All Or Nothing

September 3, 2025

“I just can’t take that chance.”

That’s a sentence I hear quite often in my day-to-day life. From others, and even from myself. How often have you thought this or said it to yourself? I just can’t take the chance of forgiving him or her because I know it’s going to happen again. I just can’t take the chance because I can’t trust him or her. I just can’t take the chance because that would make me vulnerable. I just can’t take the chance because I might lose in the situation. I just can’t take the chance because I may not be forgiven in return.

If you are like me, you may run through various scenarios in your own head. You may decide not to take the chance, and by not taking the chance, you can never move forward. In the Gospel from the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Jesus invites his disciples to take a chance as his disciple, but if they do so, they must be willing to give up a great many things and be willing to sacrifice and suffer.

The sportswear company Nike has a famous slogan: “Just Do It.” The Gospel encourages us to take the chance, give up our possessions, and take up our crosses if we want to be Jesus’s disciples. In this Gospel passage, there is no halfway to discipleship—it is an all or nothing situation. And like the Nike slogan says, if we want to be Jesus’s disciples, then we have to “just do it.”

Jesus is incredibly honest in his message. He makes it clear that our commitment to him must be just as important and paramount in our lives as our family members. If a person cannot make that commitment to him, that person is unprepared and unable to follow Jesus properly. He expects the highest level of commitment to him as one would give to anything else in a person’s life. Clearly, these expectations are incredibly high, but they are not impossible.

“In this [week’s] Gospel passage, there is no halfway to discipleship—it is an all or nothing situation.”

As we gather together during this month of September to celebrate the Eucharist, let us take a moment to examine our minds and hearts, and remind ourselves that just as Christ gave up everything for us, we must in turn do the very same for him. “I just can’t take the chance” can no longer be an excuse. We know what we must do and must “just do it.” This is the way of Jesus and those who wish to follow his way.