As we consider the next portion of our Sending Statement, it says “God changes ordinary life into abundant living, through our participation…” There are some specifics mentioned that we can participate with, but I want to pause here.
When the
faith is rolling well in the love of Christ, its easy to see the many examples
of life going from the ordinary to the abundant. But sometimes life is not just about the
positive examples. Sometimes we have the
negative. Like that show “What NOT to
wear…” For every “After” picture where
things are amazing, there is always the “Before” picture that are, well, not. Maybe
like yours truly in a weight loss ad?
That is the
first part of our Scripture this morning.
Jesus is beginning to head to Jerusalem for his death and
resurrection. He’s in Galilee, and
chooses to go back through Samaria.
Sends a messenger ahead to check in with the village he has in
mind. And these folks reply “no thank
you” and Jesus goes elsewhere.
So, James
and John step into the picture with a suggestion that is the definitive way of
NOT changing ordinary life into abundant living. It is NOT by offering to call down the fire
of heaven to consume the villagers who’ve turned Jesus away.
Luke is
deliberate in describing how Jesus reacts.
Luke says that Jesus rebukes his disciples. The term ‘rebuke’, in the gospel, is reserved
almost exclusively for Jesus confronting demons in his command for them to
leave the people they possess. Think
about that, Jesus speaks to two of his closest disciples the way he speaks to
evil spirits about to be cast out of the people they possess.
Later
however, Jesus does not seem to hold this against them. The storyteller in me would like to think
this incident is why Jesus calls the brother the Sons of Thunder elsewhere in
the gospels.
In the
disciple’s defense, heaven fire is something of a typical God response in
‘their’ bible, the Old Testament. Sodom
and Gomorrah, Elijah’s sacrifice versus those of the 400 prophets of Baal,
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron bringing ‘unholy fire’ before the Lord. Fire from heaven. Of course, killing people with fire because
they said ‘we think not’ when Jesus sought to come to them, maybe overkill.
Still, James
and John appear to be deliberately missing the point of Jesus’ ministry. They were at the Transfiguration, the feeding
of the 5000, the Sermon on the mount, how many healings, parables, teachings,
and, on the verses leading up to this story, verses 16-27, Jesus explicitly
lays out the reality of his coming death and resurrection.
My study
bible labels these verses as “Samaritan opposition”. I think “Disciple Correction” might be the
better label. Jesus has come to do
something completely different from what came before. Because that did not work. Humans have proven across the history of the
bible that punishment on us for what we do does not work, even via the
purifying fire of heaven.
But all of
that, whether heaven fire or the flood that killed all the evil people at the
time of Noah, to all the ways God punished in the Old Testament, they all point
to how God truly changes ordinary life into abundant living. Punishment for sin is laid across His Only
Begotten Son instead. We do not learn by
punishment and the infliction of justice, we learn by the application of
mercy. God is love, not the tough love
of punishment, but the merciful love of forgiveness, the free gift of
salvation. God does it all for us.
Next to
that, the next piece of the passage is tough to sort through:
57 As they were going along the road,
someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 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.” 59 To
another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my
father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Let the
dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of
God.” 61 Another said, “I will follow you, Lord,
but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 And
Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit
for the kingdom of God.”
First guy
says he’ll follow, Jesus seems to blow him off, as I read it. Second guy gets called, but asks to bury his
father. Jesus comments on the dead
burying the dead, but gives him a sending to proclaim the gospel. Third guy just seems to be a condemnation. If he is going to turn from the plow, even to
say goodbye to family, he’s not fit for the Kingdom of God?
What is
Jesus doing? If I said this, I would be
an obnoxious blowhard. But Jesus sees
into the hearts of every person and every response he gives here is tailored to
the one he’s talking to. Seems like guy
one won’t have follow through. Guy two
may not become one of the twelve, but will be a witness. Guy three won’t do the job. We do not have the heart sight of our Lord to
know people.
What we do
have is in the second part of our Sending statement for today. “God changes ordinary life into abundant
living, through participation in worship, Christian education, fellowship, and
service.” This is where we, as the
church, develop and grow in our faith. I
truly believe that the first hour any church member needs to invest Jesus is
right here, in the worship of the living God.
Keeps our eyes on the prize. From
there we grow as we learn, as we come into community with each other, as we
serve others.
These three
that Jesus speaks to, examples of enthusiastic individuals, with no nurture in
the joy of abundant living. Jesus can
pick them cleanly. For the church, being
organized on these principles, these teams led from Session is our
alternative. The journey of faith is not
simply one that travels across our lives, it travels ever deeper into the very
souls of who we are. There is always
something more to know and celebrate in what Jesus has accomplished for us by
his death and resurrection. He’s given
us eternal life, which, because this is God-level, I believe includes eternal
possibility. The abundance never runs dry.
What is the
importance of having places where we aim to grow intentionally in our
faith? Maybe that’s what brings us back
to the beginning of our passage. Some
Samaritans said “no”. Two thirds of
Jesus’ leadership team took that as a reason to offer to pull down the fires of
heaven to destroy them. I cannot help
but envision Jesus taking them aside and telling them, “It looks like we have
some refresher courses on being a disciple of Jesus and what that means to go
over again.”
We
celebrate our lives in Christ, as did the man freed from the Legion of
demons. We celebrate that God changes
ordinary life into more. We prepare for
that, intentionally. We participate in a
structured community based in the worship, teaching, community and service of
and to our Lord Jesus Christ. And we
have the examples in the gospel of Jesus’ reads on the hearts of those who are
not so fully invested. Heavens, we have
the example in the gospel of two of Jesus’ closest who needed some clear
refreshers. Abundant living is not a one
off. It’s from Jesus. There is always more we can invest into
Christ, and there is always more abundance that we shall receive, in Him.
Amen.
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