July
1, 2001
Luke 9:51-62
When it came close to the time for [Jesus'] Ascension, he gathered
up his courage and steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem.
He sent messengers on ahead. They came to a Samaritan village
to make arrangements for his hospitality. But when the Samaritans
learned that his destination was Jerusalem, they refused hospitality.
When the disciples James and John learned of it, they said, "Master,
do you want us to call a bolt of lightning down out of the sky
and incinerate them?"
Jesus turned on them: "Of course not!" And they traveled
on to another village.
On the road someone asked if he could go along. "I'll go
with you, wherever," he said.
Jesus was curt: "Are you ready to rough it? We're not staying
in the best inns, you know."
Jesus said to another, "Follow me."
He said, "Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of
days, please. I have to make arrangements for my father's funeral."
Jesus refused. "First things, first. Your business is life,
not death. And life is urgent: Announce God's kingdom!"
Then another said, "I'm ready to follow you, Master, but
first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home."
Jesus said, "No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't
put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day."
<The Message >
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1.
Story number one -- When folks don't do what we want them to,
don't live up to our expectations of them, don't go out of their
way to make things easier for us, there is deep within us that
primitive brain which says, "kill, kill, kill." We find
it all around us. Reduced bombing of Iraq is still bombing. A
sanctioned death penalty is still murder whether the person was
repentant or not. Legal discrimination, even by an individually
helpful organization like the Boy Scouts, is still discrimination.
The list could go on and needs to get as personal as you are.
To all of this temptation Jesus has a mantra, "Of course
not!"
Try that out this next week. Try saying, "Of course not!"
It will get easier.
The United Methodist baptismal ritual begins with questions which
require a practiced, "Of course not!" -- "Do you
renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers
of this world, and repent of your sin? Do you accept the freedom
and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression
in whatever forms they present themselves?" We respond positively
to these questions when we have, "Of course not!" ready
to use.
2.
Story number two -- continues the tale of the brain raised a notch.
Instead of a blatant choice between me and you, and you're out
of here, we have the sophistication of excuse.
We don't like to take a look at our self and know that behind
the show we put on is someone who is just not up to a radical
commitment to life. We claim we are ready to roll, to sign up,
to follow faithfully. Behind that is an expectation that participating
in a good cause will bring good and ease and comfort. Jesus sees
through our bent to easy volunteering and excuses us in advance.
The life of the Christian is not expected to be easy (though it
does sometimes occur that way for some). The way of Jesus is sleeping
on the floor and then being raised on a cross. In some ways this
post-Christian time in America is a recognition that civil religion
is no longer meaningful and focusing on the presence of God is
just too tough. Folks are finally catching on that without commitment
they are invited out of the journey (not forever, but for now).
3.
If we can work through not actually wanting to go through life
without something to call our own, we may hear a call to come
and join a journey to GOD. That call comes in the midst of a context
of already established covenants to familial and economic responsibilities.
So we begin to bargain for time to be sure about the call, time
to smoothly make a transition from one covenant to another (knowing
the two don't mix). Jesus puts the screws to us with his responses.
We don't hear about the results of Jesus' comments. Did they help
the person think and feel within a larger context? If so, did
they drop their expectation of reward and responsibility and become
part of the 70 or 72 next sent out? Did they confirm the unreadiness
of the person? If so, did they go sorrowing away like the rich
young man? If so, did they become enemies of Jesus because they
were shown up for who they were?
What does your imagination and Christian intuition say about the
rest of the story?