Sunday – 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time   revisited

Gospel – Matthew 10:37-42

The Cost/Rewards of Discipleship

Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem

I’m holding in my hand a simple piece of paper, barely bigger than an index card.  It’s a mini-golf scorecard and it’s 47 years old.  At the time, the game itself probably cost only about $6.  Certainly a lot less than you would pay today.  So the cost today doesn’t seem like much.  But for me all that time ago, it was a wealth of money.  So it cost me a lot.  But the rewards of the card?  Well, that is priceless.  This was one of the first dates Ginger and I went on.  And who would have guessed how that would turn out?  All the memories we have shared, painful and joyful.  All the times we have shared together and the people who have touched our lives!  Priceless!

Cost and reward!  Two vastly different concepts but they play a key role in all of today’s readings.  In the first reading, a rich woman goes out of her way to set aside a room just for the prophet Elisha.  The cost for her, probably not much.  But the reward?  She saw in Elisha a good man, a prophet, a holy man of God.  And she was rewarded with a son in her old age.

In the second reading, Paul reminds us all that, if we are baptized into Christ, then we are also baptized into His death and, just as we are buried with Him, so too we will be raised with Him to life eternal.  Cost and reward!

And in the Gospel, we are confronted with that stark saying – if you want to be My disciples, you must take up your cross and follow me.  But to do that, we must commit ourselves to Christ and to the mission.  It means we need to set some priorities.  It means that it will cost us.  It doesn’t mean that we abandon our family.  It means that we don’t allow ourselves to become so attached to this life that we miss the big picture – the Kingdom of Heaven.  Love your parents, love your children, and love God!

Will there be suffering?  Will we experience pain and loss and grief?  Of course!  But remember this – the COST is temporary!  The value, the reward, is eternal!

And for anyone asking the really important question – Ginger beat me in that first miniature golf game 53-62.  Ouch!  That cost meJ

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