When followers of Jesus lose their way—then and now—what are we supposed to do? What is our work in the world?
Discipleship Now
Proper 8C | Luke 9:51-62
When we last saw Jesus, he was freeing a man of thousands of demons. A feat so remarkable and frightening that people couldn’t handle that new reality. It was just too terrifying. They needed Jesus to leave.
What happens next is a whirlwind.
He restores the life of a girl and heals a woman suffering with hemorrhages for twelve years.
Then, at the beginning of chapter 9, Jesus sends the twelve out with the power to exorcize demons and cure the sick to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
And they do.
Then,
- They feed the five thousand.
- Peter calls Jesus “Messiah”.
- Jesus tells them of his coming death.
- Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a mountain for the Transfiguration.
- The apostles can’t heal a boy, so Jesus does it himself.
- Jesus foretells his death again.
- The disciples argue over which of them is the greatest.
- The disciples see an exorcist that is healing in the name of Jesus and they want to stop him.
- Then they come to a Samaritan city that refuses to receive Jesus.
So much happens!
But I want to highlight a couple parts.
Disciples Become Apostles
Jesus shares his power with the Twelve. To go out and heal. Just like he did with the Gerasene man. And the girl and woman. They go out and they heal and proclaim and do all of these miraculous things. Students becoming teachers. Still following in the way of Jesus.
And this bit of success is essential because they see that the Kin-dom isn’t just possible in some abstract sense. Like something can be statistically possible and yet totally improbable. They just did it. In a sense, they are learning that possibility and probability mean something very different in a life of faith.
So as Jesus is telling them about what’s going to happen, sharing with them his future, he’s reminding them that the Kin-dom is possible with them. It isn’t Jesus. He won’t be doing it all for them. This requires their participation. And even more than that. Their sense of commitment to what Jesus is doing.
The Other Side of the Mountain
In the Transfiguration, we get a prelude to the turning point. But what they see up the mountain is no more important than what they see when they come down. The Disciples are unable to heal a boy. They could before. Not now.
Like the manifestation of disbelief.
Moments later, the disciples are arguing about which of them is greatest. Real humility here.
Then John tells Jesus about this other exorcist running around like he’s a real disciple or something. We tried to stop him, but thought you should know.
Each of these gets a rebuke from Jesus. None of this is The Way.
Then the Samaritan Village.
Jesus and the disciples, of course, are Hebrews. Samaritans are to them like the Hatfields are to the McCoys. Enemies for life. Enemies who deserve to be enemies.
So, the idea of getting hospitality from them now would be generously described as a longshot.
And yet, astute readers of Torah would note that refusing hospitality is a Grade A sin. Top of the heap.
So here they are. In enemy territory. Not receiving hospitality like they got from total strangers a few weeks ago when they were out doing Jesus stuff. And hospitality is like, a top 3 condition in the eyes of God. In fact, God obliterated Sodom and Gomorrah for their inhospitable response to Lot and the angels.
So…it seems kind of reasonable, doesn’t it…if maybe…yeah, let’s do it. Let’s see if we can obliterate the city. Give them the same treatment. Jesus must have that power. We’ve seen him command the elements!
James and John, who healed the sick and exercised demons; the two who joined Peter for the Transfiguration to witness the holiest of moments and heard the voice of God: they think it is a good idea to do a little genocide.
That’s their takeaway from all of this.
This is as horrifying as it is evident.
They followed the path and connected the dots. They’re doing what they think God wants them to do. Wipe out anyone who doesn’t agree with them. Those people sinned, therefore they must be punished. And how did God punish those who did it? Well, we should do that.
The logic is there.
And part of what is so horrifying about this is that a big part of what stops us from supporting them is not Scripture. It’s a basic sense that genocides are really, really bad.
It is actually quite frightening to think that they are following Jesus into mass murder. Much like people throughout history have done just that.
Of course, all of this makes logical sense, save one thing.
Jesus keeps rebuking them.
All of these impulses, here, at the turning point of the gospel, when Jesus literally turns his face toward Jerusalem. Their impulses are wrong. Because they may be based in Scripture, but they aren’t based in actually following Jesus.
Rather than heal a boy, the others wait for Jesus to rescue them. Then they choose arrogance, competition, and narcissism over humility. And then they’re trying to shut down the spread of the Kin-dom because they don’t think the dude has the right credentials!
Jesus keeps rebuking all of these divergent paths that aren’t based in Jesus’s Way of Love. Ways that are, instead, based in cultural expectations of success or power or protection. The hallmarks of the Kingdom of Humanity.
The Kingdom the Son of Humanity came to save us from.
Logical
It is easy to rebuke James and John for wanting to genocide. That junk’s a no-brainer to us. But his rebuke of those trying to turn back to bury a loved one or say goodbye to family? That seems less logical.
At least from the perspective that every decision at any moment should be measured abstractly as good or bad. Is burying a loved one good? Yes. Is ignoring a loved one who has died bad? Yes. So therefore (we tend to think) turning back and burying someone is objectively good, so therefore, it should always be encouraged. At least in all but the most extreme of cases.
So further, Jesus saying no, requires this to be an extreme case. Otherwise, he is being unreasonable.
This way of thinking is pretty ingrained in us, so it is hard not to do it automatically. But I think it serves to remind us that, while we don’t see following Jesus as such an extreme case, Jesus seems to disagree. Following Jesus is the exception.
And as a present follower of Jesus, I am floored by the implication that I might be misunderstanding The Way of Love as much as the genocide twins: James and John. And that is humbling.
The Mouthpiece of God
At a time in which we may be tempted to speak for God or reject how others do just that, perhaps we ought to wrestle a little with what we think God is really doing. And why we often feel so sure about it.
Following part of Scripture, but not the whole of it, or the direction of it, seems like the road to fascism and genocide. Where you can justify any will to power.
Silencing minority voices because they aren’t in our club; that actually seems like a similar road.
Fighting over greatness, who is the better Christian; none of this seems right. None of this sounds like Jesus.
Even as the highest court in the land claims to want what God wants, does any of this feel or sound like Jesus?
And isn’t that the point?
Our focus should be Jesus.
Remarkably, the rebukes are here because the disciples keep going in the wrong direction. But the miracles also remain. The multitudes are fed. The sick are healed.
But also, the nearly murdered are spared. Strangers are shown mercy.
Jesus doesn’t simply “live with” the bad decisions of his followers. He rebukes them.
But he also keeps moving toward the goal. Jerusalem.
And he keeps teaching his disciple/apostles.
Even as he has no place to lay his head. The work is the Kin-dom. A beloved Community of hope. Justice. Peace. Love. Faithfulness. Mercy.
And it’s calling cards are us when we embody the Kin-dom ethos. When we are alive in it. When we hope and make justice, peace, and love real in our community.
Our work is making that real. And doing that starts with being that in the here and now.