And
Jesus said, “Follow me.” [Luke
9:59]
Today’s gospel reading comes
at the end of a very long chapter of the Gospel of Luke that begins with the
feeding of the multitudes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and ends with
Jesus in Samaria setting his face on Jerusalem. Along the way, Jesus is busy
instructing his disciples about how they are to continue his way of living out
their Jewish faith, a way that he called the Kingdom of G_d.
Carl Bloch, The Sermon on the Mount, 1877
Jesus is trying to prepare them for his departure. His commitment to this Kingdom of G_d, here and now, among us already but not yet fully present, is what compels him to go to Jerusalem. And it is clear from this account from Luke that Jesus is aware of the dangers that await him in Jerusalem. The Way of Jesus and the Kingdom of G_d that it proclaims is a costly endeavor.
That was true in his
day as well as our own.
Mutual Distrust, A
Failure of Hospitality
There are a couple of aspects
of this reading that merit our attention this morning. The first is his
encounter in the Samaritan village. The Samaritans were a tradition of Judaism
with a conflicted heritage. Located primarily in the Northern Kingdom of Israel
and distinct from the Southern Kingdom of Judah, the Samaritans claimed their
roots in the remnant of the ancient tribes of Israel who were not deported by
the Assyrian army which conquered their kingdom in 721 BCE. They asserted that
they were the keepers of the true Judaism as opposed to the religion centered
in Jerusalem with its Temple which had been rebuilt only after the Judean
intelligentsia returned from their own exile in Babylon.
In truth, this disdain and
distrust worked both ways. The Judeans had little good to say about the
Samaritans. When we see Jesus engaging them in the gospels or referencing them in
his parables - the best known being the Parable of the Good Samaritan - he is
challenging both the social as well as the religious understandings of his day. Little wonder, then, when the
Samaritans realized that Jesus had his face set upon Jerusalem, they wanted
nothing more to do with him.
Where this becomes interesting is the response of the disciples to this rebuke. They propose to call down fire from the sky to destroy these inhospitable Samaritans. It’s a move that New Testament scholars say suggests two stories from the Hebrew Scripture. In the first, the prophet Elijah calls down fire from heaven to ignite the offering he has made to demonstrate the power of YHWH and to expose the false religion of the Canaanite god Baal. Before the day is over, the priests of Baal will be slaughtered.
Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Julius, Fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah. 1794-1872
But the other story is closer to today’s lesson. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is a direct response by G_d to a failure of hospitality. Not only has the city of Sodom failed to provide safe passage and overnight lodging for the strangers who turn out to be angels, the men of the city seek to demonstrate their control over the newcomers by engaging in physical abuse, the epitome of dominance in an honor/shame tribal culture. In the end, Lot and most of his family will escape but the cities of the plains will be consumed by G_d’s fiery wrath. All the later scriptural references to Sodom and its sister cities will speak of their sin as a failure of hospitality.
Where Do We See This
Story Today?
We might ask ourselves where we see this story in our own lives and in the world around us. We live in a world where fire rains from the sky from drones and so-called smart bombs on apartment buildings and crowded market places consuming the human beings their launchers have constructed as enemies. Our nightly news is filled with images of their destruction. And in almost every case, the peoples in conflict both presume that G-d is on their side. It’s a very appealing belief as we all know. G-d and country is a common theme in every culture including our own.
We also live in a world where our media and social media are full of constructions of those with whom we disagree, almost always in diabolical terms. How often have any of us wished to bring fire down from the skies on those we see as enemies of everything we believe and stand for? And how often do such desires play out on our evening news with a mass shooting in a school, a supermarket, a nightclub or a place of worship?
If we are being honest with ourselves we might find that this destructive punishment the disciples are proposing is not so far removed from our own darkest sentiments. But note how Jesus responds – “[H]e turned and rebuked the disciples. Then they went on to another village.” The Way of Jesus precludes the pursuit of revenge. It demands that we recognize the image of G_d on the face of the other, even as they may do or say things we find unconscionable.
