Sunday Readings: 1 Kings 19.16, 19-21; Galatians 5.1, 13-18; Luke 9.51-62
“As the days were being fulfilled for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
(Luke 9.51)
The men and women who follow Jesus as disciples serve an apprenticeship on the journey to Jerusalem. They are on the road together. A Samaritan village refuses them lodging. The two people Jesus meets on the road refuses Jesus’ invitation to follow. One must bury his father, another has to say goodbye. Jesus asks for commitment that supersedes family obligations and good-byes. A new community of faith is forming with ties stronger than blood.
Today following Jesus does not require leaving possessions, family, and friends behind. Christianity is now an acceptable and established world religion. It is as this long-established institution that the Church puts off many people today. It seems too encumbered by dogma and traditions, too unresponsive to today’s science and search, and too tainted by scandal.
Sunday’s gospel insists that faith in Jesus is a relationship so basic it supersedes and underlies all others. It calls us to do better than James and John who suggest raining down fire on the Samaritans who refuse to welcome them to their village. It calls us to embody love, forgiveness, and mercy — to be the gospel message in the flesh.
Imagine yourself on this journey with Jesus and his disciples. How might this journey be changing your life?
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