Romans 6:3-4,8-11
Matthew 10:37-42
Every so often we are presented with a text from the Gospels where no matter how we turn it around, we are left with an image or a concept that is just plain difficult.
‘Anyone who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.’
The radical commitment to discipleship that Jesus asks of each one of us is presented today in the starkest of terms. We can’t wriggle out of it. Perhaps the key to understanding just how this might work in our lives is found in today’s text from Romans.
‘When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in his death; in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life.’
This is one of my favourite texts from Paul. Here we see that at baptism we were incorporated into the Paschal mystery. This was God’s free gift to us. It means that we carry within in us the life, death and resurrection of Christ. It’s this divine life which is our pattern and our hope that we have all we need in order to be able to follow Christ.
Choosing Christ above all else is worked out in the ordinariness of our lives. Family and community bonds will aways be part of this. This text cant be asking us to turn away from our family or community. While the specifics of radical discipleship which Christ asks of each one of us can’t be planned for or predicted, we can commit to walking daily in the grace of our baptism and trust that God will do the rest.
In what small way can you follow Christ more closely today?