Reflections on the Gospel Reading

Pentecost 5, Proper 8C

1 July 2007

Luke 9:51-62

The Gospel reading today deals with the beginning of the journey to the cross, especially the call to discipleship and what it means. But first Jesus must make his way through Samaria. Given the mutual hostility, it is credible that in some Samaritan villages Jews would not be welcome. “… they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem”. Racism, whatever inspired it, catches up Jesus and his followers. The author of Luke knows that Samaria was a territory of the northern kingdom of Israel, where Elijah and Elisha had been active. Its king had sent men to arrest Elijah. Elijah had called down fire from heaven to destroy them. In today’s story James and John want Jesus to repeat the dose. Let’s stamp out racism! Let’s hate those who hate us! Jesus will have none of it. Jesus is not being critical of Elijah’s act; more likely, the author wants to show that Jesus is like Elijah but also someone more than Elijah. Violence and hating those who reject you, a major religious theme even today, is being set aside as a solution.

The next section has three encounters between Jesus and would be followers. Jesus seems to do all the wrong things from a growth perspective. He was in danger of losing everyone. The reading doesn’t make Jesus look like a very good recruiter. He’s turning away willing volunteers! Hanging alone on a cross is not success. What’s more, he seems to be discounting the value of home and family, the very things we hold most dear.

Jesus‘s statements certainly appear harsh and offensive. What at first sound like harsh rebukes, however, turn out to be teaching moments about the nature of God’s kingdom. Jesus is trying to convey to his followers an understanding of total commitment, and perhaps his stern-sounding words at first make it sound like the sort of commitment that is born out of a grim sense of obligation. A closer look at these statements, however, will teach us a lot about what is so valuable about the Kingdom of Heaven.

First: “Let the dead bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Could Jesus really be asking us to neglect our basic human instinct to honor our deceased? I think Jesus is telling us that the kingdom of God is not something that can dwell on death or even be slowed down by death. The kingdom is about life abundant, life always new, life that transforms everything so that our old concerns are swept away. Not to be focused foremost on proclaiming the kingdom is to be like a dead person oneself. Setting out truly to follow Jesus, means leaving behind all fears of scarcity, limitations and death.

Next, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Could Jesus really be saying that following him means not giving so much as a backward glance to the ones we love? On the contrary, I think that Jesus is telling us that the kingdom of God is not something you would ever turn aside from, if once you truly caught sight of it. Even the things in this life that seem most important and have the most call on our attention will pale in contrast to the promise of a life infused with God’s healing and grace.

Lastly, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Does following Jesus really mean becoming rootless and homeless? I think Jesus is telling us that there is a restless energy in the kingdom of God, an energy that seeks constantly to make all things new. That energy sends people out with missionary zeal to all corners of the world, and it cannot simply be content to look inward towards a secure home.

Is Jesus’ mantle really so weighty that one cannot turn aside from following him even for a moment? A disciple’s mantle is not only a new garment, but a new life-calling, a new identity, a total commitment involved in following the path of the Spirit, of walking in the way of the Lord. To join Jesus is to join the march for freedom, the journey for liberation, the path through danger to hope. If Jesus doesn’t sound like a good recruiter, that’s because he isn’t just seeking a following for himself. Rather, he’s seeking followers on the path that he himself is walking. That path can be hard indeed. It can keep you restlessly on the move; it can call you to a new life’s work; it can lead you unflinchingly to death itself. Nevertheless, the path that leads to the kingdom of God is the way that leads to true life in fullness and abundance of the spirit. The fruit of that Spirit, Paul tells us in the letter to the Galatians, is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

With that sort of path to look forward to, who wants to look back?

Thanks be to God.

James M. Barnes

Calvary Church, Louisville

Resources: "First Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," Pentecost 5, William Loader; Sermons that Work, Pentecost 5/Year C by the Rev. Cole Gruberth; "The Role and Commitment of the Disciple," Larry Broding: A Catholic Resource for This Sunday's Gospel.