tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553896531179747942.post-19451285848311868182007-06-14T22:45:00.000-07:002007-06-21T22:09:26.096-07:00The Gospel according to Luke<br />Chapter 9:51-62<br /><br /><em>Our Lord warns us that we can become so locked into our patterns of life that we cannot break free and grow.</em><br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><em>“He set his face to go to Jerusalem”</em> Anyone who thinks of Jesus as being dragged unwillingly to his fate has only to look at this statement. His decisions are being made with complete awareness of the possible consequences. Jesus is never the helpless victim of events, the well meaning but unlucky character in the drama. He is in charge, not in any overbearing sense but in the sense of his being a free person, one who knows the situation and its cost. At this point he sets out.<br /><br /><em>“He entered a village of the Samaritans."</em> As a rule Jewish travelers did not go through Samaria. While it was not regarded as exactly enemy country, it was an area to be despised and avoided if at all possible. However Jesus is not prepared to write off a whole community in that facile way. We might ask where our own “Samaria” is, those areas of our lives, whether they be races, communities, or individuals, whom we despise for reasons we could not justify if challenged.<br /><br />We now see Jesus in three different situations. His reactions are interesting. The first situation is one of rejection. The Samaritan village is not prepared to accept him and his group. The disciples are enraged. Here they are, being generously “liberal” to these people and they don’t appreciate it! How dare they! Notice how a latent hatred and violence flash out in James and John. Jesus <em>“rebuked them”.</em><br /><br />The second incident is one of seeming acceptance. Someone comes to Jesus and offers to follow him unconditionally – <em>“wherever you go”.</em> We all feel wary of over expansive gestures made in an enthusiastic mood. They have often not been thought through, and the chances of the person following through are slim. Jesus issues a warning about the cost of this kind of emotional offer and the person seems to fade away.<br /><br />Now we see Jesus actually inviting a person to follow him. Taken aback by the offer, the man asks for time to go and bury his father. Jesus says what in that culture would have been a shocking thing.<em> “Let the dead bury their own dead”. </em><br /><br />As with many of his statements Jesus is resorting to extreme language to make a point. He seems to be telling us that we can allow the past to capture us in such a way that we can never get free of it. We find that we cannot change or grow. However, implicit in that statement is the offer that with grace we can break free of past things that tie us down.<br /><br />This is the Good News for this week.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds.feedburner.com/~s/OneMansJournal?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Herb O'Driscollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15131608054218451967noreply@blogger.com