Gospel Delights!

Saturday, September 16, 2023

1 Tim 1:15-17; Lk 6:43-49

Today’s gospel helps us decode discipleship through two words.

1. Inevitability: Making use of the image of trees and fruits, Jesus helps us understand that as humans, we always bear fruit, either as a good tree or as a rotten tree. When bearing fruit is thus inevitable, God would be happy to find us being good trees bearing good fruits. When our human actions have an equal probability of being good or bad, God wants us to choose the good all the time, imitating the model of Christ. In honor of following Jesus, Christians are called to practice vigilance so that we don’t pass by or ignore the needy neighbor. Rather, by being attentive to the needy other, we as Christians can bring out the goodness from our hearts.

2. Incongruity: When Jesus does not disregard the ‘being’ dimension, he indicates the inadequacy of it without its counterpart, the ‘doing’ dimension. Our faith in Jesus is enhanced by deeds that honor that faith. Hence, not just lip service but commitment in action is what better defines Christian discipleship. The commitment to solidary action is what Jesus demonstrated in his public ministry. That is what he commands that we do as his followers. 

On a different note, our solidarity with the marginalized is a natural corollary of following Jesus. If Jesus had touched us, we would never be our former selves again. Such incongruity will be out of place if our imitation of Christ is true. 

Let us pray that we will avoid conduct that is incompatible with Christian discipleship and make goodness inevitable as a result of following Jesus. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar