Sixth Sunday after Pentecost 2016
26 June 2016
Collect
O God of freedom and love,
You have set us free in Jesus Christ:
Make us servants of the gospel
For the sake of Your reign of love;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit
One God, forever and ever. Amen.
Readings
First Reading: 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
2 Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here; for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.’ But Elisha said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So they went down to Bethel….
6 Then Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.’ But he said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So the two of them went on. 7 Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. 8 Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.
9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.’ Elisha said, ‘Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.’ 10 He responded, ‘You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.’ 11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. 12 Elisha kept watching and crying out, ‘Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
13 He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, ‘Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?’ When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.
Psalm 71:1-2, 11-20 (pg. 689)
Second Reading: Galatians 5:1,13-25
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery…
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ 15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
Gospel: Luke 9:51-62
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 make ready for him; 53 but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. 54 When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 Then 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 But Jesus 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 Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’
May I speak…
Verses 57 - 61 of our Gospel reading have always really challenge me – it feels very personal to me…
To paraphrase them: “As Jesus walked along the road with his friends, one (has been me, in prayer, but it could as easily be you) said to him, ‘I will try follow you wherever you lead me.’ …
I hope you noticed I added the word try…
Do you also identify with the person travelling with Jesus, saying to Jesus, ‘I will follow you wherever you go’? …
How many of you have said these words to Jesus? I have, many times… which is why I’ve added the word try, I’ve learned how easy it is to delude myself that I’m truly following Jesus and serving God and God’s people in need, yet sometimes, when I look more closely, I’m actually serving myself, or the church, or other interests…
Over the years, I’ve tried to take Jesus call to ‘Follow Him’ very seriously, and quite literally – at first, in my earlier years as a Christian, it was terrifying, I was terrified of giving my things up – later I realised God needs my hands to be empty, so I can receive God’s gifts, which were and are so much more life giving and enriching, but also much more challenging….
But I’ve learned and I invite you too to accept God’s an invitation to respond at a deeper level – Jesus’ reply to the fellow traveller has perplexed and challenged me, and I’ve wrestled with God on what they mean at various stages of my life…
At one time, I took a fundamentalist and non-life giving interpretation to this passage, but, thankfully, God rescued me…
In response to Jesus’ calling me to the ordained ministry, I felt justified in forcing my wife Helen into supporting my decision to enter stipendiary ministry.
I went as far as setting up an appointment with +Brian with Helen, and was expecting to tell +Brian that I was choosing God first. Thankfully, I spent a lot of time praying about it, and I came to the realisation that God was calling me to self-supporting ministry, and thus being true to Helen, my marriage vows to her and God, as well as to God’s calling me to the ordained ministry…
When we were with +Brian, I told him what I had been thinking, and how God had (I believed) revealed another path in prayer, and he endorsed what God had revealed in prayer….
Do you remember Jesus’ reply to the person saying ‘I will follow you wherever you go’ in our reading? Jesus says ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’
Don’t you think this response is perplexing? What does it mean to you? Surely Jesus’ reply is as surprising and unexpected as the response God gave me I described earlier as was perplexing and unexpected!
And I’ve noticed God often does this, in scripture and in life - God responds in a way that turns us from focussing on ourselves, on what we are doing, and on what it is costing us, to focussing on God and others in both our outward and inward journeying, reminding us how God goes so far and so deep as to give up heaven so as to be a suffering, homeless, emptied and dying for us servant…
Jesus’ phase “‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head’ also invites us to prayerfully reflect, and to ask God what Jesus’ words mean for us in any particular situation…
I encourage you to reflect on this at depth… I’ve prayed with this passage often, and I invite you to do likewise - in my contemplations, the meaning of this phrase varies depending on Jesus’ tone and expression. And there are many nuances and dimensions to the meaning God reveals…
In one dimension, on the one extreme, Jesus is smiling, even laughing, his eyes twinkling as he gently encourages me in the periods when I’m not overly attached to the things of the world, focussing instead on seeking first the Kingdom of God, and God’s righteousness…
And on the other extreme of that one dimension, a more serious, even stern, yet ever caring Jesus says the same phrase in a way that reminds me (especially whenever I’m in a more fretful or worldly phase) how I need to detach from worldly worries and focus on Him, the way Jesus focussed on God…
Usually, I feel somewhere between these extremes… and I encourage you to pray through this with Jesus yourself…
But what is exciting is that this phrase can be interpreted in many other dimensions too, and these have been different for me, depending on my circumstances, and probably will be for you too...
One example is when I’m feeling afraid, like when fearing losing my home or livelihood, Jesus’ response has been comforting, reassuring me…
At other times, like when I’m comfortable and safe at home or at work, Jesus’ response reminds me to think of others who are feeling insecure, out there in the cold, and I feel for them, challenged that Jesus too suffered and suffers with them, and that I should maybe do more to assist the poor, the sad, the insecure… Yes, I know that whatever we do for the least of these, we do for Jesus, but I find it is more satisfying, feeling that I’m working with and alongside Christ in the world, co-creating and co-redeeming…
Another dimension is that when I’m worried or weary and falling a bit behind Jesus, Jesus calls me, reminding me to, ‘Follow’, and sometimes that’s enough…
But sometimes, if my stress and worldly responsibilities are getting to me, I’m tempted, to give an excuse - instead of saying ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father’, I’m tempted to say something like ‘Lord, first let me go and…’ and there are legion seemingly valid excuses or alternative priorities…
And Jesus reminds me (and this might resonate with you) ‘do not focus on things that are of this world and ultimately life stealing, for that is the way of death’; but that ‘we need to choose life and go and proclaim the kingdom of God….’
Don’t Jesus words remind you too that we have already responded to His call? Is Jesus not entreating us: ‘do not now look back, that way too leads to anxiety and is life stealing, not enriching’?”
I’ve given these examples not as a definitive meanings or definitive dimensions of meanings, but to demonstrate how God invites us all to engage with the Father / Mother, Son and Spirit honestly and sincerely through the Word in a way that brings us closer to fullness of life and love and joy and peace and that reveals more of God and god’s love and purpose and perspective in and through the world, ourselves, our fellow creatures and creation…
I pray you feel invited and encouraged to seek our Living God more closely in your life too… AMEN!
Rev Gavil Smith
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