Wednesday November 8, 2017
The invitation to the Kingdom is free. However, our response demands some sacrifice. Jesus cautions us that unless we are willing to give the highest priority to him, we cannot be his disciple. No other preference—parents, children, siblings, job, even our own life—can stand in the way of Jesus’s absolute primacy. If the invited guests (in yesterday’s Gospel: passage) were found wanting, it was because they gave first preference to their wedding, land, and oxen. For this reason, they were summarily rejected once and for all.
Paul advises us to love one another, and one who loves one’s neighbor fulfills the Law. However, even this neighborly love must be subordinated to the love of Christ. Our love of the other must be routed through and rooted in our love of Christ. Without the centrality of Christ, our love may degenerate into possessiveness and idol worship. Let Christ alone be our first love and our last love, our alpha and our omega.
