23rd Sunday Ordinary Time – Year C

Fr. Mark Gatto

Preached: September 7, 2025

Recently I heard someone say, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.”

If someone asked you, “are you a disciple of Jesus?” how would you answer?  Before answering reflect on what Jesus says in our Gospel today.

Do you hate your father and mother, your spouse and children? Are you carrying your cross?  Have you given up all of your possessions?

We just heard Jesus speaking of these things required of his disciples.  So, how would you answer, if asked, are you a disciple of Jesus?

There was a famous guru who had a centre full of many thousands people who came to join him.  A reporter came to see what this was all about.  When he met the guru he said, “there must be 10,000 people here.  Do you know how many disciples you have?”  The guru responded, “about 3 or 4.”  I wonder about our parish, a full church, but how many disciples do we have?  I struggle to know if I am truly a disciple of Jesus.

How do we know if we are true disciples of Jesus?  The key question is, are you free?

Are you free from the need to be popular?  Are you free from the need to be successful?  Are you free from the need to be wealthy?  Are you free from the need to join the crowd?  Are you free enough to lay down your life for others?

Those challenging words of Jesus in the Gospel might disturb us at first, when seen at their surface level.  But, what Jesus is actually doing is calling us to be free.  Jesus himself was utterly free.  He was able to stand up to the assumptions, customs, and cultural norms of his society.  He interpreted the laws, especially the Sabbath laws, freely.  He was bold enough to disregard all the sacred traditions about what was clean and unclean.  He had the personal freedom to do God’s will regardless of what anyone thought or said.

Jesus was free to love, to love the poorest, as well as the rich young man.  The pious were scandalized by how he loved the prostitutes, the tax collectors and the lepers.

The radical freedom of Jesus made him fearless in living life.  He was not fearful of people in authority, including Herod or Pilate.  Jesus was free to die, to give his life for the kingdom. He was not attached to anything or anyone, even to his own life, or the success of his mission.

His freedom came from his great trust in God.

We know that we are disciples of Jesus when we are truly free.  When we have let go of our attachments, our need for success, worries about our reputation.  When we are able to laugh at our ego.  We even experience freedom from guilt for we know ourselves as forgiven.  Julian of Norwich would say “All will be well and all manner of things will be well.”  She could say this as she was a disciple of Jesus.  This freedom is rooted in a fundamental trust in God’s love.

There are many false forms of freedom offered to us in our society.  They are rooted in  selfishness, self-centeredness, and self-indulgence.  There is the false freedom of nations who attack weaker nations because they want the ‘freedom’ to use their power to dominate others.

Jesus was radically free.  We know we are disciples of Jesus when we are becoming free.  Free to love, free to let go of any attachments which are obstacles to God’s will.  Free to give of our life for goodness, love and peace.

So, reflect on that question today.  Are you a disciple of Jesus?  Are you free as Jesus was free?  How do you need to become free?