Gospel Reading: Luke 9:51-62
For Sunday, June 30, 2013 —Ordinary 13
“A smile is contagious.”
Or at least people say it is. Usually it is your Mom. Her comment was likely not motivated by seeing the way your smile brightened up the room; and infected everyone around you with happiness.
The idiom is usually employed as a corrective. Namely, passed in your direction because you are in such a foul mood that it is spreading to everyone you come in contact with. While this attitude may need to be countered, I cannot really think of a time when I have seen an outbreak of contagious smile. I have however experienced the opposite. I have even been patient zero of the outbreak of ill will and foul mood. Which brings us to this week’s Gospel text.
Bad Day in Samaria?
I don’t know if I was general policy that Samaritan villages did not let folks traveling to Jerusalem enter them, or if they were in just a really bad mood the day Jesus’ messengers arrived. Presumably they entered the village and said something like, “He we are traveling with our Rabbi on our way to Jerusalem and we are looking for a place to get something to eat and sleep for the night.”
The villagers were probably in the middle of arguing about something and then turned and took it out on Jesus’ followers. The followers feel unjustly maligned and kick it up and notch. They start yelling and screaming at Jesus to let them rain down fire from heaven to consume them.
Steamed Christ
Is Jesus so irritated by his disciple’s response—and the fact they don’t have a place to get something to eat and stay the night—that the Lord starts berating people he meets along the road.
One poor guy walks right into Jesus’ irritable mood. He actually comes up to Jesus and commits his life to him. “I will follow you wherever you go.” That is kind of a big deal, but Jesus doesn’t welcome him in or commend him, he comes back with this sarcastic answer. Basically running the guy off.
The next two people he meets are belittled for their lack of commitment, chastised for not dropping all their family obligations and following him.
The Hardest Question
Why doesn’t Jesus let the guy who wants to follow him follow him and leave the ones that don’t alone?
Is this text about the capriciousness of the Christ when it comes to gathering disciples, about his insight into the motivation of his would-be followers, or an illustration of the tension and misplaced anger that can come with making the decision to begin the journey that will surely (surly?) end in his death?
[THQ Flashback: TheHardestQuestion has just made its first lap on the RCL. Check out what Russell thought of this text back in 2010.]
Russell Rathbun is a preacher at House of Mercy in St. Paul, Minnesota, the author of Midrash on the Juanitos (Cathedral Hill Press, 2010) and the curator of The Hardest Question.
