Gospel & Reflection for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2025
Luke 12:49‐53
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over!
‘Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; the father divided against the son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother‐in‐law against daughter‐in‐law, daughter‐in‐law against mother‐in‐law.’
Reflection
Friends, one of the most famous religious buildings in the world is West Minister Abbey in London. It is a fantastic gothic structure which was formerly a Catholic Benedictine Abbey but which, with the Reformation and the suppression of monasteries, became a Church of England Cathedral.
During the 1990’s, there was an extensive restoration done to the building. When that work was completed, it was decided to fill the space above the main doors with statues of ten saints. The saints chosen were not traditional saints of centuries past but modern Christian martyrs reflecting the building’s rich Catholic and Protestant history. Catholic martyrs such as Maximilian Colby and Oscar Romero are depicted alongside Martin Luther King Jr and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Bonhoeffer is an interesting man. He was a Lutheran Theologian, hanged by the Nazis in 1945. Before the outbreak of war, he was lecturing in New York and would have been safe there if he had stayed. But after a brief time in America, Bonhoeffer knew he had to return home to Germany. He said: “If I do not share the trials of this time with my people, I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life after the war.”
One of Bonhoeffer’s books is titled ‘The Cost of Discipleship’. In it, he asks the question, if we answer the call to discipleship, where will it lead us? What decisions and partings will it demand? In the book, he speaks about ‘cheap grace’ which is someone seeking all the consolations of faith but without any commitment or conversion to it. But he also mentions ‘costly grace’ and this is where a person hearing the call of Christ, leaves everything and follows Him. For Bonhoeffer, ‘costly grace’ is about someone being prepared to pay the price of discipleship, whatever it may be.
The cost of discipleship is precisely what our Gospel is about this weekend. What price have we or are we paying for our faith? It is not that we must suffer to be good Catholics, it is just that having faith, especially in our world today, provokes and invites much unwanted criticism, negativity and apathy.
How many here have ever been criticised either in your own home, at work or in the company of others, if you have mentioned that Church, faith, and God are important to you? How many people maybe never mention anything about faith to others, just in case? If you have made such a decision, if you have ever been suffered angry or dismissive words over your faith, then you know about the real cost of discipleship!
This cost is what Jesus is talking about. When he mentions bringing fire to the earth and division – these are things which He does not want to bring but He simply knows that they will come of their own accord because of the opposition to what Faith is all about and the infectious hope and change it can bring to people’s lives. Such hope, such change is not always welcomed, and it can provoke a negative reaction. Jesus bore the price of such a reaction, but it was a price that He willingly paid.
So too was Maximilian Colby, Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King Jr and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Though living decades apart, they were all committed to witnessing to the truth and power of their Christianity. But their lives and faith proved too uncomfortable for others who believed that by killing them, they could eradicate the faith as well. They failed. Their names, their lives, their example, are synonymous with the Christian ideals of faith, hope and love.
Friends, every person of faith, all of us here, have or will pay some price for our faith. It could be as simple as someone smirking at us or thinking us foolish over our beliefs; it can be more serious too. Yet the call of our faith is never to be deterred. We are asked not to be shy, not to be embarrassed, not to be quiet but to be fully committed in proclaiming and living our faith and beliefs, regardless of the cost. This is not easy for anyone, but this is the cost of discipleship.
So, let us fill our lives with ‘costly grace’. Let us follow the Lord as He asks us to do, trusting that He will give us the strength to meet the cost.
Fr. Richard
