5. Sunday after Pentecost , 06/27/2010

Sermon on Luke 9:51-62, by Andrew D. Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for the sermon this morning is from the Gospel for today. Luke chapter 9, verses 51-62.

⁵¹ When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. ⁵³ But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" ⁵⁵ But he turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶ And they went on to another village. ⁵⁷ As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." ⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." ⁵⁹ To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." ⁶⁰ And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." ⁶¹ Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home." ⁶² Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (ESV)

(The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. 2001 (Lk 9:50). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.)

This is our text.

Jesus begins his journey toward Jerusalem where he will suffer and die on the cross. He knows now already what will happen to him there. Jesus is not a victim of circumstance in Jerusalem that year; he went on purpose. Here in chapter 9, he begins his journey to the cross.

On this pilgrimage, Jesus meets a number of people on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Luke takes care to tell us every time who Jesus is talking to. To the crowds, Jesus issues words of warning and calls to conversion such as the warning to beware the leaven of the Pharisees (12:1-3). To those who convert and begin to follow him, he gives positive instructions on the way of discipleship and its great cost, such as the brief parable about salt and saltiness (Lk. 14:25-35). And to those who reject him, he tells parables of rejection like that of the wedding banquet (Lk. 14:16-24). The connection between Jesus' rejection here and Elijah's rejection in the OT lesson for today is clear. Jesus is the new and greater Elijah, sent by God to be anointed as king over Israel except this time, the one is anointed in blood and on the cross.

The first group of folks he meets are here in this Samaritan village. The Samaritan folks in this village did not want to host a traveling Jewish prophet and teacher. When James and John see how Jesus is rejected, they ask whether they should call down fire from heaven to burn the place up. I don't think this is an idle threat on their part. Jesus has already sent out the Twelve to preach the kingdom of God and heal. They know the protocol. "‘Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. ⁴ And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. ⁵ And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.' (Lk 9:3-5) Not only have they been rejected, but the teacher has. It's time for judgment. And yet, it is not quite that time. Jesus rebuked them and they moved on.

They meet three would be disciples along the way. Ever moving toward Jerusalem, Jesus meets each one. Taken together, they are a stark picture of Jesus' radical call to discipleship, this is the way of the cross, the way of rejection. This is not the wide, easy way. This is the narrow, hard way. The goal of the journey is the cross where Jesus will be lifted up, to death and burial with Jesus and to Easter Sunday morning and the resurrection and finally the ascension where Jesus will be lifted to the right hand of the Father in glory. The goal is finally affirmation and eternal life but the path is the one of self-denial and death. To travel on this path, we must not hesitate to break all ties that bind, even those of family obligation. The family that matters is the family of God. "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." ⁶⁰ And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." ⁶¹ Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home." ⁶² Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." These are hard sayings because the way of discipleship is hard.

Luke does not record the responses of any of these three would-be disciples. The question of whether they followed Jesus is not nearly as important as whether you will hear the call of Jesus and follow him or whether you will persevere by faith in Jesus along the journey you have started.

At the beginning of the month, the Associated Press reported "Finland's Evangelical Lutheran Church has chosen a woman to head the diocese of Helsinki who will be the country's first female bishop." ^¹ Left out of that report is the sad news that she doesn't even believe the Nicene Creed to be true.^² Oh, she'll follow Jesus wherever he goes. She wants to be a bishop in the church. But this is the worst kind of self-seeking; she will not even bow her confession to that of her Lord. This is just a sign of the times.

A short time ago, it used to be that children followed their parents in the faith. Parents brought their children to the font, and Sunday School and when the time came, confirmation class. Sometimes, a cry was heard, "Dad, when are you going to stop making me go to church?" And Dad would say, "When you stop asking the question." But something changed. It wasn't long before the practices on Sunday weren't just optional but had somehow become games. Coinciding with that came the idea that children be allowed to grow up and make a choice about the faith for themselves. This is a case of wanton neglect in the Lord's book but that idea is prevalent among us even in the Church. No, we are quickly leaving the age when children followed their parents on the path of pilgrimage. We pray that sometime the children will be hear the invitation to follow our Lord and they will, but we can no longer rely on the parents to do their God-given job of bringing up their children in the way they should go. It is these children, these new disciples who will hear the voice of the one who preaches the kingdom of God who will be forced to reject mother and father, sister and brother.

Our ancient fathers in the faith preached like this. Cyril of Alexandria said that the first would-be disciple who claims to be willing to follow Jesus anywhere is presumptuous, attempting to grab for himself apostolic honor without realizing that to follow Jesus means to take up his cross. For the Son of man to have a place to lay his head, the devil must be cast out. Basil the Great noted that disciples of Jesus must learn that God's way takes precedence over our way and that human obligations cannot stand in the way of Christian discipleship. Our father Cyprian is puzzled that anyone who had escaped the world filled with the devil would want to return to it. Why is it, that in the early church, these sayings, while hard, contained the essence of the faith, and in our day, they are seem as extremist or at least hyperbolic rhetoric from Jesus which we attempt to soften or explain away altogether?

Fellow pilgrims and disciples, Jesus words are clear. "Follow me." We know the path. We know the end of the journey. We know there is no other way that leads to life except to follow him. We follow him who goes before us and leads us through suffering and death to resurrection and life everlasting. "Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the word of eternal life." Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Andrew D. Smith
Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church
Hickory, North Carolina USA
E-Mail: smithad19+prediger@gmail.com

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