Luke 9:51-62;
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14; Galatians 5:1, 13-25
In Luke’s reporting, today’s encounters at the Samaritan town and with possible disciples follow on Jesus’ transfiguration. Either side of that he declared that the Son of Man must undergo suffering, rejection, death and resurrection, noting that “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
Jesus knew where he is going. He set his face to go to Jerusalem. Ten chapters and nearly 50 episodes later Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. These two passages set the stage for what will follow.
Jesus is rejected by the Samaritan town because he has decided to go to Jerusalem. The Samaritan/ Jew divide went back to the time of Elijah. The Elijah stories take place in relation to the Northern Kingdom. Ahab was the fifth king of the Northern Kingdom, based in Samaria. Ahab’s fecklessness and his wife’s idolatry and overbearingness furthered the divide between Jews and Samaritans.
Yet, according to Luke, Jesus had some cordial encounters with Samaritans. The ‘Sermon on the Plain’ was attended by people from Tyre and Sidon as well as Judea and Jerusalem. Jesus featured a Samaritan in a parable. He was later impressed with the faith of one of the ten lepers he healed. That one was a Samaritan.
Rejection was not new to Jesus. He had been rejected by Nazareth, at the beginning of his ministry. These two rejections came soon after similar events – Nazareth after Jesus’ baptism (3:21-22) and the Samaritan town after his transfiguration (9:28-36). Neither community could accept his understanding and embodiment of the purpose which God had laid on him. He was heading towards Jerusalem. We know (and so did Luke’s readers) what will happen to him there.
Lest we be too hard on the Samaritans, this episode is at a point when Jesus had to make a choice. Jesus won’t let being liked or disliked determine his actions. His call from God is to journey to Jerusalem. Neither rejection (nor acceptance) by the Samaritans will change his resolve to go to Jerusalem and face what will happen to him there. It is more important to follow the call of God than to seek to please other people. The disciples want to protect Jesus and he refuses. He turns the other cheek and does not lose sight of his primary purpose.
Jesus does not ask anyone who wants to follow him to do anything more Jesus himself is willing to do. If Jesus is willing to set his face for Jerusalem, he is willing to ask followers to join him on that journey and to deal with the rejection (or acceptance) that will given out. Jesus is not a cloistered, protected, spoiled rotten Son of God. As human flesh and blood he is intimately acquainted with all the good, the bad, and the ugly that human beings dish out to each other. Jesus is not an MBA running a company without the slightest idea of how the product is manufactured from raw material to finished product. Jesus started in the mail room and worked his way up. He knows life.
Sometimes people see me up a ladder or taking out the trash or doing some other non-ministerial chore. They are often right that I shouldn’t be doing those things. It’s either an emergency, or there is no one able to do it, or, frankly, it’s easier to do a ten minute task than to take thirty minutes trying to find someone else to do it.
We are in this thing called ministry together. You and I. Those of us in leadership functions have expectations placed on us as well as having the responsibility of placing expectations on others. We cannot expect others to do what we are not willing to do ourselves.
If the leadership team members aren’t attending worship every week, why should they expect members to be regular attenders? If the leaders aren’t generous in their stewardship, why should they expect members to be generous? If the pastor and leaders are not willing to live disciplined lives, why should they expect the members to live such lives? Christ redefines the discipline and obedience systems with which the temple leaders had oppressed the people. The renewal of a religious community begins with those set apart for leadership being renewed in their faith and lives.
Jesus says that “foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head.” We have holes and nests and pillows. Have we become too used to personal comforts that we might find it difficult to follow Jesus? Is it too difficult to pray frequently, study scriptures diligently, worship regularly, invite others often, pass on the faith, serve for the sake of others, and give freely of time, talents, and resources? Only as we grow into being disciples can we disciple others. The great commission at the end of Matthew’s gospel doesn’t send us out to make members. We are commissioned to make disciples.
We disrespect God, we sell Christ short, we belittle the power of the Spirit, we thumb our noses at the Gospel when we tell people that it’s easy to be a church member. Yes, it is easy to be a member. It is difficult to be a disciple. There are no privileges, no room for empty spirituality, no time for entanglements. Today’s texts indicate that neither family nor religious nor social nor business obligations, no matter how good or mandatory they are, not even patriotism on a Fourth of July weekend, can stand in the way of following Jesus.
Think about testimonies you have heard. How often does the convert talk about all the evil things that were left behind in order to follow Jesus? Jesus also demands that we give up the very best things in our lives to follow him. Fred Craddock says it this way:
The radicality of Jesus’ words lies in his claim to priority over the best, not the worst, of human relationships. Jesus never said to choose him over the devil but to choose him over the family. And the remarkable thing is that those who have done so have been freed from possession and worship of family and have found the distance necessary to love them.(1)Today’s readings are filled with call choices:
- Jesus: the call of God to go to Jerusalem vs. the call of the Samaritans to stay and take care of them.
- James and John: the call for revenge against the Samaritans vs. Jesus’ call to leave the unreceptive people and move on.
- There is the call of self-pleasures vs. the call to follow Jesus.
- There is the call of family obligations vs. the call to follow Jesus.
- There is the call of socially accepted actions vs. the call to follow Jesus.
- There is the call of being good citizens which may conflict with the call to follow Jesus.
- If burying one’s parents was considered obeying the commandment to honor them, then we also have the call of the Law vs. the call to follow Jesus.
None of us are going to make the cut to follow Jesus. Our desires for soft pillows and comfortable beds, our fulfilling family and social obligations, our patriotism will frequently have higher priorities than following Jesus – especially following Jesus all the way to Jerusalem and the cross. We might be willing to give up some evils in our lives to follow Jesus, but not be willing to give up all these good things – to put them as a lower priority than Jesus. That is radical discipleship.
Jesus does not ask us to look back at the good things and the left behind sins of our lives. We can’t wallow in our past sins or boast of our past successes if we are to be fit for God’s kingdom.
The opposite of looking back is to look ahead. It is exceedingly difficult for congregations to “look ahead.” We are locked into looking at where we are (the bills that have arrived this month, the unplanned repairs that have to be made) or where we used to be (“the good old days”). Jesus calls us to look ahead to where we might be, to grasp a vision of where God would have us go and then head towards that goal.
When any of us come into a congregation and exercise discipleship through it, we can never be part of the past. We can listen to the stories the members tell about the past, but those stories are not our stories. We weren’t part of those stories and we can never be part of those past events. They no longer exist. We can only join what is and what will be. Jesus has gone on ahead. To follow after him means to look forward.
The greatest threat to the gospel is “the good” not “the evil.” When we recognize “the evil” in our lives, we usually want to get rid of it. When things don’t work, we stop doing them. But when we become content with “the good”—the good in our lives and in our congregations—we may fail to follow Jesus and seek what is “the best.” Are you on the discipleship journey with Jesus? Are you looking forward? Do you know where you are going?
(1) Fred Craddock, Luke, Interpretation Commentaries, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990), p. 144.
General Resource: Brian Stoffregen, Gospel Notes for Next Sunday, “Gospel Notes - Luke 9:51-62,” Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 2:55 PM
Copyright 2013 First Presbyterian Church of Waverly, Ohio. Used by permission.
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