The True Freedom of Following Christ

13th Sunday in O.T. – July 1, 2007

Scripture Readings
First 1 Kings 19:16b, 19-21
Second Gal 5:1, 13-18
Gospel Luke 9:51-62

Prepared by: Fr. Jonathan Kalisch, O.P.

1. Subject Matter
• For the believer, true freedom comes by following Christ whole-heartedly to the Cross.
• The demands of discipleship focus on love and following, not power and ego. This can only
be put into practice when fear and sorrow are replaced by love and hope.
• Levels of following: 1) Jesus “sets his face” toward the Cross, 2) the Apostles learn to cast off
the yoke of slavery, 3) Elisha follows after hesitation; 4) the would-be disciples who desire to
follow, but ultimately “look back” and stay.

2. Exegetical Notes
• 1 Kings 19:The twelve yoke indicates Elisha came from a wealthy family. Threw his mantle:
“the mantle symbolized the personality and rights of the owner. Since the hair-shirt mantle of
the prophets was part of their official dress, casting it upon another would indicate an
investiture and initiation.” (JBC)
• Gal 5: “If he does away with the Law, Paul wants to stress that the Christian cannot abandon
himself to an earthly, material, Godless conduct. His freedom must be one of service,
motivated by love, a freedom for others.” (JBC)
• LK 9 Background: at the Transfiguration (9:31) Jesus discussed with Moses and Elijah the
exodus he was about to fulfill to Jerusalem. Now with solemnity, he sets his face towards the
holy city in order to accomplish his “lifting up.” (9:51) Luke begins a major section of the
Gospel (until Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem at 19:28) with this rejection of Jesus, just as he did
with the rejection of Jesus in Nazareth (4:14-30) – thus foreshadowing his rejection in
Jerusalem.
• “Taken up”: same word is used of Elijah’s assumption (2 Kings 2:9-11), of the Suffering
Servant’s exaltation (Is 42:1) and of Jesus’ Ascension (Acts 1:2, 11).
• Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Navarre Bible). Note how Jesus resolutely makes
his way to Jerusalem – to the Cross and His Father’s plan for his passion and death.
• Also “he hardened his face to go” (Sacra Pagina) – thus indicating the prophetic stance of
Jesus. Used often in Ezekial. In Ez 21:7-8, the “son of man” is told to “set his face against
Jerusalem,” and to “prophesy against the land of Israel.”
• “He sent messengers ahead of him”: Mal 3:1 declared that the Lord will send a messenger to
prepare his way.
• The ancient antipathy between Jews and Samaritans is based on the rivalry between the
shrines of Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Zion in Jerusalem.
• “fire to fall from heaven” – reference to 2 Kings 1:10, where Elijah threatens fire on his
enemies and then delivers on the promise.
• Mk 3:17 – James and John are called “sons of thunder.”
• Jesus rebukes the disciples’ desire for revenge as being out of keeping with the His mission
to save men, not destroy them (cf. Lk 19:10, Jn 12:47). Apostles gradually learn that zeal for
God is not to be bitter or violent.
• Note that after the word “rebuked” in v. 55, other ancient authorities add “and he said ‘You do
not know what manner of Spirit you are of; for the Son of man came not to destroy men’s
lives but to save them.’”
• Demands of Christian discipleship – call for self-denial and putting God before everything
else. Cf. Mt 8:18-22.
• “Jesus does not trick anyone into following him; he wants total dedication. When speaking of
Jesus’ extreme poverty, Luke uses terms of exalted dignity: ‘Son of Man,’ and ‘Lord.’” (JBC)
• Three-fold call to disciples – similar to three-fold willingness of Elisha to follow Elijah (2 Kings
2:1-6)
• These are the only places in the Gospel where someone volunteers to follow Christ.
• “The Son of man has no place to lay his head” – poignancy of the challenge is that Jesus and
his disciples had just been denied this very hospitality in the Samaritan village.
• “Bury their own dead:” turns on the notion of conversion as new life – so that those not
sharing in the new life – are in effect ‘dead.’ Jesus says the spiritually dead should bury the
physical dead – since His message is one of life.
• “goodbye to those in my family:” Luke gives the same sense in 14:26, “unless someone
hates one’s father and mother…”
• “fit for the Kingdom of God:” – a shortened way of saying “preaching the kingdom of God.”
Direction and concentration are required.
• Lk 9:44, Jesus fortells his death the second time, and again the disciples do not understand
as evidenced by their quarrel over greatness (9:46-48), John’s rebuke of the unauthorized
exorcist (9:49-50), the offer to call down fire (9:52-56) and the false starts of three would-be
disciples (9:57-62). These show the potential dangers for any future disciple as well.
3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church
• CCC # 618: The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the "one mediator between God and
men." But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every
man, "the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the
paschal mystery" is offered to all men. He calls his disciples to "take up [their] cross and
follow [him]," for "Christ also suffered for [us], leaving [us] an example so that [we] should
