Reflection/Homily: 13th Sunday of the Year C (June 30 2013)
Theme: The Art of Followership
There is this popular opinion which holds that success without a successor is a failure. This opinion has generally driven great achievers to work for some successors to continue their success stories. We can believe this to be true in the case of Jesus who went about looking for followers and disciples who were going to continue his mission on earth. He attracted a lot of followers which can be grouped into three. The first group was the crowd who followed him looking for signs and miracles. The people in the second group were those called by Christ to follow him as his witnesses (the 72 disciples) and the last group was called to follow him as his special friends (the 12 Apostles).
One thing common among the three groups is that they all exercised the art of followership. Whether called or not, they all followed Christ though in different respects. In today’s gospel reading (Luke 9:51-62), we find a similar situation of people wanting or being called to follow Jesus. The first person came to Jesus on his own with the intention of following him. The second person was called specially to follow him. The third person whose calling was not explicit was also invited to follow Christ. The responses they gave groups us into three according to the way many of us respond to Jesus’ call to follow him.