13th Sunday of Ordinary Time
The 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time brings us readings that speak about welcome, faith, and commitment. Each passage reminds us that following God changes how we live. It calls us to trust his promises, live the new life he calls us to follow, and place Him in our hearts. We are reminded that faith touches both big choices and small actions. To follow Jesus is to place him at the centre and to live with open hearts. Every gesture of love becomes part of our call as disciples. In the First Reading A woman of rank in Shunem offers hospitality to the prophet Elisha. In gratitude, Elisha promises her a son, despite her husband’s advanced age. In the Second Reading St Paul tells us that through baptism, we join Christ in His death and resurrection, signifying our new life. As Christ is free from death, we too, should live free from sin, and for God.
In the Gospel story, we are reminded that the priority of faith in the early church demanded radical consequences. At that time extended closely-knit families formed the basis of society, a choice for a follower of Christ could mean a rejection of the family’s faith and values. Jesus reminded his followers that the Christian life involved many risks and one could not compromise or hide these risks away a believer could not placate his or her family if the cost threatened faith. The people of the day thought that No, faith could involve such an extreme choice. Either the relationship with family took priority or the relationship with Jesus took the number one slot it seemed that both could not go together. Even though they had only a vague idea then of what he meant, when the time came, they remembered Jesus words and gladly suffered imprisonment, hardships, and finally martyrdom for Christ. This shows how the resurrection of Christ, and the descent of the Holy Spirit on them, changed them from worldly weaklings into fearless heroes. They had become convinced that Christ was the Son of God their saviour who had come on earth to bring all men to heaven. Through time they came to realize how unimportant, the few years of the earthly life that we have were compared to the eternal life to follow.
Today, there are still those who are suffering martyrdom for the faith because they obey God rather than man. We can help them to persevere, by our prayers. We ourselves, who are free from any overt persecution, must show our gratitude to God for being allowed to practice our religion openly and without fear. We have many opportunities in our daily life to reach out to others, to be a welcoming presence and a sign of God’s love in the world especially where we live let us not be afraid to take these opportunities when they arise and show how much our faith means to us right in our time and place.
Fullerton T 