Jesus' Urgent Call to Discipleship/3PentecostCProper8

A bit of background may be in order here. Remember that the Romans were very much in charge at the time of Jesus. Israel was not the dominant culture and Samaria was just a small Jewish community descended from only 3 tribes of Israel. Jesus thought it important to unite Judaism, not just Gentiles, but all people. God’s grace and generosity are to be made available to all. It is evident from Luke's writing that eventually, the early disciples did go to many places preaching the gospel. But that is not the case in today’s lesson. Luke begins his gospel with Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem at the temple, moves to his ministry in Galilee, then back to Jerusalem. This gospel passage takes a dramatic turn in the story. This is not so much a geographical turn, but a theological one. Note the indicator which is in there twice for emphasis: ‘Jesus turned his face towards Jerusalem.’ This is an important statement indicating a new direction, again not so much geographical, but theological. Jesus is now on his way to the cross, no doubt about it, and Jesus is even more keenly aware of this than previously. He is tirelessly still trying to train his disciples in evangelism and discipleship. And once again, they are not received by the Samaritan villages and the disciples James and John again put their foots in their mouths. Surely by now they get it, but nope. They don’t get it. Jesus makes it very clear that he does not want them to call down fire from heaven as Elijah did. The kingdom of God is not about vengeance, but reconciliation. Just reading this part of the narrative, we know for sure that Jesus probably had a few more things to say than what was recorded here. I’ll bet he was deeply concerned about what would happen after his ascension and the disciples no longer had his physical presence to guide them every time they messed up. Indeed, the Church has messed up throughout history—burning so-called heretics at the stake, war against the Turks, Catholics killing Protestants and the other way around, Native Americans being forced to learn English and quit speaking their native language by Catholic schools, antisemitism, and a few other isms. And if we were to go out of our usual way to meet with others and tell them about Jesus, how would we do it? Would we be able to do it? And if we did and were rejected, what would we do next? How would we incorporate new Christians who responded positively into our congregation? What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? From this reading, it is going out of one’s comfort zone, meeting people, talking about Jesus to strangers. It also means showing no judgments when others reject us. I suspect many of us struggle as much or more than the very human James and John. Those two seem to think well of themselves to the point where they ask Jesus to sit on his right and left in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is probably thinking—they did not listen to me before, did they listen to what I was saying just now? There are multiple excuses listed as to why people do not want to follow Jesus. Jesus’ answer to this is straightforward, “Follow me.” “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus’ call to discipleship is one of commitment and urgency. It is a call that goes out to all people, including people who don’t look like us, who may have a different lifestyle than us, who may live a different culture from us. Most of all, it is important that we listen to each other including people we know and people we do not know. It is only by listening to each other that we will be able to communicate with each other and thereby become more effective in our ministry, our many ministries. We are called to be disciples of Jesus, to teach, to preach, to evangelize in whatever shape or form it may take. May we be open to God’s guidance in this mission every day. The coming of God’s kingdom is now. Now is the time to act. Just as the earlier disciples, we learn by doing. Jesus says, “Follow me.” Jesus is still here to guide us and give direction. Let us follow his lead.