One of the features of Luke’s narrative is the idea of Jesus journeying to Jerusalem, the place of his destiny and the achieving of God’s plan. In our Gospel reading today, Jesus is presented as setting out resolutely on the way to the holy city.
The obvious route was through the region of Samaria, the mountainous area between Galilee in the north and Judaea in the south, but this was inhabited by people whose claim to share Jewish identity was rejected by those who lived in the other parts of the country.
Hence the hostility to pilgrims and travellers passing through on the way to Jerusalem and the refusal of hospitality to Jesus and his disciples. Earlier, Jesus had instructed his followers that, in the event of their being rejected in any town, they should leave and shake off the dust of the place from their feet as a sign to the citizens. James and John propose to copy the example of the prophet Elijah, who called down fire from heaven to devour the troops sent to arrest him, but Jesus shows that, although he may be a prophet in the line of Elijah, his method of dealing with hostility and rejection does not take violent form.
Jesus’ setting out on his journey is accompanied in our Gospel today by three somewhat uncompromising statements about the cost of being his disciple. This must take priority over any other consideration, either human comfort or ties of kinship.
Previous Sunday Messages
REFLECT
We have reached a turning point in our consideration of the Gospel according to Luke. In the presence of Peter, James and John, his three closest associates, Jesus has spoken with Moses and Elijah during the experience on the high mountain. They discussed Jesus’
exodus, which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem, and today we accompany him as he sets out on his final journey.
One spiritual writer wrote a book with the title Costing Not Less than Everything: the subject was being a disciple of Jesus. There is a sense in some quarters that to be a disciple means leaving home, having no family or human ties or close relationships and giving oneself completely to God in the ministry, the priesthood or religious life. But where does that leave the vast majority of Christians? Are the non-ordained, or those who are not members of religious orders, somehow second-class members of the Church?
Every Christian is a disciple of Jesus by virtue of being baptised: every Easter, we are invited and given the opportunity to renew that commitment for ourselves. It is a personal relationship with Jesus. How we express that commitment is different for all of us: but we should not make the mistake of thinking that any one state of life is better or more privileged than another. Perhaps we might think today about how Jesus is accompanying us in our journey through life and how he is truly Emmanuel, “God-with-us”.
learn
- The Samaritans claimed to be descendants of the Jewish people left behind after the deportation to Babylon in 587 BC.
- The Jews believed that the Samaritans were “lion converts”, descendants of people imported from the far end of the Babylonian empire, who adopted certain Jewish practices as a result of being attacked by lions, as recorded at the end of the book of Kings.
- The Samaritans accepted the five books of Moses.
- They built a rival temple to that of Jerusalem on Mount Gerizim: this underlies Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well in the Gospel of John.
do
Make the Sign of the Cross: remember that you are as much a disciple, friend and companion of Jesus, as any priest, nun or religious brother.