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June 27, 2010, MLC Ocean View, N.J.  Pr. H. Fege, D.Min. Pastor

2Kings 2.1-12, Gal. 5.1, 13-25, Lk 9.51-62.

 

Are u saved?   How do you know?  Do you care?

If you are saved what are you saved from, or more important what are you saved for?

The Apostle Paul challenged the folk known as Galatians with a sort of spiritual checklist. Just a footnote here… when Paul contrasts FLESH and SPIRIT he is not saying that our physical bodies are bad, by “flesh” he means humanness, like human kind... and by Spirit Paul means our lives under the direction of God.

If you recall that for a number of Sundays  we have been traveling with Jesus as he walks between villages where the population is sometimes friendly and sometimes not so friendly, between those who where first century Christian-Jews and those who were first century Christian-Gentiles and a few non-denominational thrown in for good measure.

So in this lesson we continue our walk with Jesus… this time he sends a PR team ahead.

They report back and tell Jesus that the Samaritans are not too keen on having him stop by… because Jesus also has Jerusalem on his itinerary.

As we all know Beirut and Jerusalem might be next door neighbors, but like some neighbors they don’t get along… and they are still at it to this very day!

 James and John want to rain down fire and brimstone, Jesus intervenes, as a matter of fact the word is rebuke.  Hepetimesen – is a verb form we don’t have in English.

It means more or less “what do you think you are doing?”

When scholars make translations they have many old manuscripts to chose from.

One manuscript has “You don’t know what Spirit you are of... for the Son of man has come not to destroy but to save…”

Next we have three would-be followers:

9.57. I will follow you wherever you go… the Gk. here does not indicate whether the person is male or female.

Jesus cautions “Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head… in other words if you are into homelessness, ok!

To another he said “follow me.” He asked to let him first bury his father and Jesus said “let the dead bury the dead, as for you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”

Another said “I will follow you… but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”

Jesus says “don’t bother.” That is where this narrative ends.

We don’t know what happened… did some of them go or not?

One of Jesus’ favorite conversations is in Parables… as a matter of fact Luke tells us that that is the only way he spoke.

Parables are not so much instructional as they are conversational… they are about sheep/shepherds, lost coins and lost sons, weddings and funerals, farming, baking, cooking, holding court and collecting debts… they are not what we or those in Jesus day would consider religious talk.

So for the next 10 chapters Luke has Jesus traveling and telling stories abut what God is like… they are called parables.

Franz Kafka has this to say about parables:

So, what I am suggesting is that we understand Jesus' conversation in today’s Gospel not so much as literal sense but more a parable or a spiritual journey that three would be followers are called to undertake.

To the first would-be follower, Jesus says Foxes have dens and birds have nests... but not so with me. In other words homelessness is a permanent condition of discipleship. Kingdom travel may challenge us to be careful about homesteading.

While the first person volunteers herself, the second is recruited.

Candidate no. 2 is ready but asks that he first take care of his father’s funeral arrangements… Jesus said there is no time for that. Strong language!

The deeper meaning, the spiritual meaning, may be that we spend much of our time asleep.

Like Let the Dead bury the Dead. Antoy DeMellow a RC priest from India, p. 11 “On Wanting Happiness” Awareness.

Finally another said I will follow you – but let me first say ‘goodbye’ to my family.

And here comes the strongest indictments of all, especially for those who elevate Family Values above everything else. 

I wonder if James Dobson and the Religious Right have ever read this passage.

Jesus' answer is that when you are plowing you’d better not look back.

I remember when we lived on a farm in Tennessee, my dad used a mule to plow. One day, while he was holding down the plow, he asked me to take the bridle and walk next to the old beast to keep him going in the right direction. Dad pointed out a tree at the distant end of the field and asked me to head for it. I was nervous and unsure so I kept looking back at dad until he stopped the procession and told me to take a look behind him… “Look at the furrows!”  I was fired.

Jesus tells us that following him even trumps family values. We invest in our children… our grandchildren… Many congregations stop all but the most essential things during the summer months because everyone is gone…

Maybe on a deeper more spiritual level Jesus is telling us to take another look at our priorities… St. Paul writing to a congregation in Galatia gave them a spiritual checklist;

A measure of how close they were to being On the Way… not a New Testament checklist of who's in and who's out, but more a way to understand what discipleship is about. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, you shall love your neighbor as yourself 5.14.

Try a little Love, Joy, Patience, Peace, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. If we live by the Spirit let us also be guided by the Spirit. Amen