The latter part of today’s lesson draws that point into a little sharper focus. Jesus is the classic charismatic leader, drawing people from all walks of life eager to touch his garments, hear his words, just to be near him. Being in Jesus’ presence is like a mountaintop experience for many. And, like most who have such experiences, they want the magic to continue. They don’t want to come down from the mountain.
A Costly Way to Be
Human
But Jesus recognizes that the Way he is proposing is costly. His insistence on radical hospitality places him at odds with the religious leaders of his own culture. The Gospels are full of references to Jesus being scolded for engaging unclean people, prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers.
His Way of Jesus also places him at odds with the occupying Roman Empire. His talk of the G-d he calls Abba, Daddy, as king is direct refutation of the imperial religion which insists that there is but one king and one god. And that is Caesar.
And yet Jesus is intent upon living into this way of being human that he calls the Kingdom of G_d. And he fearlessly heads into Jerusalem for a confrontation of both the Temple cult and the Roman Empire. Little wonder he ends up crucified.
No doubt the people who ask Jesus what they must do to follow him are sincere in their desires to do so. But they are also blinded by the overwhelming immediate presence of Jesus. What happens when he is gone? What will it mean to follow this Way of Jesus when he is no longer around to guide them? What might the Way of Jesus cost them? And how will that impact their lives thereafter.
To his credit, Jesus does not minimize that reality. He tells them foxes and birds have safe places to rest, but not the followers of Jesus. Familial duties will be trumped by the demands of the Way of Jesus. And many will begin down this road and simply find it too difficult, turning back to their old lives.
Following Jesus Today
So what does any of this have to do with us today? What does this story have to say to us in our daily lives? And what good news can we find in it?
I think we must begin with determining what the values of the Way of Jesus are. From today’s lesson we hear several – radical hospitality, self-restraint from engaging in retaliatory behaviors when we have been offended, the insistence of recognizing the humanity of those with whom we disagree, the caution we should observe in presuming the rectitude of our own understandings and even more so in our tendency to think that G-d necessarily shares our prejudices.
As writer Anne Lamott reports her Episcopal priest teaching her, “You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” My guess is that the disciples in today’s lesson knew exactly what Lamott was talking about.
Our lesson also calls us to recognize that the Way of Jesus was costly in his own time as well as in ours. Living into the values that Jesus taught and embodied may place us at odds with our families, our friends and the wider culture around us. And yet, that has been the impact of what Jesus calls his followers to do from the beginning.
The good news is that
we are not alone in this. My New Testament professor in seminary began all of
his classes with a simple prayer: “Let us fall silent in the presence of G_d
knowing that G-d is always present but becoming newly aware of it at this moment.”
I find it comforting to know that G-d’s presence is inescapable. The only question
is simply how aware of it we are at any given moment.
Following Jesus is
never an easy undertaking. Fortunately, we are not on our own here. In our
Baptismal Covenant we answer every question posed to us with the response “I
will with God’s help.” In that simple statement we acknowledge two things: our
own essential role in responding to G_d’s call to us as well as the fact that
we can never do any of this by ourselves.
Let us pray.
[Contemporary Collects
16. For the Mission of the Church, p. 257 BCP]
A sermon delivered on
June 26, 2002, based on lectionary of Pentecost 3, 2022,, at St. John’s
Episcopal Church, Saugus, MA.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry Scott
Coverston
Orlando,
Florida
If the
unexamined life is not worth living, surely an unexamined belief system, be it
religious or political, is not worth holding. Most things worth considering do
not come in sound bites.
Those who
believe religion and politics aren't connected don't understand either. – Mahatma
Gandhi
For what
does G-d require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk
humbly with your G-d? - Micah 6:8, Hebrew
Scriptures
Do not be
daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now.
Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are
you free to abandon it. - Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Wisdom
of the Jewish Sages (1993)
© Harry
Coverston, 2022
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