DAILY GOSPEL COMMENTARY: “I will follow you wherever you go.” (Lk 9:57–62).
As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.” And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.” Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
Gospel Commentary from the Navarre Bible, Commentary to the Gospel of St. Luke (with permission)
- 57-62 Our Lord spells out very clearly what is involved in following him. Being a Christian is not an easy or comfortable affair: it calls for self-denial and for putting God before everything else. See notes on Mt 8:18-22 and Mt 8:22.
- We see here the case of the man who wanted to follow Christ, but on one condition — that he be let say goodbye to his family.
- Our Lord, seeing that he is rather undecided, gives him an answer which applies to all of us, for we have all received a calling to follow him and we have to try not to receive this grace in vain. “We receive the grace of God in vain, when we receive it at the gate of our heart, and do not let it enter our heart. We receive it without receiving it, that is, we receive it without fruit, since there is no advantage in feeling the inspiration if we do not accept it… It sometimes happens that being inspired to do much we consent not to the whole inspiration but only to some part of it, as did those good people in the Gospel, who upon the inspiration which our Lord gave them to follow him wished to make reservations, the one to go first and bury his father, the other to go to take leave of his people” (St Francis de Sales, Treatise on the love of God, book 2, chap. 11).
- Our loyalty and fidelity to the mission God has given us should equip us to deal with every obstacle we meet:
- “There is never reason to look back (cf. Lk 9:62). The Lord is at our side. We have to be faithful and loyal; we have to face up to our obligations and we will find in Jesus the love and the stimulus we need to understand other people’s faults and overcome our own” (St. Josemaria, Christ is passing by, 160).
- We see here the case of the man who wanted to follow Christ, but on one condition — that he be let say goodbye to his family.
St. Augustine comments on this Gospel passage:
- “Establish a hierarchy, an order and give each one what is owed to him. Do not submit the primary to the secondary. Love your parents, but put God first. Behold the mother of the Maccabees … Hear God. Put Him first, I don’t care if I am left without you. She stressed on it and they fulfilled it. What the mother taught her children, our Lord Jesus Christ taught him to whom he said: “Follow me” … He attributes his piety of being just in an absolute manner,and to the sinner attribute his own wickedness. Be the accuser and He will be your forgiver. All crime, all offense, all sin is due to our negligence, and all virtue, all holiness to the divine clemency. He chose those he wanted. The East calls you and you look to the West “(Sermon 100).
VIDEO COMMENTARY ON TODAY’S 1ST READING
TOPIC: DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THE SECRET TO HAVE PERSEVERANCE WHEN YOU FEEL WEARY AND BURDENED IN SERVING GOD?
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