23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

Wisdom 9:13-18b

“...thus were the plans of those on earth made straight.” (Wisdom 9:18b)

When encountering today’s Gospel reading (Luke 14:25-33) at Bible Study, I initially thought I knew the message: Aim to have detachment so that you are truly free to follow after God in the life He calls you to. But, in conjunction with the first reading from Wisdom, a friend’s insights gave deeper, more personal, nuance and resonance to this familiar passage. 

In the analogies Jesus gives—of the man who can’t finish the tower and the king figuring out whether to take on an army twice his army’s size or seek peace terms—perhaps there is more to glean than the need for adequate preparation. Maybe we are also invited to reflect on the fact that they were each trying to seek security by their own means: The builder of the tower tried to create his own defenses to secure what was precious to him; the king perparing for battle was likely trying to protect what he had and gain more. 

I can relate to both men.

Yet, when I try to guard or grasp for what is dear to me without the grace or guidance of the Holy Spirit, I often do more harm than good, and end up with less than the true gift the Lord, in his abundant love, wants to give—a gift that may come in a different way, shape, or form than I imagine; but one which is ultimately sweeter and more perfect. 

Jesus’s call to renounce all one’s possessions is certainly a call to detachment; it’s also a call to radical reliance, receptivity, and docility. 

The Wisdom passage confronts the limits of our human ability to know and control—much as we may desire to—and reminds us that it is the Holy Spirit alone who gives us wisdom and makes our paths straight.

We can’t build towers on our own. We can’t assume our plans will come to fruition. 

But what if, instead of trying to build the towers of protection, we trust God enough to let things unfold? What if we live not as self-sufficient agents in a world of scarcity, but as receptive dependents of a God of abundance? 

What if we remember that we are loved and desired by the One we love and desire? 

Perhaps then we could lay down our attachments and plans, and find communion with Him.