Luke 9:51-62
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ 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.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’
In today's passage, we continue to get glimpses of what it means to be a follower of this different kind of messiah Jesus is. Both in his encounter with his own disciples and in his encounters with would-be disciples, we see a different way of following him.
Following Jesus is not an exercise of dominating power. Following Jesus does not give us the right to rule over others. The Samaritan village won't receive Jesus, because he is on the way to Jerusalem (to his suffering and death), but Jesus does not permit his disciples to enact vengeance or judgement on them. The life Jesus invites his disciples into is not one of wielding power and domination, but one of love and service. This does not mean it is not a radical call. In the encounters with the would-be disciples, Jesus lays out that the demand to follow him is total. It is not a life easily picked up and tried for a while. His call is a demand to renounce all the ways of the world and to seek the Kingdom of God first. It is not easy, but it is good.
May we hear the call of Jesus today inviting us into a radical, love-oriented, service-oriented life of discipleship. May we find ourselves answering his call and seeking the fullness of God's Kingdom.