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If you were to interpret the Scriptures literally as some fundamentalist Christians are, then you can arrive at the conclusion that Jesus Christ is anti-family. In the Gospel today, for example, He is asking you to turn your back on your father, mother, wife or husband, children, brothers and sisters. But that is not the point of the Scriptures. The point of the Gospel text is not that our Lord is anti-family, but that there are objectives, there are dreams higher than family life.
Another statement of Jesus in the Gospel that may lead us to conclude that He is anti-family is when He says, ‘He who hates his life will gain it. And he who loves his life will lose it.’ From this, we can think that Jesus is anti-life. But then, again, that is not the point. The point of this Gospel text is that there are things more important than life.
There are things more important than family. And that thing more important than family, more important than life, is our discipleship and our friendship with the Lord.
We should not allow our families, our love for life, our safeguarding of life, to stand in the way of our friendship with Jesus. There is nothing that is too costly when we speak of our friendship with Jesus. Don’t you notice, when you fall in love, you do not see obstacles, you only see your loved one? You see through the obstacles and you see your loved one as a goal you must reach.
This is what Jesus is asking of us. Sometimes our love for life stands in the way of our friendship with Jesus. Sometimes our families stand in the way of our friendship with Him. He is telling us—see through the family, see through your life, and then see God there, and let God be your goal.
There are some seminars that promote this principle: ‘If the intention is clear, the mechanism will appear.’ If your intention for God is clear, the mechanism will appear and everything will mean nothing. Only God will matter. We remember St. Bernard who said, ‘The greatness measure of love is to love without measure.’
Let us ask the Lord to grant us the grace to see through every obstacle and see our loved one, Jesus, as our goal. Let us set our hearts on reaching our goal and let no obstacle be too costly for us to overcome.
JESUS OUR GOAL
Lk 14: 24-33
Looking For Jesus
