Luke
9:51-62
51As the time approached for him to be taken up to
heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52And he sent
messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for
him; 53but the people there did not welcome him, because he was
heading for Jerusalem. 54When the disciples James and John saw this,
they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy
them?" 55But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56and they
went to another village.
57As they were walking along the road, a man said to
him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
58Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air
have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." 59He said to
another man, "Follow me." But
the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 60Jesus said to him,
"Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
61 Still another
said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my
family." 62Jesus
replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service
in the kingdom of God."
What
makes you angry? Angry enough to want God to send down a bolt of lightning to
zap someone? Maybe everyone here is a calm, placid person, who never gets angry.
Or maybe who never shows it…?
The
book of Proverbs in the Bible has these two verses about anger, (among many
others): “Whoever is slow to anger
has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.”
(14:29). “A soft answer turns away
wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” (15:1).
James
and John displayed a hasty temper. Jesus however put a stop to their anger, with
his words. ‘A soft answer?’ It says he rebuked them. That doesn’t sound soft or
gentle. Jesus’ rebukes, however, always come from a heart that is kind. God
takes no delight in bringing punishments onto people. God’s true nature is
revealed in the person of Jesus: it’s a nature that prefers to suffer judgment,
rather than giving it out.
This
is remarkable.
The
disciples seemed justified in their anger: here was a bunch of people who were
rejecting Jesus. Imagine that!?!
And they got upset. That part was good. When people reject Jesus, they
are putting themselves in a very precarious position.
Our
situation as sinful people, people who are out of touch with God, can be likened
to a village perched on the top of a cliff, where the flood waters of a raging
river have undermined the village and it will be only a matter of time before
the whole village topples down into the flood. On the other side of the village
there is a path to safety. It leads people to a simple rope bridge over a
ravine. It’s the only bridge, but it’s a good one. Strong, and sure. It’ll hold
anyone’s weight, no worries! But many people from the village don’t like that
bridge. It was provided by the government, and they hate the government. They
would rather try to make their own bridges out of jungle vines or small trees.
The problem is, they do not have the skills, resources or time to build an
effective bridge. Besides, their efforts are redundant. There is a perfectly
good, solid, effective bridge already in place.
Jesus
is the bridge. The only bridge that gives us a way of escaping the inevitable
effects of the forces of evil that continue to undermine all that is good in the
world and in our own hearts. How good it is to have been carried over the bridge
to safety by parents, praying friends or someone else, someone God used to bring
to himself!
How
sad and tragic that so many people either don’t know about this bridge, or, if
they do, they choose to disregard it, and put their hope and faith in themselves
and their own resources.
…This should upset
us!
But
what will a Christian do with our upset state? We take it to the Lord. We ask
him to delay his second coming a bit longer, and give people more time to
repent. We ask God to help us find ways to help more people come to know and
trust the good news of Jesus.
There
are many reasons people choose to reject or resist the coming of God’s Word into
their lives. One reason could be as simple as misunderstanding or confusion that
comes when Christians speak a different language to that of people in our
community.
Or
there is the challenge of negative associations. Some people have only
experienced Christian worship as small children who were boxed around their ears
if they dared to make a sound or move an inch in a harsh, adult-centred formal
worship environment. A common stereotype of Christians and Christianity in
movies or the media is that God is a hard hearted villain who is out to snatch
away everything and anything that might give us some pleasure or interest in
life.
We
know God isn’t like that. He is not ‘itching’ to zap people. Jesus’ reaction to
the righteous zeal of James and John shows this very clearly.
We
know John 3:16. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever
believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” I hope we also know
John 3:17 and 18 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Whoever believes
in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of
God.”
There
is only one way. Jesus Christ. Only one bridge. But it is a very good bridge!
A bridge that provides a sure way
to safety.
Now
when we think of Jesus and all he has done for us as a bridge, we might think
that all that needs to happen is for people to hear about it, and walk across
that bridge, into the arms of our heavenly Father. If only it were that simple.
The truth is, we over-estimate the ability of human beings to do any moving at
all, towards God.
In
the second part of today’s gospel reading we heard about people volunteering to
follow Jesus. Jesus’ responses don’t seem very encouraging. (To one he
says, ‘Well, you know I’m homeless, and you’ll have to take things as you find
them too, if you come with me.’ To another he says, ‘forget about trying to
please people by meeting all the family expectations and following all the
Jewish burial rituals’ – Apparently
those rituals had a final stage that happened a year after the burial itself. In
the gospels we see how Jesus showed respect and care for people in times of
death. He doesn’t ask us to be callous or to abandon our families.) The point is, if we are going to be his
followers, it will only work on his terms,
not ours.
God
knows that the strength of our commitment will fail. He knows that (as he says
in John 15) “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” Nothing. This offends us. We
want to do something. We want our efforts, our performance to be
recognized.
God
sees what we do. He likes to see what we do. He is interested in us, and in
every aspect of our lives. He genuinely cares for us. This is why, in his great
kindness, he chose to base our salvation in his performance, not ours. Our performance will never be good
enough to earn our way into his good books. But the good news is that Jesus has
already earned a place for us, in God’s good book. The book of life.
There
are things for us to do as Christians. Jesus calls us to follow him, and could
involve difficult, even demanding tasks and challenges. But the good news is
that our lives as Christians continue to rest on the grace of God. That is, on
his unconditional love. This is the key insight God opened up to Martin Luther
and many others in the history of the church. It’s the foundational reality of
Christianity.
May
God encourage you in your relationship with him, and may he fill you with his
spirit of kindness and grace as you relate to people who may or may not share
your zeal for the Lord. May he bring to faith those in your lives, in your
families, in this community, who do not yet know him… or who have wandered away,
for whatever reason.
I
close with Luther’s explanation to the third article of the apostle’s creed,
because it sums up so well, how gracious God is, in the way he deals with us.
Luther put it like this:
I
believe that on my own I can never come to Jesus Christ my Lord, or believe in
him,
no
matter how hard I try. But the Holy Spirit has called me to Jesus by the good
news about him. The Spirit has led
me to know and trust Jesus, made me holy, and kept me in the Christian
faith. In the same way the Holy
Spirit creates the Christian church all over the world.
The
Spirit calls people to Jesus, brings them together into the church, leads them to know and
trust Jesus, makes them holy, and keeps them with Jesus in
the
Christian faith. In the Christian church the Spirit keeps
on forgiving all my sins and the sins of everyone who believes in Jesus.
At
the end of time the Spirit will raise me to life, together with all who have
died, and will give me and all others who believe in Christ eternal life.
This
is most certainly true.
Amen.
May
the peace of God which is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
This Web Page Created with PageBreeze Free HTML Editor