Time to go "All In"

Each of us has been called by virtue of our baptism to discipleship and vocation, but it’s not always easy to keep on the path to get there. Too often we become distracted by our surroundings, and lose site of who we are and who God has called us to be.

400 years ago the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez sailed into the harbor of what is now Veracruz MX with a small fleet of ships and over 600 men. After a long and difficult voyage, they had arrived in a strange new world - wild, dangerous, and untamed, full of unknown risk and uncertain reward. Cortez ordered his crews to immediately unload the ships. Now normal practice would’ve been to leave a small group to guard the ships while the rest of the small army explored the area. As soon as they got their equipment and supplies ashore though, Cortez ordered his men to burn all the ships - their only sure means of ever communicating with the outside world or returning to civilization and the world they knew. Given the high stakes involved, I suspect there might have been some pushback on that order, but after whatever “persuasion” Cortez used - 16th century military justice being what it was - the Spaniards indeed burned their ships. Cortez’ message was immediately crystal clear to every member of his team - they were now fully committed, “All In” with nowhere to go but forward into an uncharted and unknown world.

Focus and commitment resonate throughout our readings about discipleship this weekend, and I think the story of Cortez burning his ships provides a good focal point on what that means. We can’t know for sure, it’s probably safe to assume that as the conquistadors stood on that foreign shore bathed in the light of their burning safety net, they were absolutely focused and totally committed to the unknown path that lay before them.

In our first reading from the Book of Kings, God tells Elijah to anoint Elisha to become his successor as God’s prophet. When Elijah throws his cloak over Elisha as he’s plowing his field, not surprisingly Elisha pushes back a bit, telling Elijah he needs to go home and say goodbye to his family. I say not surprisingly because if you dissect this reading a bit, it’s likely that Elisha was doing pretty well. Plowing with 12 yoke of oxen doesn’t indicate he’s doing basic subsistence farming, so Elijah’s call is a pretty big “ask.” Elijah basically tells him, “Hey, it’s your choice. I’m not forcing you to do anything.” But Elisha does embrace his call to vocation. By his own free choice he slaughtered all 24 of his oxen, burned the plow equipment to cook the meat, and held a feast for people who depended upon him. And by that act he completely surrendered his prior way of life, taking away any chance of ever returning to it, and becomes a servant to an itinerant prophet. He wholeheartedly embraced his call to discipleship and vocation with no clear idea of where his new path would lead, trusting in God to show him the way.

Paul expands on the idea of freedom in our reading from Galatians. Like Elijah, Paul reminds us that we’ve been granted the freedom to choose our actions, to determine whether we embrace God’s law or follow other paths. Too often in today’s world we misunderstand the true nature of the gift of freedom and what it means for us. Instead of embracing the true freedom to become who we are called to be, to live in the light of Christ, we enslave ourselves to worldly things and - as Paul puts it - “desires of the flesh.” Paul is reminding us that true freedom comes from detaching ourselves from the things of this world to focus instead on the path God lays before us. We need look no further than Elisha’s choice to follow Elijah to understand what that freedom looks like.

So does that mean we don’t need to work to put a roof over our family or put food on the table? Hardly – Elisha was called to the vocation of prophet, in the footsteps of Elijah. Others are called to the priesthood or religious life. For most of us though, our primary call is to the vocation of marriage and parenthood. Whatever our vocation, Paul’s message is that we cannot allow our worldly pursuits and attachment to things obscure our response to God’s call. He calls us to look beyond ourselves and become the person we have been called to be.

Finally, our Gospel reading from Luke brings home the fact that answering our call to discipleship is not a halfway thing or a “cafeteria” style of faith - it’s all or nothing. First we have James and John, who have been with Jesus the whole time listening to him preach about “Love your enemies.” But as soon as the Samaritans refuse to welcome them, they want to bring down destruction and death upon them. Not surprisingly, Jesus rebukes them - the same word Luke uses when speaking about expelling demons and evil spirits - because Christ’s teaching and gospel aren’t a “sometimes” thing, it’s a full-time undertaking.

Jesus reminds us that the cost of discipleship can be very high. As any parent will tell you, often fully embracing true discipleship means choosing vocation over earthly comfort, just as Christ did. When several candidates approach Jesus to become followers, but then ask to leave to take care of some family business first, Christ’s response to them comes across as a bit harsh to us. But Jesus’ point is this – the call to vocation, to discipleship, is absolute and unwavering – there are no halfway measures. As the Gospel reminds us, when we “set our hand to the plow” each day to till the fields of our discipleship, we need to keep our eyes fixed ahead to keep focused on our salvation. We can always find an excuse to hold back from making a total commitment to our faith, from going “all in” as Elisha did, whatever our call. Christ is calling each of us, every day, to stay committed to our faith and focused on what lies ahead in order that we remain on track to get there.