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The Third Sunday after Pentecos, 06/30/2019
Sermon on Luke 9:51-62, by David Zersen
KEEPING FOCUS
As a teenager I sometimes played golf with my Uncle Vic who considered himself a pretty good golfer—at least better than me. Once when I was searching for my ball in the rough off the fairway he shouted, “As you go through life brother, whatever be your goal, keep your eye on the donut, and not on hole.” Although it was meant in good humor, it had a serious note that I’ve not forgotten. It’s a good rule to keep in mind as we draw implications from today’s text. It’s important to keep focused.
Jesus often said things to his disciples and to the crowd that had serious implications, but which certainly had a humorous touch. The famous Quaker New Testament scholar, Elton Trueblood wrote a short book over 50 years ago that was entitled The Humor of Christ-- and it’s been quoted and imitated by many others since. He believed that Jesus who knew his disciples well surely took some of their comments with a grain of salt and responded with what sounds like “hard sayings” to today’s reader, but may very well have contained the very grain of humor that was needed at a given moment.
Knowing how to stop a brawl
The first example of Jesus’ technique in our Gospel lesson for today is used as he and the disciples are taking a shortcut to Jerusalem. A little geography and history will be helpful to grasp this. The shortest way from the region of Galilee to Jerusalem in the region of Judea was to walk straight south through the region of Samaria. The alternatives were to take the coastal route along the Mediterranean Sea or the route along the Jordan River, both of which were far out of the way. The tension between the Jews of Galilee and Judea and the Samaritans of Samaria was an ancient one. In the 8th century B.C., the Jews of the Northern Kingdom, 29,000 of them according to Assyrian records, had been taken into captivity. A century later, largely because the Jews had not met the expectations of kings of Babylon (does any of this sound familiar to us?), Jerusalem was attacked and many Jews were taken as hostages to Babylon. The ten tribes of the northern Kingdom never really returned to Galilee or its capital, Samaria, although those from the Southern kingdom were released from Babylon and rebuilt Jerusalem in the mid sixth century B.C.
Now all this story-telling has a point. The Jews of the Southern kingdom who had suffered much--who basically lost everything except for an altered faith—never felt that the Samaritans were as worthy because they had not experienced the purging which the rabbis came to believe was God’s own doing. And the Samaritans believed that their religious system—the pre-exilic system that didn’t employ a Talmud and a synagogue developed in Babylon—was the only authentic one. So there was this historic tension--and it led to disagreements and fights and subtle condescension that can be found even on the lips of Jesus.
Back into our text, however, we find Jesus and his disciples taking the short route through Samaria to Jerusalem. Some disciples are sent ahead to find a place to stay for the night and get
some food. We quickly learn, however, that the local Samaritans did not welcome these Jews because they were on their way to the despised capital of the Jewish people—Jerusalem. We can understand the Samaritan viewpoint as well as that of the Jews. Today we can find online a list of the ten most despised cities in the U.S. Sometimes they are condescended to because they have high murder rates or too much pollution or seem to be too weird. My own former home city of Austin often reveled in that latter charge. In our text, the Samaritans didn’t like the Jews because they were heretical types who were cutting through Samaritan mountain yards and trying to patronize their respectable citizenry. At least a couple of the disciples, James and John, just about lost it when they considered wiping out those who were not being hospitable to them. Knowing that Jesus had demonstrated some astonishing powers in other settings, they came right out and asked, “Do you want us to call fire down from heaven and destroy them?”
Of course, on the surface of it, that’s a pretty foolish comment. They should have known from previous occasions in using this short-cut that they were not going to be welcomed by the Samaritans. Knowing that it wasn’t for nothing that Jesus had once called these hot-headed brothers “sons of thunder,” (Mark 3:17) he waved at them dismissively and said, “Get your act together.” In reality, he knew that he had a couple crazies on his hands at that moment and the best way to avoid a brawl would be to smile and say, “Cool it guys, this situation doesn’t call for a confrontation. Stick with the program. We’re heading for Jerusalem.”
