THE WORD
Am 2-10 .13-16 / Mt 8,18-22
When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side. A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Another of (his) disciples said to him, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”
IN OTHER WORDS
One of our priests loves cats. He has several of them. Oftentimes I see these felines lying comfortably confident they will be fed soon. Like those cats, all creatures seek that condition we call homeostasis. It is natural for us to seek comfort; we look for equilibrium, or stasis. We detest indeterminate conditions or uncertainties. They make us very anxious! Whatever it is that makes us comfortable, consciously and unconsciously, we seek it. It could be material, emotional, physical comfort; we all seek our comfort zone!
In the readings for today, we see that following Jesus is not defined by seeking our comfort zone. There is no comfort zone at all, as we understand it. The greatest obstacle to following Jesus is our propensity to protect our comfort zone. Put it in another way, the cost of discipleship is starkly presented by Jesus: “nowhere to lay His head. . . follow me and let the dead bury their dead.” To have nowhere to lay one’s head is very uncomfortable. Our body needs rest to be reinvigorated. If we are not well rested we tend to be easily irritated, we function less. However, to follow Jesus does not mean to avoid relaxation. It does not mean either to work ourselves to death. Rather to follow Jesus is to give up that tendency to always seek what makes us comfortable. Following Jesus means seeking His Kingdom instead of our own comfort.
- Fr. Melchor Bernal, SVD | CKMS, Quezon City
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
