August 25th, 2024: 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.



In the first reading, Joshua addresses the tribes of Israel, "If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve." When we listen to this reading, it seems obvious that service to the Lord is the clear choice and any other choice is so vastly inferior that it borderlines on the absurd. And yet, we often abandon God for countless lesser things.

In Timothy Keller's book "Counterfeit Gods," he states, "God should be our true spouse, but when we desire and delight in other things more than God we commit spiritual adultery." Most of the time, we don't even realize how much effort, time, love, devotion, and service we put into the false idols of success, money, love, video games, sports, media, influence, etc. It's a very subtle transition as God is still somehow in our lives, but He usually takes a back seat to many other things we serve instead.

Joshua calls Israel to make a choice about who they will serve. That same address comes to us as well. We are called to make a choice and an effort for whom and what we will serve in our lives. What does that look like? In the second reading, St. Paul talks about how a husband and wife serve each other by subordinating and sacrificing themselves for one another as Christ did for the Church. This is common when it comes to service, and it means it will cost us something to do it. Perhaps it is financial generosity, comfort or familiarity, or sacrificing preference or even something good in order to serve something greater.

In the Gospel, many of those who followed Jesus went back to their normal lives after the cost  became too great to continue. Service and fidelity to Christ didn't fit into their understanding or comfort, so they left. How often do we do the same? And what would it take to answer, instead, like the tribes of Israel, who answered Joshua, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods."


Andrew Montpetit is a Motion Graphic Designer / Animator in West Michigan. He greatly enjoys good films and deep, substantive conversations about beauty and its pursuit. You can find his work on his website.