Salvation is free; discipleship costs. That’s my mantra these days. All the readings placed before us at Mass today teach us about responding to suffering that comes when we are faithful to God. Jesus died for all of us, for our sins and those of the whole world, but even now he calls people to respond to this free gift. What is our response? We call it discipleship, following the same path as the Lord.
To be a disciple means we accept in our lives what Jesus accepted. Any who try to remain faithful to God’s call in their lives knows this. Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet knew it, Saint Paul knew it. Urging the Christians at Rome to offer themselves as a living sacrifice, Paul gave the example by his own martyrdom. “Do not conform yourselves to this age,” he told them. What exactly was it they might find in their society, in their culture that would draw them away from the gospel?
Almost as if he were writing to us, the Christians of this day and age, we can ask that question as well. What today draws us away from instead of toward the gospel? Is it our sense of isolation? Our fear of community? Is it self-seeking interest instead of selfless service? Is it desire for wealth or power or fame? It is the relativism of which Pope Benedict XVI speaks of with frequency? The lack of moral absolutes; our willingness to be drawn into evil?
Yes, discipleship costs. For some in our tradition it cost their lives. For us today, it probably won’t cost that, but it does cost us in the sense that we will be invited to enter the mystery of dying and rising that is at the center of Christianity. Laying down our lives, our wants and desires, in order to serve others, in order to follow the message of Jesus and to imitate his self-giving, is risky. We might be considered weird. We might be mocked. We might be shunned. But wasn’t Jesus?
Jeremiah was ready to abandon his call to be a prophet. Paul grew angry at the people who misunderstood his vocation. But they persevered. We get discouraged too. But we can find hope and comfort in the words of the gospel today. If we are to remain faithful we have to take up the cross. That’s the instructions given by Jesus. Deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Christ.
