June 28, 2020 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Fr Andy Upah

Reading 12 KGS 4:8-11, 14-16A

One day Elisha came to Shunem,
where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her.
Afterward, whenever he passed by, he used to stop there to dine.
So she said to her husband, “I know that Elisha is a holy man of God.
Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof
and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp,
so that when he comes to us he can stay there.”
Sometime later Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight.

Later Elisha asked, “Can something be done for her?”
His servant Gehazi answered, “Yes!
She has no son, and her husband is getting on in years.”
Elisha said, “Call her.”
When the woman had been called and stood at the door,
Elisha promised, “This time next year
you will be fondling a baby son.”

Responsorial PsalmPS 89:2-3, 16-17, 18-19

R. (2a) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
The promises of the LORD I will sing forever,
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.
For you have said, “My kindness is established forever;”
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
You are the splendor of their strength,
and by your favor our horn is exalted.
For to the LORD belongs our shield,
and the Holy One of Israel, our king.
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Reading 2ROM 6:3-4, 8-11

Brothers and sisters:
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.

If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;
death no longer has power over him.
As to his death, he died to sin once and for all;
as to his life, he lives for God.
Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin
and living for God in Christ Jesus.

Alleluia1 PT 2:9

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation;
announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelMT 10:37-42

Jesus said to his apostles:
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

"Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is a righteous man
will receive a righteous man’s reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because the little one is a disciple—
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

Homily for KDTH Radio Mass on the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 6/28/2020

My homily for the thirteenth Sunday in ordinary time focuses on the Gospel, Matthew 10:37-42, but I also touch on the first and second readings, which are 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16A and also Romans 6:3-4, 8-11 which talks a lot about Baptism.  

It has been interesting this weekend to watch these readings actually play out in my life, I celebrated two baptisms and I even did a house blessing, and at all of them I was offered a cold drink or two afterwards, and at one of the houses I was even offered a room to stay, they said, “we’ll call this Fr. Andy’s room.”

But today’s gospel message is challenging to say the least.  You know, we have to do the bulletin early in the week, usually by Wednesday, sometimes sooner, and when I first read the Gospel, I was like, no way, I’m not going to talk about that, you can tell because I just put a little snippet in the bulletin.

But then I started to think and pray about it, and the Gospel really makes sense in light of the other two readings, and I decided I needed to talk about the Gospel.

There are really two parts to it, but both parts have to deal with detachment. The first part deals with anyone who wishes to be a disciple.  The second part deals with how to treat such disciples.  Both require detachment.

In the first part, the Gospel said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” In saying this, Jesus is not saying He is against family life, He is trying to say that it is more important to love Him than anything else.

In this way, Jesus puts our individual conscience before our family relationships.  So, if our father or mother, son or daughter, asked us to do something that was wrong, something that was sinful, it is more important to follow the law of God then to honor that request from our family.

This is what Paul is saying in our second reading when he says, “you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.”  

As disciples, we have to be detached from any attachment to sin, it’s somewhat obvious, but there are several times during Mass in the “every day” Mass parts, and one that jumped out at me was after the Our Father, in the “Deliver Us” prayer, I say, “we may always be free from sin” - detached from sin.

Next in the Gospel, Jesus says, “and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.”  Often, it’s easy to think “take up his cross and follow” means to suffer or deal with resignation whatever troubles or sorrows life puts in our way, suffering with Jesus.

However, despite the positives that might come from suffering, that is a very passive look at this when in reality, these two verbs, “take up” and “follow” are very active.

These active verbs require personal commitment, willing participation, intentional clinging, and serious effort.  In fact, it gives the sense that, if I do not do this, no one will, and my place behind Jesus will remain vacant, forever.

Finally, the first part of this gospel closes by saying, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  This isn’t the best translation, it would be more accurate to say, “Whoever clutches his self, shall destroy it.”

Since we live in this world, it is natural to aspire to worldly goods, power, pleasure and prestige, trying to clutch these worldly things for our self. But often, chasing after these worldly things cause us to fall into sin.

Jesus is saying, we who would be his disciples need to give these things up, make ourselves poor in the eyes of the world, and rather than clutching to the things of the world, we should clutch to the things of God.   As disciples, we have to be detached from any attachment to sin, it’s somewhat obvious, but there are several times during Mass in the “every day” Mass parts, and one that jumped out at me was after the Our Father, in the “Deliver Us” prayer, I say, “we may always be free from sin” - detached from sin.

Essentially, if we are to be a disciple of Jesus, we need to clutch, or cling to Jesus, with our whole being, as if our own life, breath, and welfare depended on clinging to Him.

Even more than we love and trust our mother, father, brother, or sister, we should love Jesus, trusting Him as a little child trusts their family members.

Now I will admit that every time I read this Gospel in the past, I have read this line, “And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink” and I made the assumption that there were some little children standing right up in front of Jesus in the crowd.

But in reality, “little ones” here is referring to Jesus’ disciples, and this second part of the gospel is talking to those beloved little ones, His disciples, who will be out on mission.  

Little ones” is meant as a term of endearment, because they are important to Him, but also, disciples have made themselves “little” and “poor” in the eyes of the world who seek power, pleasure and prestige.

So this second part of the Gospel started by saying, “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.”

Disciples are representing the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, they are prophets, and they are righteous.

In our first reading, we heard of a family receiving a prophet and taking care of Him because they knew He had no means to take care of Himself.  The host family didn’t think of themselves, they were detached enough from their worldly goods to be able to give them freely to this prophet.

The prophet Elisha, for his part, returned the favor by blessing the family with a baby.  A disciple brings with Him blessings, varied blessings, from the Word of God to bringing God himself in the Eucharist.  A disciples brings blessings, and this is the reward for how we treat a disciple in our midst.

And that is perhaps one of the most important aspects of this second part, as it relates to our redemption and salvation, is that we don’t do this on our own, our salvation and redemption is tied into the community.

We are baptized into Christ Jesus, baptized into his Church, and connected to all other believers as well as those prophets who have been sent by Jesus to bless them.  

God sent His son for our salvation, and Jesus sent those first apostles, and those apostles set out to make disciples, and those disciples have been raising up generations of disciples ever since.

We are a community of believers, and our redemption can only take place in the context of the church consisting of other believers, with our love for God showing forth in our hospitality. 

Okay, I hope that helps to understand what is happening here.  Our challenge is to determine where we are as disciples… do we cling to Jesus or do we cling to the things of this world?  Where do we need to detach?

Our other challenge is to consider how we are showing hospitality to disciples in our midst?  And I am not just saying this to personally receive a glass of a cold beverage, although that would be great, there are plenty of disciples in our midst that we should consider.

We are social people, we live in community, our love for God shows forth in how we love one another.  Detach from the world.  Attach to Christ and His Church. In doing so, we will not lose our reward.