class a couple of years ago, and we were discussing this very topic. I went all through the “proofs” of the Trinity, assuming that we all had the same understanding since everyone there was Catholic. At the next week’s class one of the students said that she had found the topic of the Trinity very enlightening, because for her entire life she thought there were three separate gods, not three in one. She was 38 years old and had lived her life as a practicing Catholic, a good life, and she never knew about the Trinity. It didn’t matter to her what the Greek philosophy said, she had a personal relationship with her God as she imaged God, and that worked for her.

 

Sr. Karen used to say that after all she had studied about the Trinity and pondered it, finally she just accepted it and didn’t worry about it too much, because she’d really never understand it. We should just accept it, and go on with our lives. Seems simple, but that’s really what it’s all about. It’s nice to think we have God all figured out, that we have named him, Father, Son and Spirit, and so we take that knowledge and store it away until we need it. We think about it on days like today. But just as we create images of God in our minds and hearts, we need to be conscious that our God is also calling us to be images of Him, to live like Him, and to love like Him.