"And he set his face toward Jerusalem"

 Luke 9:51-62 (NRSVu)

⁵¹ When the days drew near for him 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?”^[a] 55 But he turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶ Then^[b] 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^[c] 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.”

This is the gospel lesson for Sunday, June 29 according to the Revised Common Lectionary.  Much of what is in this pericope is familiar to us.  But we frequently cherry-pick this passage and read fragments rather than the whole.  The fragments can be confusing.  A little clarity comes from considering the section as a whole.

Consider the several folks that Jesus encounters here.  There are the people of a  village in Samaria.  The text says that these Samaritans wouldn’t receive Jesus because “his face was set toward Jerusalem.”  That is an oddity, because it is unlikely that a Samaritan village would receive any Jew who was passing through their territory: “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans” -- John 4:9.

On the road, Jesus encounters someone who proclaims, “I will follow you wherever you go!”  Jesus dismisses him.  The reason is a bit unclear.  Jesus goes on to say, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”  If the volunteer is looking for a kind of permanence, he will not find it here.

Finally, there is a pair of people whom Jesus summons, and each one has a delaying response: “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”  Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”  Jesus then apparently moves on down the road and does not wait for these folks.

So, a village that says “No” on the basis of Jesus’ motive; a person who seeks to follow and is denied; and a brace of people who receive a call, but who make excuses.  What do these have in common.  And what do we take away from these seemingly disparate reactions to Jesus?”

Remember how this reading begins: “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”  That is no casual introductory statement.  It is in many ways the hinge upon which the entirety of Luke’s gospel depends.  We have had the infancy narrative and the record of the Galilean ministry.  But here, Jesus leaves home and hearth and familiar territory behind in order to travel to Jerusalem.  This is no trivial preliminary to a random road trip.  “When the days drew near for him to be taken up…” is an indication that Jesus intentionally embraced God’s plan, and that Jesus was now ready to set that plan in motion.  To go to Jerusalem is to go to Gethsemane, to the Judgement Hall of Pilate, to Calvary, to the Tomb.

One of the things that the other players in this little drama don’t get is that Jesus us going to Jerusalem to die.  The Samaritans may disagree with his choice of destination.  After all, Jerusalem is the seat of the powers that have rejected Samaritans for generations.  The person who would follow Jesus wherever he goes could not possibly intuit that Jesus was travelling to his time of sacrifice.  Those who gave a conditional “yes” to Jesus’ summons have no idea that they were delaying accompanying Jesus to a history-making moment over lesser priorities.

This entire reading is really a response to its opening line.  If Jesus is simply wandering across the landscape, then these encounters are trivial.  If these events are commentary on Jesus’ impending sacrifice, from our vantage point we see how short-sighted are the story’s participants.  

As modern-day disciples we see everything in light of the death (and resurrection, and ascension) of Jesus.  Our perceptions, our life choices, reflect our response the Lordship of Jesus Christ and his call on our lives.  Our preconceptions, our ill-considered thoughts and our mundane distractions can stand in the way of our following Jesus to the one destination that has any significance at all.

The peace of the Lord be with you.