The Nazareth Page  - A gospel meditation for your home

September 7, 2025 – Twentieth-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Luke 14:25-33

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Today’s gospel contains one of the most surprising words of Jesus in all the gospels. They are worth quoting. “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” I have spent fifty years promoting marriage and family life as important aspects of the Christian life. Was I wrong? Did I skip this passage in the gospels?

The answer I came to after much thought is that I was right in my priorities. We all should affirm the sacred value of human relationships with family and others, but they are not the whole picture. What’s first for anyone who decides to be a disciple of Jesus is placing the values of God first.

Yet love of God and love of neighbor are often joined in the gospels. In one gospel passage Jesus teaches that if one claims to love God, yet hates their neighbor, they are liars. Further, the gospels teach that we show our love for God by loving our neighbor.  Especially anyone needing help.

Recall the words of Jesus at the Last Supper: “Love one another as I have loved you.” He follows that challenge with giving his life for them and for us. Even the Ten Commandments contain this duality. The first three commandment are about our relationship with God and the next seven are focused on our relationship with our neighbor.

So, love God with all your heart, but also include loving and caring for others in that love. Often, the real “cost of discipleship,” or the test of true love of God, is shown by caring about and helping others. Yes, we are to love God with all our heart, mind and soul. Although not God alone, but all God’s good creation.   

There are times when love can be especially challenging, especially loving those we know all too well, like family members or close neighbors. We know their good qualities, but also their weaknesses, imperfections and idiosyncrasies. We know their occasional faults and failures. But God continues to love them. And God’s love should be the measure of our love. Think of Jesus. Based on his love for us, he gave his life for us. All of us!

David M. Thomas, PhD