TOPIC:
CHRIST IS NUMBER ONE
23C
Sunday Homily, Luke 14:25-43, September 4, 2022
1) STORY
There
was a famous football player who always wore a gold medal with these four
words: I AM NUMBER THREE. When asked
what the words meant, he said that in his life God is number one, his family is
number two, and he is number three. He
always tried to live his life with this motto in mind.
2) GOSPEL
A)
Jesus tells us to become his follower, his disciple. We must be willing to leave our families
though we continue to love them. We must
be willing to leave them in order to follow Christ.
B)
To follow Jesus, we must be willing to carry our cross. This means we must be willing to do difficult
things for Jesus. “Whoever does not
carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
3)
APPLICATION TO LIFE
A)
For different reasons, many people leave their families. For example, when a couple marries, they will
normally leave home. On finding a new
job, a person may have to leave home. When
a person becomes a priest, brother, or sister, they leave home. They love their family even though they must
leave them. This is the same for the
person who follows Jesus.
B)
To carry one’s cross means to be willing to do difficult things for Jesus,
thereby imitating him. We try to imitate
Jesus with our head, heart and hands. By
learning more and accepting his teachings to love God, neighbor and self, we
imitate Jesus in our heads. By seeing
the good qualities in
others despite their short comings, we imitate Jesus in our hearts. By giving our time and effort to those in
need, we imitate Jesus with our hands.
4) CONCLUSION
Just as the football player tried to make Jesus number one in his life, we must try to make Jesus number one in our lives if we wish to be his disciple.
We
do this by imitating him in our heads, hearts and with our hands. The more
effort we make in becoming disciples, the more Jesus will bless us with his
peace, joy and happiness.