follow in his steps." In fact Jesus desires to associate with his redeeming sacrifice those who
were to be its first beneficiaries. This is achieved supremely in the case of his mother, who
was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery of his redemptive
suffering.
• CCC #2232: Family ties are important but not absolute. Just as the child grows to maturity
and human and spiritual autonomy, so his unique vocation which comes from God asserts
itself more clearly and forcefully. Parents should respect this call and encourage their
children to follow it. They must be convinced that the first vocation of the Christian is to follow
Jesus: "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves
son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."
• CCC #1435: Conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern
for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right, by the admission of faults to one's
brethren, fraternal correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction,
acceptance of suffering, endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness. Taking up
one's cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of penance.
• CCC #520: In all of his life Jesus presents himself as our model. He is "the perfect man," who
invites us to become his disciples and follow him. In humbling himself, he has given us an
example to imitate, through his prayer he draws us to pray, and by his poverty he calls us to
accept freely the privation and persecutions that may come our way.
• CCC #562: Christ's disciples are to conform themselves to him until he is formed in them (cf.
Gal 4:19). "For this reason we, who have been made like to him, who have died with him and
risen with him, are taken up into the mysteries of his life, until we reign together with him" (LG
7 § 4).
• CCC #915: Christ proposes the evangelical counsels, in their great variety, to every disciple.
The perfection of charity, to which all the faithful are called, entails for those who freely follow
the call to consecrated life the obligation of practicing chastity in celibacy for the sake of the
Kingdom, poverty and obedience. It is the profession of these counsels, within a permanent
state of life recognized by the Church, that characterizes the life consecrated to God.
• CCC #1693: Christ Jesus always did what was pleasing to the Father, and always lived in
perfect communion with him. Likewise Christ's disciples are invited to live in the sight of the
Father "who sees in secret,” in order to become "perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."
• CCC #1816: The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess
it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: "All however must be prepared to confess
Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions
which the Church never lacks." Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for
salvation: "So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before
my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my
Father who is in heaven."
• CCC #2262: In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord recalls the commandment, "You shall not
kill," and adds to it the proscription of anger, hatred, and vengeance. Going further, Christ
asks his disciples to turn the other cheek, to love their enemies. He did not defend himself
and told Peter to leave his sword in its sheath.”
• CCC #546: Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a
characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he invites people to the feast of
the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give
everything. Words are not enough; deeds are required. The parables are like mirrors for man:
will he be hard soil or good earth for the word? What use has he made of the talents he has
received? Jesus and the presence of the kingdom in this world are secretly at the heart of
the parables. One must enter the kingdom, that is, become a disciple of Christ, in order to
"know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven." For those who stay "outside," everything
remains enigmatic.
• CCC #2475: Christ's disciples have "put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in
true righteousness and holiness." By "putting away falsehood," they are to "put away all
malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander."
• CCC # 1765: There are many passions. The most fundamental passion is love, aroused by
the attraction of the good. Love causes a desire for the absent good and the hope of
obtaining it; this movement finds completion in the pleasure and joy of the good possessed.
The apprehension of evil causes hatred, aversion, and fear of the impending evil; this
movement ends in sadness at some present evil, or in the anger that resists it.
• CCC # 2302: By recalling the commandment, "You shall not kill," our Lord asked for peace of
heart and denounced murderous anger and hatred as immoral. Anger is a desire for
revenge. "To desire vengeance in order to do evil to someone who should be punished is
illicit," but it is praiseworthy to impose restitution "to correct vices and maintain justice." If
anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is
gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin. The Lord says, "Everyone who is angry with his
brother shall be liable to judgment."

