Costs and rewards of discipleship

How do I shoulder my cross and follow Jesus? How do I live in the hope of becoming my truest self?

Word of Faith is a weekly break down of this week's scripture readings. Dive deeper into what the Gospel message at Mass will be.

June could be called the month of discipleship! Every Sunday, the readings have centered on an important aspect of what it means to follow Jesus as a disciple. The first Sunday of June, Corpus Christi, demanded the deep faith needed to believe that Jesus is the Bread of Life and that we must eat his body and drink his blood to remain true to him. On June 14, we heard Jesus call us by name and send us forth. And June 21 reinforced the fact that the call comes with serious challenges and even suffering. Sunday’s Scriptures remind us of both the costs and rewards of discipleship.

Our First Reading from the Book of Kings tells the story of a reward for a woman who faithfully cared for the needs of the Prophet Elisha. She acted out of hospitality and the awareness that Elisha was a “holy man of God.” Elisha reciprocated with the promise of a son for a woman who bore the disgrace of being childless. Was this the “prophet’s reward” that Jesus alluded to in the Gospel?

But the Gospel describes the cost of discipleship before any rewards are mentioned. This sounds very radical — Jesus demands that we love him more than our nearest and dearest family members. Love for Jesus is the heart of mission, the heart of the call. This love is “tough love,” as Jesus says, “Take up your cross and follow me.” It’s hard to imagine how hearing this sounded to people who witnessed the horrors of crucifixion! Lose your life for me and you will find it? Whoa! What will I have left after all this giving up, sacrificing and loss? 

But the reward begins amid all this loss. The disciple will find life — ultimate life — in the letting go of life on ego-driven terms of self-centeredness and in finding life by walking with Jesus. Truly a paradox — finding our true self in the loss of the false self.

If this intimacy with Jesus is not enough, he also promises a special hospitality that disciples will receive from those who are open to the Good News. Disciples will be received as Jesus himself, indeed, as the Father, “the one who sent me” is received. Those offering hospitality to a disciple — one who is a prophet or one who is righteous or one who is a humble servant — will receive the reward in kind. So, Jesus promises hospitality to the disciple and a reward to those who receive the disciple and the message.

Actually, these rewards might seem vague in the face of the hardships of discipleship. Jesus is promising that disciples will experience the tender care of God, like a cup of cold water. But how is the disciple strengthened as she endures the tough road of sharing the Gospel, as he awaits the hospitality of the ones he serves?

For this we must turn to St. Paul in the Letter to the Romans. It is in our baptism that we are united with Christ, that we are given the courage and strength to overcome the world’s darkness and our own weakness. Death’s dealing has no real power over us because Christ has overcome death. In the resurrection, there is an incredible “newness of life” that we share.

Perhaps this seems rather esoteric. How does it really apply to my daily life? How do I shoulder my cross and follow Jesus? How do I live in the hope of becoming my truest self? How do I live with the promise of the disciple’s reward? How do I tap into my baptismal grace? Discerning this is the astonishing, wondrous and difficult challenge of living the disciple’s call. Together, we can encourage each other to live as Christ’s disciples!