First Reading - 2 Kings 4:8-11,13-16
Second Reading - Romans 6:3-4,8-11
Gospel - Matthew 10:37-42
I came across a story this week that I haven't been able to stop thinking about.
Someone once asked a missionary, "What made you leave everything behind - your home, your comfort, your family - to go serve in some distant land?" And the missionary paused and said, "I didn't give up everything for Christ. I just discovered that nothing compares to belonging to Him."
I love that. Because I think that's exactly what today's readings are trying to tell us.
Let's start with that woman in the first reading - the woman from Shunem. Now, she doesn't have a name in the text, but she's remarkable. She notices that Elisha passes through her town regularly, and she says to her husband, "Look, this is a holy man. Let's build him a little room. A bed, a table, a lamp, a chair." That's it. Nothing fancy. And she doesn't ask for anything in return. She's not doing it to get something. She's doing it because she recognizes God at work in this man, and she wants to respond.
And here's what gets me - God sees it. God notices. And through Elisha, she receives this incredible promise: you're going to have a son. She's not even expecting that. She wasn't running a transaction. She was just being generous. And God — as He always does — was more generous still.
That's a pattern worth paying attention to.
Then Paul, in the second reading, reminds us of something we can sometimes take for granted. He says: at your Baptism, something happened to you. Your old self - the version of you shaped by selfishness, by sin, by all the things that pull you away from God - that self died. And you rose with Christ. You began a new life.
Now, most of us were baptized as infants, so we don't remember it. But that doesn't make it less real. Every single day is an invitation to live out what happened in that font. To die a little to self. To choose grace over grudge, service over selfishness, love over resentment.
And then we get to the Gospel - and Jesus doesn't soften anything here.
He says, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." Now, that sounds harsh at first. But He's not telling us to love our families less. What He's saying is: when Christ is at the center, everything else falls into its right place. Your love for your family actually gets better, deeper, more selfless, when it flows from your love for God rather than from need or habit or obligation.
He also says, "Take up your cross." And I think we sometimes picture the cross as some dramatic, heroic suffering. But most of the time, the cross looks a lot more ordinary than that. It's choosing to forgive someone who doesn't deserve it. It's serving when you'd rather be served. It's staying patient when you want to snap. It's putting someone else first when everything in you wants to put yourself first.
That's the cross. And Jesus says — carry it and follow me.
And then He says something that I find incredibly consoling. He says that even a cup of cold water — just a cup of cold water — given to someone in His name will not go unrewarded. The smallest act of love matters in God's Kingdom. Nothing is wasted.
So as we prepare to come to this table, I want to leave us with three questions to sit with this week.
Does Christ actually hold first place in my life? Not just in principle - but in practice? Where do I spend my time, my money, my energy? What does that reveal?
Am I living the new life I received in Baptism? Or am I still dragging around old habits, old resentments, old versions of myself that I've been baptized out of?
And third - where is God asking me to serve Him right now? Not in some grand, heroic way. But right here. In my home, my workplace, my neighborhood. Who needs a cup of cold water from me this week?
That missionary had it right. We don't give up anything for Christ. We just discover that nothing is greater than belonging to Him.
May God give us the courage to follow Him without holding back. Amen.
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