To let go

Henri Nouwen wrote: "It is the world that says, 'You are what you have'." This false identity gives the security and safety that we are searching for, but throws us in the spiral of a permanent desire for more.

As believers we are at times really trapped between this desire for more and our calling. This is what we are invited to re-examine in the light of today's readings, given that it is not only society and the world that have been corrupted by this illusion, but even the Church and those who consider themselves believers.

In the early centuries of Christianity, the hermits of the desert were deeply conscious of this. That's why they escaped into the desert.

Freedom is the one common thread today that is underlined in the calling of Elisha in the first reading, in the variations on the same theme that we have in the Gospel, and in Paul's lucid explanation of the freedom of the Christian. What does it really mean to be free, from God's perspective?

Paul warns: be careful, or this liberty will provide an opening for self-indulgence. Perhaps the true conflict and the real dualism within us is not the one commonly perceived, that between body and soul. I would say it concerns more the real dynamics that condition our behaviour.

As Paul says: If you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence."

In his beautiful tract 'The freedom of the Christian', Martin Luther writes: "A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, and subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, and subject to all." We need to come to terms with the fruits of the Spirit in us, when we let go and are really guided by him.

If you are guided by the Spirit, says Paul, you are not under the law. "When Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free." As disciples of Christ, we continue to be in need of freeing ourselves, of shaking off the many layers of self-deception, of reclaiming our true self.

Parker Palmer writes: "When it is clear - if I have eyes to see - that the life I am living is not the same as the life that wants to live in me... I start to understand that it is indeed possible to live a life other than one's own."

This is the true meaning of all the symbolic gestures we read about in today's Scripture. Elijah passing by and throwing his cloak over Elisha. Elisha is there ploughing behind 12 yoke of oxen, which in turn he slaughtered, and after using the plough for cooking the oxen, follows Elijah and becomes his servant.

Elijah's cloak symbolises freedom. Same with the other stories in the Gospel. Jesus, who "has nowhere to lay his head", speaks of priorities, of the need to remain focused, be it as regards possessions or relationships.

Jesus is in no way demonising possessions or relationships. He is only recalling our attention to stand on firm ground; otherwise, we submit again to the yoke of slavery.

Jesus invites us to refuse to be content with arguments, concepts and technical verbiage. Our way to God, if led by the Spirit, is uncharted. We are challenged to search for a God whom we alone can find, not one who is given in a stereotyped form by others.

There is one very important last thing: our calling always demands fresh discernment on what we are doing and the way we are living. Life can be very alienating. To remain free, Jesus proposes radicalism.

It is only by being radical that we can experience real freedom. But our problem is that we dream so much of freedom, and yet we continuously opt to live as slaves.