Luke 9:51-62: When the days drew near for [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for his arrival, 53 but they did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 When his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 Then they went on to another village.
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.”
Here's my message on this gospel reading for Sunday, June 29, at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Stroudsburg:
In our house, we have a saying: “Headed for the barn.” You know what that means? It’s that moment, after you’ve been away for a while, when you’re ready to load up the car and head back home. “We’re headed for the barn.” Especially when you’ve been on a long road trip, and you’re on that last leg. Maybe you’ve rounded the final corner, or taken the last exit. And maybe, your foot is a little heavy on the accelerator. You don’t want to hear anyone say, “I’m hungry, can we stop? I’ve gotta go to the bathroom…” “Well hold it in! We’re almost home. Headed for the barn.”
This is kind of what that first line in our Gospel means. “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus was “headed for the barn.” Nothing was going to get in the way of his getting where he needed to get. Jerusalem. The capital city of Judea. The place where all the power was. The place where all the pilgrims, rich and poor, would come, from all over, to worship God in the temple. The place where many poor people in the countryside come, to go to court, to protest for rights and redress of grievances, to learn a trade or study with someone wise, to find a job, to get counsel, to seek out healing, or to beg for help. Because, there were people there, with the power, the resources, the skills, to help them.
This is where Jesus was going. Jerusalem. Where he could go, to bring his ministry to its highest point. To bring his mission to its grand finale. But that high point, was none so high. That finale was none too grand. It was on a high hill called Golgotha. It was on bare wooden cross, with nails to hold him up.
So that, whatever your need. Whatever your suffering. Whatever your guilt and shame. Whatever your grievance or insult or injury. Whatever reason, you were in Jerusalem, on that day, when you set your face toward that hill; your eyes on that man of sorrows; you could see, and say, “Look at what he’s doing for me. What he’s done for all of us.” Especially for those, who are guilty and ashamed. Especially for those who are jobless and homeless, who feel unheard, unloved, rejected by their own countries, their own communities, their own churches, their own families and friends. Especially for those who have seen their rights denied or stripped away. Especially for those who have been put down, insulted, injured, gaslighted, told to be quiet, be patient, be something other than what God made them.
Especially for those who feel weak, or sick, lost, despairing, losing hope, seeing their lives and bodies, their work and homes, changed in ways they cannot recognize, so that they cannot find their familiar way, their comfort place.
Jesus, set his face, to go to that place. To do that thing, he was always planning to do. That mission he laid out, on the very first day of his ministry. When Luke, this Gospel writer, wrote down the mission statement Jesus had from the beginning: “to bring good news to the poor…to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Bishop deForest preaching at St. John's Lutheran Church in Stroudsburg
That’s what Jesus said, on the very first day, the first mile of his mission. And now, here he is, further down the road, but still with many more miles to go. Still with 12 more chapters to get though, in the Gospel of Luke. The story isn’t even half over. But his goal is still set. His mission is still in focus. His eyes are on the prize. With miles to go, he is still headed for that barn.
And that is the hard part, for us, as Christians. Certainly, for me. To keep on the path, with Jesus; the way, of Jesus, and take no short cuts. Don’t become sidetracked, or sidelined, by setbacks or distractions. Don’t give in to fear and frustration, or give up because of conflicts or confusion, roadblocks or resistance, missteps and misunderstandings.
You see what Jesus says, and does. When his mission is not received well with one set of people, and his followers get so frustrated – ready to call down fire from heaven – what does Jesus do? He rebukes them. And he just, moves on. He stays on course. On mission. He keeps his face set on Jerusalem. No attacks. No retaliation. No heavenly judgement. No hateful social media. He just keeps going.
When someone says to him, “I’ll follow you,” he says, “Well, it won’t be easy. No staying in the Ritz Carlton for us. The Son of Man, on this crazy mission to bring good news to the poor – the Son of Man has nowhere safe and comfortable to lay his head. In other words, we’re out there, with all the people, who don’t have it easy in this life.”
When someone says, “I’ll follow you, Lord, but I’ve got this really urgent thing I gotta take care of first, it’s a matter of life and death,” Jesus says – “Okay but, a matter of life and death? What do you think we’re doing here? Just running a club? Just going through the motions? No. We’re moving into dangerous territory. We’re running, with folks, who are running for their lives. But the good news is: I’ve got all the life you’ll ever need. So don’t fall behind. Keep up. Follow me!”
Finally, someone says, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to those at home.” And maybe this is the toughest word of all, that we get, from the Word of God himself, Jesus Christ. He says, “No one who puts a hand to the plow AND LOOKS BACK is fit for the Kingdom of God.” Such hard words. How can we not look back, to the good days of our lives? How can we not look back, and say, “THIS used to work for us, why can’t it KEEP working?” How can we not look back and say, “I wish my Mom were still alive, or my husband still here, or my son, he grew up in this church. It’s hard to go on without them. I wish this family were still here, or that person didn’t move away, or that kind of teaching or thinking or acting or being were still the way most everybody talked or worked or looked or believed.
It’s hard to go forward, and risk all the good we’ve had, for so long. How can we follow you, into these new and unknown places, risking our very lives: all we have, all we are, all we’ve been; risk becoming poorer, smaller; willing to work with THOSE people, seen as one of them, one of THOSE kinds of places. Don’t you know how hard this is, Jesus? To go into those hard places. Don’t you know?”
And he doesn’t answer, with words. He just sets his face, towards the place called Jerusalem. And he bids us, to follow.
And I don’t know about you. But it’s hard for me. It’s all I can do, just to move on, move hopefully, forward. Thinking about, all the long way to Jerusalem? Too scary for me. But with Jesus ever in front of US, moving ahead of us, WE can cling tight to these words, from the end of Psalm 16:
I have set the LORD always before me; because God is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my spirit rejoices, my body also shall rest in hope… You will show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
In this word, let us dare to do great things, and set our faces to go where Jesus goes.
On the Way of Jesus Together,
Bishop Christopher deForest (he/him)
Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
