Fat Tuesday: The Cost of Discipleship
Posted by admin on August 31, 2010 under 2. Fat Tuesday | 
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Our Gospel reading begins with very harsh words. Jesus turns around to the “great crowds” tagging along with him and tells them: “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.” There are times after reading a passage such as this that I am less than cheery proclaiming “the Gospel of the Lord!” Especially for first year students, who recently have left fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, these opening lines come across as anything but “good news.”
One challenge for us is to move beyond the aggressive word “hate” and the particulars of family relations and get to the demand for radical detachment Jesus is making on those who want to be disciples. As the Gospel of Luke continues, it is this detachment from all other claims on our time and affections that will distinguish disciples from the “great crowds” that make up Jesus’ entourage. And for first century Christians, losing fathers, mothers and siblings were not unrealistic demands but often the result of baptism. One question that should nag us as we prepare for Sunday is “what are the attachments that compete with our unconditional love of Christ?”. From what do we need to be detached if we are to be a disciple and not just part of the throng?
Last week, CNN published an article on their website that made the rounds of emails and the blogosphere. Princeton Theological Seminary professor and ordained minister, Kendra Dean writes in her new book Almost Christian that American teens are embracing a watered-down version of Christianity she calls “moralistic therapeutic deism” which stresses being nice and boosting self-esteem. They have been imbibing this “almost Christian” point of view from well meaning parents and pastors and has resulted in general incoherence and indifference. The findings are based on the National Study of Youth and Religion and warn that because “many teenagers thought that God simply wanted them to feel good and do good,” they are not passionate about their faith and are likely to abandon it when life throws them a curve ball. You can read the CNN article here.
Both the article and the study have generated plenty of controversy. I wonder about how applicable some of the categories are to Catholics (though we tend to be cool on the passions we are not indifferent!). But in light of this Sunday’s Gospel on the cost of discipleship, it does raise the uncomfortable question whether we are reducing the values of the gospel to simply “being nice.” One hopeful observation of Dean’s is that young adults are more than capable of being inspired by a demanding message-in fact, they are asking for it.
Fr. Peter Walsh, CSC is an Assistant Chaplain at Saint Thomas More, the Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale.