No Turning Back

[A reflection on the Epistle and Gospel for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 29, 2029 (the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul transferred to tomorrow), the readings for which may be found at https://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/proper-8c/]

Does it all sometimes seem to be too much to ask? I have several times over my life undertaken what have ended up being very difficult projects and or have made what have been very demanding life choices, and the desire to throw in the towel and just go back to another, easier, more familiar way has been almost overwhelming.

St. Paul in today's Epistle talks about the easy way versus the hard way regarding the cultivation of virtue over vice. Let's face it, vice is easy. Vice is incredibly self-serving. Vice can even be fun (although strife and partisanship, we are finding out these days, aren't very fun at all). The positive virtues, however, that mark someone for the Kingdom of God, are not self-serving, frequently are not fun (but they have a more solid foundation in joy, itself one of these virtues), and are not at all easy to do.

Our Lord is very clear today. He spelled out the price of becoming a member of the Kingdom of God, and it varies from person to person. Your home (or place in society, or your personal economic stability) might no longer be yours. You may not be able to fulfil what you think are your obligations as they may be counter to your calling within the Kingdom of God. Your long-standing relationships may (and in some cases likely will) suffer. In short, your old life is just that...your old life.

The cost of following Jesus and entering the Kingdom of God is high, but nothing worthwhile is ever cheap. The cost is the putting aside one's old life and not looking back. The cost is forsaking personal position, incompatible social expectations, and family demands counter to the Kingdom of God, and giving up those traits and behaviours that are purely self-serving and ultimately destructive. Our Lord tells us not to look back, in fact we cannot look back and expect the Kingdom of God to flourish around us. It orignally was looking back, or more accurately, looking away from God that got humanity into its current predicament and setting it on the path of self-destruction. On the contrary, it is the looking forward, the looking for, and looking toward God via the path Our Lord forged for us that leads to life.

No turning back, no looking back, we can only move forward into the Light and Life that is God and God's will, no matter what the price, and in the end that price is nothing compared to what waits for us.