Loyalty to Christ!

Monday, July 15, 2024

Is 1:10-17; Mt 10:34-11:1

Today’s Gospel is a lesson on Christian loyalty. 

We understand Jesus’ teaching on loyalty in three ways.

1.Following Jesus means to sacrifice family ties if the latter becomes an obstacle to discipleship. Jesus cautions us that our love for him will put us in tension with those in our household. Those who love the world cannot agree with those who love Jesus or what Jesus symbolizes. As such, our family ties are a sure test of loyalty, if we wish to follow the Lord. 

2. Secondly, Jesus highlights that our loyalty toward him should have priority over our personal comfort. Carrying the cross symbolizes the denial of our personal comfort for the sake of Jesus. It would be hard for us to prove our loyalty to Jesus apart from carrying our daily cross like him. 

3. Thirdly, our loyalty toward Jesus is manifested in our readiness to deny this life in preparation for our eternal dwelling in heaven. For Christians, this life is a preparation for the next. As such, the words of Jesus imply that suffering and sacrifice are the avenues through which we safeguard our next life. Martyrs passed their loyalty test by sacrificing their earthly lives for Christ. 

In many ways, the life of St. Bonaventure, whose feast we celebrate today, becomes a testament to the loyalty that Jesus teaches us in today’s Gospel. 

In the way he brought his entire life to the feet of Jesus Christ crucified, St. Bonaventure becomes our model in faith. 

In this regard, his reflection on the cross is highly significant. 

‘The Cross is the summit of all glory,

the expression of all joy,

the treasury of all wealth;

for God, desiring to restore [us to His likeness]…

became man, humble, pitiful, and poor.

Thus Supremacy accepted misery,

Justice was put to trial,

Wealth assumed necessity;

for the highest Ruler became a lowly slave

that we might rise into glory;

the most equitable Judge received

the basest condemnation

that we might be acquitted of sin;

the richest Lord suffered the deepest need

that we might abound in plenty.’

Christian loyalty is about being in conformity with Christ and his cross. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar