Bible Study Notes: St Luke's Gospel
Session 25 Chapter 9:43-62
Jesus Resolves to Go to Jerusalem
43-44 While they continued to stand around exclaiming over
all the things he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, "Treasure
and ponder each of these next words: The Son of Man is about to be betrayed
into human hands."
45 They didn't get what he was saying. It was like he was speaking a foreign
language and they couldn't make heads or tails of it. But they were embarrassed
to ask him what he meant.
46-48 They started arguing over which of them would be most famous. When
Jesus realized how much this mattered to them, he brought a child to his
side. "Whoever accepts this child as if the child were me, accepts
me," he said. "And whoever accepts me, accepts the One who sent
me. You become great by accepting, not asserting. Your spirit, not your
size, makes the difference."
49 John spoke up, "Master, we saw a man using your name to expel
demons and we stopped him because he wasn't of our group."
50 Jesus said, "Don't stop him. If he's not an enemy, he's an ally."
51-54 When it came close to the time for his Ascension, he gathered up
his courage and steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem. He sent
messengers on ahead. They came to a Samaritan village to make arrangements
for his hospitality. But when the Samaritans learned that his destination
was Jerusalem, they refused hospitality. When the disciples James and
John learned of it, they said, "Master, do you want us to call a
bolt of lightning down out of the sky and incinerate them?"
55-56 Jesus turned on them: "Of course not!" And they traveled
on to another village.
57 On the road someone asked if he could go along. "I'll go with
you, wherever," he said.
58 Jesus was curt: "Are you ready to rough it? We're not staying
in the best inns, you know." Jesus said to another, "Follow
me."
59 He said, "Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of days,
please. I have to make arrangements for my father's funeral."
60 Jesus refused. "First things first. Your business is life, not
death. And life is urgent: Announce God's kingdom!"
61 Then another said, "I'm ready to follow you, Master, but first
excuse me while I get things straightened out at home."
62 Jesus said, "No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't
put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day."
© The
Message
Luke relentlessly keeps the theme of the cross alive throughout all of this. The first prediction of the passion followed the bread miracle. Now a second prediction of the passion follows the ecstasy of the Transfiguration. Even in the midst of that event, Jesus conversed with Moses and Elijah about his "exodus," the Christian Passover that would accomplish our salvation.
Jesus knew he had to prepare his apostles for the mystery of his death and resurrection. He was more than a popular preacher who happened to be involved in some unfortunate controversies with religious leaders. It was only natural that they thought he would work things out. Eventually, people would come to see things his way. His eloquence and obvious compassion would win everybody over. Jesus warned them that dark days lay ahead. The gospel says they did not understand him, meaning they refused to accept what he was saying. Most people use psychological denial to block out what is too unpleasant to contemplate. They were no exceptions to this rule.
Secretly, they believed he was really a political messiah who would somehow establish a religious kingdom on earth where God's rule was embodied in a government system with themselves as the "power partners and rulers." In fact Jesus heard them arguing about who might be the top people in that government.
So he took a little child and placed that child before them. Children do not rule nations. Jesus knew that they loved children and received them as sources of affection and love. He told them that in the future kingdom that is how he was to be welcomed and received, not as an emperor full of force and power, but a child full of simplicity and love. Not the love of power, but the power of love would be the ruling policy of the kingdom.
The message was hard to put across as became immediately evident when they passed through Samaritan territory among people traditionally hostile to them. True to form, the Samaritans refused them hospitality. So angry were the apostles that they asked Jesus if they could curse the people with fire from heaven to burn them up. They still lived by the principle of "love of power." Jesus sighed and rebuked them for their unworthy sentiments.
At various places Jesus invited people to follow him. One man said that he must first bury his father. Jesus told him to let the dead bury the dead. Another said he must say farewell to his family. Jesus replied that once the hand is on the plough a person should never look back. This does not mean that Jesus was insensitive to a mourning son or to the responsibility to one's family. He was using the occasion as a metaphor for understanding how absolute a commitment he eventually wanted from those who would be his disciples.
From now on in Luke, Christ's eyes are fixed on the cross and the resurrection. "When the days for his being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem" (verse 51).
It leaves us, of course, with a question, 'Where is Jesus asking us to go on our Jerusalem journey?' Jesus is most certainly asking us to travel, not yesterday, but tomorrow. Are we ready for and anticipating this journey?
© Fr Michael Fuller: January 2010