4. Patristic Commentary and Other Authorities

• St. Augustine: “’The first,’ sayeth He, ‘I decline, because I see in him holes, I see nests.’ ‘
But then why doest thou press this other, whom Thou doest challenge to follow thee, and he
makes excuses? … The faith of his heart showed itself to the Lord; but his dutiful affection
made him delay. But the Lord Jesus Christ when he is preparing men for the Gospel, will
have no excuse from this carnal and temporal affection interfere.”
• St. Ambrose: “He [Jesus] acts in this way to teach us that perfect virtue retains no desire for
vengeance, and that where there is true charity there is no room for anger – in other words,
that weakness should not be treated with harshness but should be helped. Indignation
should be very far from holy souls, and desire for vengeance very far from great souls.”
• Hilary of Poitiers: “Sure of protection on the day of battle, Christ prayed: Lord, do not allow
the wicked anything contrary to my desire. He who said I have come not to do my own will,
but the will of him who sent me hastened to fulfill the task he had undertaken out of
obedience, though in such a way as to remind us that he possessed a will of his own. In fact,
he willed whatever the Father willed.”
• St. Augustine (on Galations 5): “It is said that someone lives according to the flesh when
he lives for himself. Therefore, in this case, by ‘flesh’ is meant the whole person. For
everything which stems from a disordered love of oneself is called work of the flesh.” (The
City of God)
• Pope John Paul II (on Galations): “Significantly, when speaking of the ‘works of the flesh’
Paul mentions not only ‘immorality, [fornication], impurity, licentiousness…, drunkenness,
carousing’ – all of which objectively speaking are connected with the flesh; he also names
other sins which we do not usually put in the ‘carnal’ or ‘sexual’ category - ‘idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strive, jealousy, anger, envy’…all these sins are the outcome of ‘life according to the
flesh,’ which is the opposite to ‘life according to the spirit.’”

5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars

• St. Augustine in The Confessions, writes about the human desire, after conversion to God,
to look back, mournfully on all that one has given up, and compares it to Lot’s wife who also
looks back and is turned to a pillar of stone.
• St. Frances de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God: “We receive the grace of God in vain,
when we receive it without receiving it, that is, we receive it without fruit, since there is no
advantage in feeling the inspiration if we do not accept it…It sometimes happens that being
inspired to do much we consent not to the whole inspiration but only to some part of it, as did
those good people in the Gospel, who upon the inspiration which our Lord gave them to
follow him wished to make reservations, the one to go first and bury his father, the other to
take leave of his people.”
• St. Jose-Maria Escriva, Christ is Passing by: “There is never a reason to look back. The
Lord is at our side. We have to be faithful and loyal; we have to face up to our obligations
and we will find in Jesus the love and the stimulus we need to understand other people’s
faults and overcome our own.”
• St. Rose of Lima: “Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to
heaven.”
• St. Ignatius of Loyola, Principle and Foundation: “Man is created to praise, reverence, and
serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. And the other things on the face of
the earth are created for man and that they may help him in prosecuting the end for which he
is created. From this it follows that man is to use them as much as they help him on to his
end, and ought to rid himself of them so far as they hinder him as to it. For this it is necessary
to make ourselves indifferent to all created things in all that is allowed to the choice of our
free will and is not prohibited to it; so that, on our part, we want not health rather than
sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, long rather than short life,
and so in all the rest; desiring and choosing only what is most conducive for us to the end for
which we are created.”

