EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 14: 25 - 33

 

“Everything has a price”

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

“What’s it worth to you?”

We’re all familiar with these phrases.  When you get right down to it, they all convey the same message.  If there’s something you value, you’ll have to make a sacrifice for it one way or another.

 

What about my faith?

 

Is it something I value, or is it simply a goal?

Do I just want to follow all the rules and precepts and avoid violating the commandments?  Just do and say the right things so that when I die I go to heaven?  There!  I win!

 

Or do I value the relationship that God has with me?  A relationship based upon the fact that Jesus paid the ultimate price for teaching me, forgiving me, healing me, guiding me, comforting me.  He showed me that He loves me so much that He was willing to give ALL – for me.  Do I love the same way?  Am I willing to risk ALL to love others as He loved me?  Is that something I truly value?  Am I willing to pay the price. Or do I just want to play it safe?

 

All our lives we make sacrifices for the things we value.  Each of us could look at his or her life and see what we were willing to give up for what was important to us.  We all know that if we weren’t willing to make a particular sacrifice, well, then what we thought we wanted wasn’t important enough after all!

 

What about my relationship with God?  Is it something I value enough to make the sacrifices that will be asked of me?  No one can answer that for me.  The choice is in my hands alone.

 

“Call Me Ishmael”