Bishop Barron on the Centrality of Christ

one of the temptations of our postmodern period is to see Jesus as you know great teacher and to seem as one spiritual guru among many the problem with that is it's just repugnant to the logic of the New Testament the New Testament keeps saying over and over again that Jesus is the Son of God that there's a centrality to Jesus that can't be compromised see once you get that then there's a great clarity that comes to the spiritual life and in many ways the Gospels are all about that if Jesus is unambiguously the center of your life then everything else falls away or better arranges itself around that Center if you say Oh a great teacher always a great spiritual inspiration well then sure I'll I'll pick and choose and take this and that and Jesus and the Buddha and Muhammad and secular figures I'm sure they're all important to me see but that is not New Testament logic New Testament logic is Jesus first and last the Alpha and the Omega either you gather with me or you scatter Jesus says who's not with me is against me Jesus says once you know that then you don't issue everything else everything else finds its relationship to him okay now I think this passage from Luke's Gospel chapter 9 is really helpful in this regard once we get this logic now look at this episode he's walking with his disciples to Jerusalem I'll come back to that it always means the cross right but off he's going and we hear a number of little adventures and conversations and they're all very clarifying on this thing so they're passing through a Samaritan village and and first that's an odd thing because a lot of pious Jews went around Samaria it was the land of the half-breeds but Jesus is typical you know he goes right into it well while they're doing this the Samaritans are obnoxious to them because they're Jews going to Jerusalem which is all bad and so they wouldn't receive them they wouldn't feed them and so we hear James and John the sons of thunder Jesus called them you know so you get a hint of it here why he would have called him man because James and John they say Lord do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them see what is that but you know what kind of righteous indignation so they're being treated badly is it sort of racist as it is it you know aggressive violent non-inclusive all these big yeah it is and and they feel this righteous indignation and they know they're with this guy who has this unique power and so hey let's let's express our righteous indignation by calling down fire now are these understandable emotions yeah sure sure and up and down the ages to the present day a lot of us feel that way and look around the world how many offended feelings there are you know boy they didn't treat me right so they deserve to be destroyed and Jesus it says turned only to rebuke them what's going on there what has to fall away if Jesus is the absolute center of my life are my private feelings of being wounded and having unjust things done to me and my righteous indignation and my desire to set things right right I'm setting the agenda here Laura do what I want see that's got to fall away if we're playing that game then Jesus is not the Lord we're not following him we're allowing our own feelings to govern our lives so that's gotta fall away then listen as they were proceeding someone said to him I'll follow you wherever you go well good that's that's nicely expressed some people in the Gospels say Lord I want you to do something for me that's always a formula for disaster by the way when you start telling Jesus what you want him to do so this is good you know I'll follow you wherever you go and was he saying foxes have dens birds in the sky have nests but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head now what's he saying here he's that saying he'll go away from me or you're a bad person he's saying do you get the full implication to what it means to say I'll follow you wherever you go you know home home base the nest my my lair my place it's a very important thing for us isn't it I remember years ago when I was a student over in Europe and we travel a lot you know how important it was to have the hotel set for me I wouldn't rest I couldn't comfortably tour the city until I knew we got a place to stay there's something about coming home then after a long journey after even a vacation to come home there's something so satisfying about that well it's got to fall away though if you're following Jesus that can't be the dominant concern of your life that you're stable and comfortable and relaxed you're following him you know I can't help but think too of just about a year ago when I got the call to come out to Santa Barbara California to be bishop and it was nowhere on my radar screen no idea that was coming I was an utter utter surprise and it meant a move leave everybody you know everything you know leave your home your nest your lair you know your place where you're comfortable and go go hey Fox has heavier layers birds have their nests on a man has nowhere to lay his head if you're gonna follow him wherever he goes you gotta accept that you know that's got to fall away now listen as he goes on his journey to another he said follow me so think now of Jesus calling you call Volos follow me and the guy says Lord let me first go and bury my father well what I love about this is almost like a like a comedy routine he's like almost like a straight man setting up Jesus lying because especially in the culture of this time biblical times true in our culture true I'd imagine almost any culture talk about the one excuse that can't be denied if you say hey could you help me with this or hey could you come to my party oh yeah I'll come but you know what my dad died and I got to go to his funeral I mean who's gonna who's gonna question that and anyway you'd say well of corn of course of course berry your father pours you know so here's the setup line what does Jesus say let the dead bury their dead but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God now people say only so harsh no he hates family isn't always against no no no what's going on here this is someone who from this culture knew and loved family all of it but but Jesus it's more important than your family he's more important than the most important people in your life he's more important than the people you love the most so your own feelings gotta let go of ya your own home and comfort you gotta let go yeah and the people you love the most have got to take second place to him let the dead bury their dead is it like a slap in the face yeah but meant to wake us up to this truth now I mentioned where they going they're going to Jerusalem they're going to Jerusalem which means one thing it means the cross and he's a cross what's the cross but this moment when Jesus having let go of absolutely everything think of him on the cross no wealth no pleasure no power no honor no family no home nothing stripped of everything but doing the will of his father but doing the will of his father now as the father sent me I send you Jesus now becoming the center of our lives in the same way so what's so clarifying about this little passage is all of us who want to be disciples of Jesus okay walking with them you know as long as the crowds are cheering and weather's good and Haven we have food hey that's great I'm with Jesus you know okay but are you willing to let go of your own righteous indignation let go of your feelings of power and all that are you willing to let go of home are you willing to let go of the nearest and dearest to you only then the only then if you're willing to walk all the way to the cross with me only then are you truly my

Channel: Bishop Robert Barron

Views: 69,975

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Keywords: Catholic, Jesus, commentary, Barron, son of god

Id: NyBOna6QZNM

Length: 9min 8sec (548 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 22 2016