6. Quotations from Pope Benedict XVI

• Following Christ means “to be open to a future without frontiers, whose totality does not
suffer being squeezed into the finiteness of space and time.” (The Yes of Jesus Christ)
• “’Following,’ in this sense, is something quite external: an actual walking behind Jesus on his
journey around Palestine. Something interior: a new direction for one’s life, which no longer
has business, the earning of a livelihood, and one’s own wishes and ideas as its central
points of reference, but is surrendered to the will of another, so that being with this other and
being at his disposal are now the really important content of a human existence.” (Dogma
and Preaching)
• “’Follow me!’ These words contain, first of all a summons to give up a previous calling. At a
deeper level, however, they are a summons to give up one’s very self in order to live entirely
for him who, for his part, willed to live entirely for the word of God: so much so that later
reflection could recognize in him the incarnate Word of God himself.” (Dogma and Preaching)
• “In this context, ‘to follow’ means to entrust oneself to the word of God, to rate it higher than
the laws of money and bread and to live by it. In short, to follow means to believe, but to
‘believe’ in the sense of making a radical decision between the two and, in the last analysis,
the only two possibilities for human life: bread and word. The human person does not live on
bread alone but also and primarily on the word, the spirit, meaning. It is always this same
radical decision that confronts disciples when they hear the call ‘Follow me!’: the radical
decision to stake one’s life either on profit and gain or on truth and love; the radical decision
to live for oneself or to surrender one’s self.” (Dogma and Preaching)
• “To follow Christ means to accept the inner essence of the cross, namely the radical love
expressed therein, and thus to imitate God himself. For on the cross God revealed himself
as the One who pours himself out in prodigal fashion; who surrenders his glory in order to be
present for us; who desires to rule the world not be power but by love, and in the weakness
of the cross reveals his power which operates so differently from the power of this world’s
mighty rulers.” (Dogma and Preaching)
• “To follow Christ, then, means to enter into the self-surrender that is the real heart of love.
To follow Christ means to become one who loves as God has loved.” (Dogma and
Preaching)
• “…How difficult it was to initiate them [the disciples] gradually into Jesus’ mysterious new
way, of the kinds of tension that had to be overcome. For example, how much purification
must the zeal of the Zealots have needed before it could be united with Jesus’ ‘zeal’ about
which John’s Gospel tells us (cf Jn 2:17)? His zeal reaches it completion on the Cross.
Precisely in this wide range of backgrounds, temperaments, and approaches, the Twelve
personify the Church of all ages and its difficult task of purifying and unifying these men in
the zeal of Jesus Christ.” (Jesus of Nazareth)
• “This brings us back to the Torah of the Messiah, to the Letter to the Galations. ‘You were
called to freedom’ (Gal 5:13) – not to a blind and arbitrary freedom, to a freedom ‘understood
according to the flesh,’ as Paul would say, but to a ‘seeing’ freedom, anchored in communion
of will with Jesus and so with God himself. It is a freedom that, as a result of this new way of
seeing, is able to build the very thing that is at the heat of the Torah – with Jesus,
universalizing the essential content of the Torah and thus truly ‘fulfilling’ it.” (Jesus of
Nazareth)
• “The Pelagianism of the pious is a child of fear, of a damaged hope that cannot endure the
tension of awaiting the uncompellable gift of love. So from hope arises anxiety, and that in its
turn give birth to a striving for security in which no uncertainty can remain…This kind of
 striving for security rests on the total self assertion of the ego, which refuses to take the risk
of emerging from its shell and entrusting itself to the other.” (The Yes of Jesus Christ)
• “They want security, not hope. By means of a tough and rigorous system of religious
practices, by means of prayers and actions, they want to create for themselves a right to
blessedness. What they lack is the humility essential to any love – the humility to be able to
receive what we are given over and above what we have deserved and achieved. The denial
of hope in favor of security that we are faced with here rests on the inability to bear the
tension of waiting for what is to come, to abandon oneself to God’s goodness.” (The Yes of
Jesus Christ)

7. Other Considerations
• The plow image in the Gospel recalls the first reading where Elisha is called while plowing.
Elisha begged to “kiss my father and mother and then I will follow you.” Elijah allowed Elisha
to, but Jesus’ demands are stricter – one cannot look back less the work suffer – if one looks
back while plowing, the furrow will be crooked, therefore Jesus emphasizes the unconditional
demand of discipleship. Discipleship must come before care of self, the dead, or of family.
• The “Pelagianism of the pious” that Pope Benedict refers to – is really the same yoke of
slavery – a refusal to believe that God is doing something new in one’s life and is calling one
to greatness. The true freedom of discipleship arises when one allows that greatness of self
– one’s vocation – to come to the fore.

Recommended Resources
Pope Benedict XVI, The Yes of Jesus Christ, trans. Robert Nowell, New York: Crossroad
Publishing Company, 1991.
, Jesus of Nazareth, trans. Adrian Walker, New York: Doubleday, 2007.
R. Alan Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. ix, Nashville:
Abingdon, Press, 1995.
The Jerome Biblical Commentary, ed. Raymond Brown, Joseph Fitzmyer, and Roland Murphy,
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1968.
The Jerusalem Bible, Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Co, 1966.
Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke in Sacra Pagina series vol. 3, ed. Daniel Harrington,
Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1991.
The Navarre Bible: The Gospel of Saint Luke, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2nd ed, 1998.
Romans and Galatians, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2nd ed, 1998.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, vol. 6, Augustin: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the
Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels, First Series, ed. By Philip Schaff, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson
Publishers, 1995.
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Dogma and Preaching, trans. Matthew O’Connell, Chicago:
Franciscan Herald Press, 1985.