Monday, October 20, 2014

Monday, October 20, 2014

Luke 9:51-62

Earthly Agendas …

Luke 9 reads like a graphic novel. In a brief 50 verses Jesus sends out the Twelve to learn how to spread the Gospel. He feeds the five thousand. Peter declares him the Messiah. Jesus predicts his Death. The Transfiguration occurs. Jesus cures a possessed child and predicts his Death a second time. The events prior to the march to Jerusalem move fast and contain miracle healings that come to the attention of Herod, the king. Herod executed John the Baptist and fears that a greater holy man has arisen in the north. Herod’s agenda is clear. He does not want a rival for his crown especially one they call the “Son of Man.” That’s a code name for the Messiah, the long awaited King of the Jews. 

Jesus is aware that the time for his suffering and death approaches. However he sees it not as an end, but as a lifting up from this world into the presence his Father. His march is urgent and positive. He moves directly from the Galilee south through Samaritan lands. Graciously, he sends word to one Samaritan town to host him and his group. They snub him. Likely, it is because his destination is the Temple in Jerusalem. Samaritans did not speak to Jews because their worship focused on Mount Gerizim, not on the Jew’s holy place. Again, earthly agenda trumps a chance to listen to the Saviour of the World. Does Jesus take the disciples advice to rain fire on this town, as Elijah had done in the past? No, he simply moves on to a more welcoming town. When he arrives in Jerusalem, the Pharisees and Sadducees in charge of the Temple bureaucracy will also not welcome Jesus’ message. They have careers and positions in the hierarchy of their church to protect. Such earthly agendas will stop their ears from hearing him. Their church is too much of this world, too earth bound.

On the road, a man promises to follow Jesus ‘wherever he goes’. Jesus does not speak to the man’s promise, but to his intent. He explains that ‘wherever he goes’ is into poverty for the sake of the world. Luke 9 opens with Jesus instructions to the Twelve to take only the clothing on their backs on their first mission journey. They are to stay in one place and accept whatever Providence provides. Jesus explains this to the man on the road:

“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Two others experience similar reactions from Jesus. One, when called to “Follow me” wants to bury his father first. The other claims: “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”  All three of these men have earthly agendas. They want to put conditions on following Jesus, such as cleaning up the details of their personal lives first. Jesus response is telling:

“No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Anyone who has ever hand plowed knows that the second you look back, the blade veers off its straight line. Jesus message in this passage is clear from the start. He has no time to detour around Samaria. He has no time for those who want to serve him when it is convenient for them. He is headed for an extreme act of self-sacrifice. And he is willing to rely on the kindness of friends made along the way for his food and shelter. Those are his values, clear and up front. He expects nothing less from those traveling with him on that journey.

Obviously there is debate whether Jesus referred to that specific march to Jerusalem or if he meant we all should all live in poverty in the streets and trust God to provide for us. I suspect he meant the former, since his comments usually tend to be about specific people and situations. That leaves us wondering, in our comfortable 21^st century lives - how to interpret the idea of looking back. 

Perhaps this passage, racing like an action graphic novel toward the story of the Passion, reminds us of Jesus’ urgency as he put together the group who would take over his mission when he had ascended. The disciples were not co-operating. Their heads were still in the past. Apparently everyone else in this passage seemed to be looking to the past. But Jesus had no time for the Earthly Agendas of others. His eye looked forward on the goal, to offer himself for the sins of the world. In the end, that act would not only Glorify God it would remove the blinders off the eyes of his feckless disciples and lift them up into the apostles of the Church they were destined to be.

Peter Mansell, Thanksgiving 2014