26 January 2020
A story: A four year old boy had been naughty all day. His mother sent him to bed early as punishment.
He marched off without a protest, but in a few minutes
came back carrying his favorite stuffed animal, his piggy bank and some clothes.
“What are you doing?” asked his father. “I’m running away from home,” the little boy said.
“Oh,” said his father, “What will you do when you get hungry?”
The little boy thought a bit, and then with the innocence of the young said:
“I’ll come home to eat.”
“Oh,” said his father, “What will you do when you run out of money?”
The little boy thought a bit, and then said: “I’ll come home and get some more.”
“Oh,” said the father, “What will you do when your clothes get dirty?”
The little boy thought a bit and then said: “I’ll bring them home and let mommy wash them.”
At this point the father turned to his wife and said:
“This kid isn’t running away from home, he’s going off to college.”
Matthew sets us up in today’s gospel to let us believe the disciples are like impetuous,
perhaps snotty children, who take off leaving their families and responsibilities behind them.
They had jobs and business partners, families–people who depended upon them,
and off they go not knowing what it will cost.
They don’t intend it to. That’s the set up, that’s the unfair thing Matthew does to us to measure
our response to the Lord against theirs.
We seem hesitant. We never signed up to give the Lord everything,
heck ten percent and an hour on Sunday seems like a lot.
The disciples intended to be home again for dinner–and were.
The disciples intended to return to their boats to earn a living–they did.
The disciples intended to retain their human comforts–they did.
The power and presence of Jesus,
was that he took people who were willing to give him an afternoon,
and showed them a whole world that cost a life time.
The power and presence of Jesus in our lives,
is that he takes our hesitant and stingy offerings of ourselves,
and loves us into loving him more.
We pray that by the time we die, the transformation from reluctance to whole-heartedness will be complete.