Amidst all the uncertainties of life, it can be tempting to try and avoid further uncertainties in our faith. Today’s reflection reminds us that uncertainty is not necessarily a bad thing, and that combined with prayer and discernment, it can lead us to new horizons.

September 7, 2025: Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Wisdom 9:13–18b
Psalm 90:3–6, 12–14, 17
Philemon 9–10, 12–17
Luke 14:25–33

A Certain Uncertainty

A reflection by Marianne Seggerman

The three readings for this Sunday might not appear to share a common theme at first glance, but they do link up. Bear with me.

Philemon. When I learned the second reading was from the Book of Philemon, I got all excited; there is a musical by that name, written by the same team that created The Fantasticks, which we did at my college. Alas, the only thing it bears in common with the book of the New Testament is that it is set in the early years of Christianity. The story in the Bible is one of Paul sending an enslaved man – Onesimus – who has converted to Christianity back to his owner, Philemon.

What is glaringly missing is any explicit condemnation of the institution of slavery. I would not be the least bit surprised if passages like this were used to justify slavery in America. Paul encourages Philemon to regard Onesimus as a brother, not an enslaved person. This is not because he sees anything inherently wrong with one human being owing another, but because Onesimus is a fellow Christian, and a fellow child of God. "Perhaps,” Paul says, “he was separated from you for a while for this reason – that you might have him back forever, no longer as a subordinate, but as more – a beloved brother, especially dear to me." Paul sees past Onesimus’ circumstances to the core of his being as one created and beloved by God, and urges Philemon to do the same. Yet, he still does not condemn slavery itself. We can agree that slavery, in any century, is always morally wrong. This passage, then, presents us with a problem: how do we discard the elements that time and reflection have shown to be suspect or unworthy?

The first reading, from the Book of Wisdom, asks – but certainly doesn't answer – this question. “Who can discern the will of the Holy One?” How will we ever know what God wants for us? How do we understand and interpret scripture through the centuries? It sometimes seems that there’s nowhere to turn. Spiritual leaders are too often corrupted with false judgements. Friends, neighbors, large groups – all can be and often are just wrong. Silent contemplation is the modus operandi of the mystic – and the psychopath. Without careful discernment, one may end up entangled in one’s own opinions and beliefs, ignoring Christ’s call to love. So we, like the author of Wisdom, must ask God to guide us, for "who has ever discerned [God’s] intentions unless [God has] given them Wisdom, and sent [their] Holy Spirit from heaven on high?" We can almost hear the author’s “pretty please,” and who among us has not felt the same need for God’s guidance?

This brings us to this week's gospel. The first part I get; it continues with a theme which appeared a few weeks back, in another reading from Luke, of loosening tribal bonds. It stated that every human being was a child of God, even an enslaved person like Onesimus, so it was no longer culturally appropriate to sacrifice the life of a family member in the name of honor. In this week’s selection, we hear Jesus instruct those listening in a further renunciation of earthly bonds: “If any of you come to me without turning your back on your mother and your father, your loved ones, your sisters and brothers, indeed your very self, you cannot be my follower.”

It's the next part which has me perplexed. Here, I take inspiration from Joe Wenke and his book You Got to be Kidding! – a book of biblical reflections which, if placed in the humor section of a bookstore, would not be misshelved. "If one of you were going to build a tower, would you not first sit down and calculate the outlay to see if you have enough money to complete the project?" Seriously, did Jesus think He was addressing a group of building contractors? It is much more likely that some of them would be doing the backbreaking work of building the tower, not planning it. Anyway, Judea at the time was under Roman control, weren’t the Romans in control of creating infrastructure? Surely, He realized that a king was not among the great crowds that were following him, when He asked, “if the leaders of one country were going to declare war on another country, would they not first sit down and consider whether, with an army of ten thousand, they can withstand an enemy coming against them with twenty thousand?” What exactly does it have to do with the first part of the passage? It may not be entirely clear, and there are many links one could make between the two. This reading, like the others, forces us to acknowledge our questions and uncertainties, recognizing that we do not have all the answers.

So perhaps there is a common theme for the readings, after all: how do we know what God wants of us?

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Marianne Seggerman joined the chapter of Dignity New Haven around 30 years ago. That chapter is no longer alas but she continues to attend the biannual conference. In her day job she is a computer programmer living (and for the moment working) in Westport Connecticut. She is in a long-term relationship with a person raised Jewish who converted to the Mormon faith.