Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.
Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
In Patristic exegesis, these passages about , whom the New Testament identifies as “the wisdom of God”
Although the more natural application of these passages of Wisdom is directly to the Third Person, the Holy Spirit, their application to the Second Person is justified inasmuch as he is the Christ, the “Anointed One,” who is anointed with the Spirit and thus shares the Spirit’s attributes.
In humility, the sage acknowledges that the attainment of truth about ultimate reality is really a superhuman effort
Without the help of God, we would all but despair of coming to the truth about the reality of things. But God makes it possible by the gift of the Holy Spirit
Responsorial Psalm is Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-1
Psalm 90 is the only Psalm attributed to Moses, and the it has a decided melancholy tone, as a meditation on human frailty immediately after the disastrous ending of Psalm 89, in which all the hopes of Israel pinned upon the Davidic dynasty are dashed in tragedy and destruction.
Moses observes the utter lack of power on the part of human beings, and recognizes that the only lasting things are those granted by God.
Second Reading is Phmn 9-10, 12-17
Paul sent him back to his master Philemon (already a Christian) with a letter asking Philemon to free Onesimus and allow him to return to assist Paul in his ministry.
The letter is an important testimony to the Christian belief in the equal human dignity of all persons, despite societal structures
Paul is asking Philemon to “renounce his possessions” for the sake of the Gospel
Gospel is Lk 14:25-33
using a common rabbinic literary technique we now call “hyperbole,” that is, a dramatic overstatement that attracts attention and provokes thought.
to “hate” one’s family? It means one needs to be willing to break family ties if one’s family opposes the call of Christ on one’s life.
if the choice is between honoring family and following Jesus, one must choose Jesus.
The condemned man carried his own cross to the site of his execution, so “to carry one’s cross” meant that you were on death row, there was no chance of appeal, you would certainly die soon.
Jesus knew he was going to his death, and anyone who followed him also risked death. As it would turn out, everyone abandoned Jesus at the end, so he went to the cross alone. But in years afterward, many of his disciples would share the cross with him.
Much of contemporary evangelism relies on some variation of “come to Jesus and your troubles will be solved.” But Jesus seems here to be encouraging people to leave and go away, telling them that they don’t realize what they are getting into.
Wisdom that does not follow human logic, that defies natural reasoning. To see the wisdom and beauty of poverty and renunciation requires a gift of insight from God, a reception of his Spirit.
it is the Wisdom of God which transcends our categories, the Wisdom of God that we prayed to receive with “Solomon” the sage and Moses the psalmist.
