e-vo for week of June 16

Dearest e-votees-

This week’s gospel text pulls no punches. The call to follow after Jesus is intense. In Baptism we were grafted into that call. In our confirmations (aka “Affirmation of Baptism”) we acknowledged that call on our lives publicly. May we be blessed and given courage so that we not shrink away from the deep and life-giving call of our savior Jesus.

Peace,
Karl

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51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53 but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 Then they went on to another village.

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:51-62, NRSV

The image of Jesus setting his face resolutely towards Jerusalem has always caught my attention. Jesus knows who he is and what he is here to do. He will not be distracted. This text, partnered with Luke 7:11-17 where Jesus responds immediately to the ministry need of raising the widow of Nain’s son, shapes Jesus’ ministry in the form of a cross. There is an intense heavenly focus with a powerful responsiveness to the earthly needs about him. There is a death that is calling all of us (“Take up your cross and follow me”) and an opportunity to perform life-giving acts to those who cross our paths.

This text strikes me as one very much like 1 Corinthians 13 (aka “the love chapter”) in two ways:

1. This text is a call to each and everyone one of us. It is a personal and binding call to each of us who would lay claim to Jesus as our savior. In that way we can use it as a mirror to examine our own walks. This text does not serve well as a lens with which to scrutinize others. When I do pre-marital counseling and engage 1 Corinthians 13 I tell couples that this text serves much better as a mirror for self-examination rather than a club to pummel the shortcomings of the other. In this same way our Luke text is quite suited to self-examination. We don’t need to decide if others are fit for the kingdom of God or not—that is between God and the other. Jesus’ response to James and John wanting to incinerate those they thought didn’t make the cut should temper our judgment of others as well. There is a powerful call that demands response. The call is to us and the response is ours. God will do what God will do with others—not really our concern.

2. This call is remarkably hard (bordering on impossible). Itinerant and sojourning lifestyle with nowhere to lay one’s head is a hard sell to a world that has specialty stores like Bed, Bath and Beyond that beckon us to luxuriate and have many places to lay our heads. Telling a grieving man to let the dead bury his father seems mighty harsh from the same Jesus who brought the widow of Nain’s son to life and gave him back again. Why wasn’t she called to neglect the burial of her son and follow after Jesus? Calling a prospective follower to leave home without saying goodbye also seems harsh from Jesus. No matter how broken or dysfunctional there really is no place like home. Jesus commands an almost impossible level of response calling one unfit who looks back from whence he or she came. 1 Corinthians 13 sets a high and lofty standard for love. This gospel text does the same for discipleship.

Bottom line, we live in a salad bar mentality world. Take what you like. Take as much as you like. If you don’t like what you got throw it away. You can get a clean plate and start over. This is all for your comfort and enjoyment.

The call of Jesus to the cross and to discipleship looks very different than a salad bar. The cup isn’t one of bottomless beverages but rather a portion of the cup of his suffering. The bread isn’t breadsticks and croutons and soup crackers but his body which is real food and strengthens us to eternal life. We may be called to endure things that look foolish to the world. That’s the point. We’re not of this world.

Lord Jesus, help us to be fit for the kingdom of God. Call us out of this world into your kingdom. Give us the courage to turn our faces resolutely to where you have called us. Help us love and serve others rather than try to cast down fire upon them. Teach us your ways. Amen.