Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord today. We welcome guest reader Deacon Eric Bissette.
Deacon Eric is a beloved spiritual leader in his home parishes of the Diocese of Rochester, New York.
Little Book's listeners will recognize Deacon Eric as a regular narrator for our daily reflections.
And now, here is today's gospel and homily,
[00:00:47] Speaker B: A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Jesus said to his apostles, whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward.
And whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water will give to one of these little ones to drink, because the little one is a disciple.
Amen. I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.
The Gospel of the Lord.
The opening line of this gospel passage can be troublesome.
Jesus says, if we love our father or mother, our son or daughter, more than we love him, we aren't worthy of him.
Let's take a look at that.
I'm no expert on Shakespeare's plays, but I came across something interesting in King Lear.
The king has three daughters.
He's getting on in years and decides to divide his kingdom into three parts and give one part to each daughter.
The one who loved him most would get the best part of the kingdom.
So he called them in one day and told them his plan.
The first daughter began by waxing eloquently about her love for her father.
She loved him more than the air she breathed, and so forth.
The second daughter began her spiel and spoke along the same lines.
She loved her father more than anyone else in the world, and so forth.
The third daughter, her name was Cordelia, decided to simply be honest.
She told her father she loved him as a daughter loves her father, that it was a sincere, true and full love.
But she also said she couldn't say she loved him more than anyone else in all the world.
As a matter of fact, she questioned how her sisters could say so, since they were married and certainly loved their husbands with a full love.
When she got married, she said she would love her husband fully too.
She would love him as a woman loves her husband.
And she would love her father as a daughter loves a father.
King Lear said, in effect, that's fine.
For that you get nothing.
He then gave her portion of the kingdom to the other two daughters and went on a jealous rage about the way Cordelia had spoken.
The mistake King Lear made was to think love is like a pie.
When you give a piece to someone, you have less of the pie to give to another.
That's not true.
We can love our mother totally and our father just as much. And our children too.
[00:04:21] Speaker C: Jesus isn't like King.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: Learn.
[00:04:24] Speaker C: He isn't jealous because we fully love other people.
As a matter of fact, he calls on us to love others fully, even to love our enemies.
In today's gospel, he didn't say we
[00:04:37] Speaker B: have to love him more than we
[00:04:38] Speaker C: love other people in our lives.
He simply says our love for him has to be at the deepest level,
[00:04:46] Speaker B: the same level as we love our
[00:04:48] Speaker C: mother and father, our children, our grandparents, our family, our closest friends.
That's worth thinking about.
It's one thing to believe in Jesus or to like Jesus.
It's another thing to love him, to realize he's God, the second person of the Trinity, and we owe everything to God.
Everything.
It's God who gave us our parents and everyone we love.
I have to ask myself, do I love the Lord at that level?
Do I receive his love for me at that level?
This is a love we ought to enjoy, experience fully and live by.
Remember the meeting of the risen Lord with Peter? Jesus asked him three times, do you love me?
And Peter, the impetuous, outspoken, honest Peter said, yes, Lord, you know I love you.
I need to be able to say it with the same conviction as Peter.
There's one more thing to say about this.
It concerns our relationship to one another as disciples of the Lord.
The early Christians referred to one another as brothers and sisters.
We hear this often in Paul's letters.
Think for a moment about the different organizations or groups we might belong to.
A bowling league, the Rotary Club, a farmer's co op, a baseball team, a gym.
These are all fine. But they aren't the deepest part of our lives.
They're not the reference point of our existence.
At the same level as father and mother, daughter or son, we believe the community of disciples. The church is the body of Christ.
The Lord is present through his spirit in each member.
In today's gospel, Jesus said, whoever receives you, receives me.
This is a family, brothers and sisters of the Lord is our relationship to our church. A partial one.
Are we, like consumers, measuring the benefits that come to us and reserving the option to shop elsewhere?
The opening words of Jesus in this gospel passage aren't troublesome.
They're a call to live a wonderful life, to recognize what a gift it is to be so loved by the Lord, and to love him in return.
These words are a call to enjoy love at the deepest level, the same level as our love for our Father, Mother, Son, Daughter.
At the Last Supper, Jesus said to
[00:07:46] Speaker B: his first disciples, as the Father loves me, so do I love you.
Here we are now gathered at the Lord's table.
[00:07:58] Speaker C: Let's experience and enjoy the love of the Lord for us and our love
[00:08:03] Speaker B: for the Lord, our love for one another.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
If you like this week's reflection, subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
Sundays with Bishop Ken is a free broadcast from Little Books to help support our ministry. Please consider clicking the Donate button.
Sharing this podcast with a friend is another great way to help our ministry grow.
Our Little Books app features our Little Books daily reflections during Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter.
Here you can read, listen and journal in a prayerful digital environment.
Sundays with Bishop Ken is produced by Little Books of the Diocese of Saginaw.
For more about Little Books and scripture based prayer resources for the whole family, visit Little Books. Org.
Have a great week and pray with us again soon.
