Lk 9:51-62
Dear Friends, We have just finished almost three months celebrating, pondering and praying the central truth of our faith, the Pascal Mystery. This is the great act of love that is Jesus Christ Crucified and Jesus Christ Risen. Now we return to our weekly encounter with the Gospel of St. Luke. For the next twenty weeks the liturgy will invite us to search for direction and guidance in our daily life through the message of God’s Word in St. Luke’s Gospel.
Today’s gospel passage considers Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. This takes ten full chapters in Luke. It is almost like a gospel within a gospel in the depth and breadth of its message. It consists mostly of teachings by Jesus with only a few miracles during this time. Jesus has grown in awareness that the intensity of his conflict with the leaders will claim a total commitment, even to the point of death. This is what Luke means when he says, “he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Lk 9:51). We are being invited to contemplate a discipleship and journey in the footsteps of a Suffering Messiah.
The discipleship, that Jesus is offering is described as a joint journey to Jerusalem. We begin the journey with the first step. In this journey of discipleship, God always takes us where we are. There will be many more steps to follow but without the first step nothing happens.
We need to let go of anything that will be an obstacle to our choice to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. On our way to Jerusalem, we will slowly see, with a growing clarity, the many demands of this commitment. Everything will eventually be brought to the surface. We will grow in our ability to determine whether our actions, possessions and relationships either help or hinder our choice of Jesus. We will learn that we cannot turn back.
The concept of journey or pilgrimage is a common pattern in the Bible. It reveals how we experience God. It demands a singleness of purpose. It is definitely a one-way ticket.
In today’s gospel passage Jesus talks about the requirements for this journey. The first is to let go of our hostilities. Jesus’ disciples on the journey are to be people of tolerance and an acceptance of an ever-growing number of people. In Jesus’ world, boundaries are only new passages to further inclusion. Secondly, to be a disciple of Jesus we must surrender the comfort and convenience of past ways. It is an uprooting experience. The deeply human desire to settle down with clear borders and to be in control has to be forsaken. Jesus is not into mortgages. His way demands a letting go, a one way ticket into an unknown future. Thirdly, Jesus demands a faithfulness that does not accept any delay. The choice is to walk to Jerusalem now. Too often, we hope to avoid the walking. We want the luxury of the next train. Jesus is not into shortcuts. There seldom is a next train.
We are called to make a decision. The rules of the journey to Jerusalem demand a discipline that is both challenging and comforting. We are called to walk with Jesus. This is the fundamental choice of the Christian life. Like so many other biblical lessons, this teaching has been distorted over the centuries. Jesus does not want to cutoff responsible relations to families or others. He simply wants to put them in order. God comes first. When this order is maintained, all other relationships are enriched and enhanced.
The true commitment of discipleship that Jesus requires is not like having a second job or an effort to work Jesus into our schedule. Everything else needs to fall into second place!
