Proper 8

Preparation

    Please begin by reading Luke 9:51-62 in your Bible. If you do not have one at hand, we have provided that text for you at the end of this reflection.

Reflection--Keeping On Keeping On  

    Did you ever have "one of those days"? You know, things are not going quite right. Maybe you are a little tired and grumpy. Maybe you'd like nothing more than for the world to just go away so you could just put you feet up and get comfortable somewhere all by yourself and ignore your responsibilities.

    I would like to tell you that I am one of those constantly upbeat positive Christians who never has a bad day and is a joy to everyone. Unfortunately, that would be false. Every now and then (and perhaps more frequently than I would like to admit), I have "one of those days." In fact, I think I may be having one today as I write this message. Yesterday was one of those long, intense days at work and I was exhausted when it was over, but I accepted an invitation to get together with friends afterward. I had a wonderful time, but came home later than I should have done.

    So this morning, I am completely out of energy. I think about all those things I need to get done today - errands, calls I need to make, paying bills, being the celebrate at a chapel service this evening, and other tasks and it just makes me grumpy. What I would like most to do today is absolutely nothing.

    I used to think that I had to try to be a bright, sunny light for God in the world 24/7. Then I would feel guilty if I was a grump instead. Praise God, I have learned better than that nonsense as time goes by.

    Oh, not that I am proud of it on those days I turn out to be a grump -- far from it! But I am learning to get over feeling guilty about it when it happens because I know it is just part of my human nature. What God calls us to is not to put on a false sunny façade, but to just keep on keeping on doing what God calls us to do whether we feel like it or not.

    That business of keeping on keeping on is really at the heart of our passage from the ninth chapter of Luke. Jesus seems to be having "one of those days." It isn't one of those glorious times when he is being met by enthusiastic, adoring crowds. A village he was about to enter said "sorry, no thanks." He indicates that he does not even have the creature comforts that foxes and birds have. He appears to be a little grumpy, displaying little patience with people who want to make excuses for not getting on with doing what God is calling them to do. He gives his disciples what for when they angrily suggest that the village that rejected them should be destroyed for the insult.

    In essence what Jesus told the people who were thinking about following him was something like this:  "Don't think that doing what God wants you to do is always going to be easy.  Following where God leads is serious business that requires real commitment, not excuses. Once you commit, you can't turn back rain or shine and whether you're having a good day or a bad one."

    And as always Jesus did not say one thing and do something else. He lived out what he was saying. It's all in the very first verse. "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem." As he knew full well, when Jesus got to Jerusalem before he would be "taken up" to heaven, he would be lifted up on a cross.  He went anyhow.

    So, maybe I need to rethink my excuses. Maybe I am not having such a bad day after all. Maybe it is just another one of those days just to keep on keeping on, knowing that too is part of the Christian life.  And knowing too that it is in keeping on keeping on when I don't want to that I often find Jesus walking with me.

revclay

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Luke 9:51-62

 
    When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.

    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?” But he turned and rebuked them.

    Then they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 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.”

    To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

    Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” [NRSV]