The Tie That Looses

Scripture Reflection for the THIRTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (June 30, 2013)

Scripture Readings:
1 Kings 19: 16b, 19-21
Psalm 16
Galatians 5:1, 13-18
Luke 9:51-62

Today’s readings are great ones for us who connect in some way with Catholics on Call, because all three are about vocation, about being called. The call is clear especially in our first reading, and in the gospel. In the former we read about Elijah’s calling of Elisha to be his assistant and, eventually his successor as one of the greatest prophets in Israel. In the latter we read of both Jesus’ invitation to discipleship of an unnamed man or woman, and of Jesus’ conditions of discipleship for those who would undertake it. But the call is also clear in our second reading from Galatians, in which Paul talks about the Christian vocation to freedom: “you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters.”

But isn’t there a contradiction here? It looks like if we answer the call we are binding ourselves, not freeing ourselves. Discipleship seems like a tie that binds, not looses. When Elijah throws his powerful cloak (the symbol of his authority) over Elisha, he demands immediate response—he can’t even go back to kiss his parents goodbye, and is asked to “burn his bridges” by burning his oxen. Jesus is no less demanding—if you follow him you have to be willing to not even have a stable place to live, or respect your family’s feelings, or even bid them farewell. If we answer Jesus’ call, we might well say with Sam in Tolkien’s Ring Trilogy: “What kind of story have we fallen into?”

The answer to that question is that we have fallen into the gospel, which always confuses and stuns at first, but ultimately surprises and even delights. Elijah calling Elisha, and Jesus calling his disciples—and us!—is not calling to a tie that binds, but to a tie that looses, a tie that really frees us. Sure, these are radical conditions that are to be taken literally, but also in a deeply symbolic way. Ultimately, though, they are invitations to loving service. And loving service, although it stretches us and challenges us, always opens us and frees us in ways that we can never imagine.

The fact is, to do anything worthwhile in life, we have to limit ourselves. The very word “decision” comes from a Latin word that means to “cut off.” But unless we cut ourselves off, unless we “tie” ourselves to some kind of direction, or relationship, or way of thinking, we will only drift along aimlessly. Freedom, as the saying goes, is not so much “freedom from” as it is “freedom for.” Whether our decision is to play a particular sport (imagine if baseball or volleyball had no rules or foul or court lines), or to marry a particular woman or man, or to be a lawyer, or an accountant, or a computer programmer, a lay minister, a counselor, a member of a religious community, a theologian, or a priest—we have to submit to rules, or the constraints of a relationship, or the rigors of training and formation. The path to freedom runs through discipline. Discipline is a tie that looses.

We might ask ourselves in the light of God’s Word today what are the ties with which we need to bind ourselves so that we can really be free. Are they ties of new practices that we need to develop in our lives—practices of daily prayer, or Eucharistic adoration, or simpler living, or a more healthy lifestyle, or being more generous with our time in ministry? Are they deeper relationships with friends, or a spiritual director, or a woman, or a man, or a parent? Are they decisions to end a relationship, or to take a risk to enter religious life or seminary, or pursue a pre-med major, or to spend a year in some kind of service ministry after graduation?

In the last paragraph of his book Awakening Vocation, lay theologian Ed Hahnenberg writes the following wise and powerful words:

“… the great good news of the Christian call is that following Jesus frees us. As disciples we discover ourselves—our true selves, our unique, unfinished, and incredibly beautiful selves. It is not just an idea that is awakened. We are awakened. We wake up and step out into a great procession, joining a sea of unique and beautiful selves surging forward into the reign of God” (p. 233).

Perhaps today, Elijah has thrown his cloak over you. Perhaps today Jesus looks you in the eyes and calls you to follow him. Perhaps today your desire to be a disciple is stronger than the real hardships that come with the decision. Perhaps today you will realize that you are indeed called to freedom, that the Spirit is calling you beyond the Law of a minimal, formal relationship with the Lord. Perhaps today you are called to bind yourself with the tie that looses.