I think Jesus comment is worth some reflection. The Gospel begins by telling us that Jesus set out “resolutely” for Jerusalem. Different translations use different words like “intently”, “with fixed purpose” or “set his face like flint”. I love that last rendering of the Greek estepisen. When your intent, your destination, is so important that you don’t allow yourself to be discouraged or dissuaded by foolish thoughts or even well-reasoned ones, then you know where you’re going and your chin shows your determination!
In our own lives, we can remember times when such determination was our original intent. But circumstances, which St. Paul sometimes calls the “old Adam” within us, get the best of us and we lose it. Looking back, the result causes us shame or even anger that we could have been so misdirected. Or perhaps, with Jesus who knows how to release us from misdirected determination, we can smile at our folly and the humor which takes over can show us new alternatives. Sometimes, if we see Jesus’ smile early enough, we can avoid serious and regrettable confrontations. Listen to him say, just for a moment, “Forget it. Move on. Get control of yourself. Stick with the program. We’re on our way to Jerusalem.”
How can we hope to keep our focus and stay on track? It’s an important question for all of us and the words of Jesus in the next portion of our text are instructive.
Knowing how to choose the right goal
The collection of sayings in the remainder of the lesson is a kind of list. David Wallachinski (aka Wallace) wrote a best seller in 1977 entitled The Book of Lists. Republished in successive editions many times it appeals to the American’s public’s love of lists. Daily the computer websites confront the viewer with new lists: The 50 Best Restaurants in the U.S or The Ten Most Dangerous U.S. Cities or The Best Hamburger in Each State or The Most Affordable
Amusement Parks in Your State. I confess to being sucked in by some of these gimmicky hooks and know that I must find out where the best hamburger joint in my city is or in which city I should have retired instead of the one in which I did. And when I follow this rabbit trail, I sometimes forget my original intent—the real reason for my going online in the first place.
The lists published by our author, St. Luke or his co-writers, are equally fascinating. They purport to tell us what Jesus would say to those who got lost in their search for short-sighted, poorly-framed and limited-value goals. All too many of us can’t seem to decide who we want to be or what we want to make the focus of our lives. Some of us on a whim might just go and follow Jesus. I’ve heard some say that they will. Others say, “I’m not sure what to do next, but I can’t really get started on anything because my parents are ill and will probably die soon.” And then there are those who are too attracted to, or shall I say addicted to, certain passions, hobbies, or pursuits and can’t do what they know they need to do because they can’t say goodbye to their heart’s delights. And then there are those, like me, who sometimes start chasing rabbits and forget why they’re in the field in the first place.
For all these poorly designed or express side-tracks, Jesus has his lists of responses. They include
Response #1: Animals need places to sleep, but you should worry about greater things.
Response #2: Don’t worry about practical issues; first decide where you’re going.
Response #3: If you aren’t sure where you’re going, you’ll never get there.
All of Jesus’ responses have both practical and spiritual common sense. Yet how can we know when to employ Jesus’ list instead of our own. Interestingly, a Christian comic has come up with an idea. John B Crist has a YouTube site called “If Alexa was a Christian…” You know Alexa, the handy little commentator in a can whom everyone now has to buy to answer their questions, some admittedly quite practical, like “What day is it?” However, John B Crist’s YouTube site provides a type of spiritual adviser to stele you when your girlfriend or boyfriend is about to arrive and you say out loud, “I wonder what type of alcoholic drink I should mix?” Alexa answers, “How about a coke?” And when you start to swear out loud because you burned your hands on a hot pan in the kitchen, Alexa quickly encourages from Eph. 4:29 “Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth.”
There are many humorous ways we might use to challenge our inability to stay directed on our important goals in life and there are serious ways of keeping our chin focused when distractions interrupt. Probably the most valued starter, however, is to keep “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 11: 1-2) Only the, the author of Hebrews tells us, we will not grow weary and lose heart.
When those interludes arise that press us off course, that seduce us to avoid common sense, that push us to consider behavior that is hurtful or insensitive to others, let us see Jesus (Jn. 12:21). He who never lost sight of the Father’s will for him can help us embrace the Father’s love for us as well. Let us see Jesus who set his chin like flint to ensure the future that is our heritage together, a kingdom now and forever in which all are cared for because Christ’s love is completed through us. To keep our focus, let us see Jesus.
Hymn suggestion: Savior I Follow On.