Some more thoughts on Luke 9

 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.”

I heard a sermon on this text Sunday (not a surprise – it is the gospel Lesson for the Third Sunday After Pentecost in the Revised Common Lectionary, and would have been the lesson for the day in numerous churches) that was by and large thoughtful and insightful.  But it left me begging at one point. 

The preacher talked of Jesus’ setting his face to Jerusalem, and of the resistance Jesus met in the Samaritan village.  The preacher spoke of the people whom Jesus summoned, and how one asked leave to go and bury a parent and another who responded by wanting to go and say some family farewells.  The pulpiteer demonstrated some depth of thinking that was encouraging.  But, in moving through the various elements of this pericope, the speaker omitted any reference to the encounter with the first individual altogether.  This is the person who said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  Jesus’ reply is, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

This omission could have been an expedient – preachers sometimes can’t address every issue in the time allotted for a sermon.  The preacher may have wanted to examine a single strand of thought and considered that this portion of the reading didn’t support that exploration.  It could be that, in the mind of the preacher, it would take too long to unpack this portion within the framework of the sermon.  Sometimes we just don’t know what to do homiletically with certain pieces of material.

I contend, however, that the omission of this portion interrupts the flow of the narrative.  If in reading 9:51-62, we push the other material aside, what remains is a three-fold pattern: “I will follow,” “Follow me,” and again “I will follow.”  In each small conversation, there is a kind of thesis statement (“I will follow,” “Let me first…” “I will follow, but…”  What Jesus offers in each instance is commentary.  To maintain that there are two or three separate stories here – I believe – is to lose track of what is going on.  Each portion is as vital to internalizing the story as another.  Without a part, we miss out on the whole.

Let me be quick to say that it is not my purpose to tear down this preacher or to diminish the work done.  I have said that I thought the presentation was thoughtful and insightful.  I am left not so much with criticism as with hunger.

As I have observed previously, the twice-stated subject of this overall thought is, “he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”  There are several responses to Jesus’ conviction.  I just would liked to have heard about them all.

The peace of the Lord be with you.