Scripture Scribbles: June 26, 2022
the Gospel
Luke 9:51-62
When the days for Jesus’ being taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
“Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?”
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.
As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him,
“I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him,
“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
And to another he said, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
And another said, “I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”
To him Jesus said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”
the devotion
Wait, wait, wait!! Why so harsh? Why so dismissive? Today’s Gospel gets me right in the gut….I love reading the Word, I love unpacking the Word, but these verses? I’m reading this and I’m realizing, what do I love? I love verses like Matthew 11:28 “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Yes!! That, I can cozy up to! Or, Matthew 7:8 “For anyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” PERFECT! Love it!! But todays? Luke 9: 51-62…. Yikes! Let’s unpack it, Shall we?
It starts with Jesus heading towards Jerusalem (towards the cross). He knows what his future holds, He’s serious, this journey has begun and there is no turning back.
When James and John see that people are not welcoming Jesus, don’t you like their solution? “Want us to call down fire from Heaven to consume them?” At first this sounds nuts, but thinking how the world is today, aren’t many people calling down fire on others? Especially others who don’t think the same as us, or who don’t agree with us?
Instead of a conversation with two opinions, one just shuts the other down, the anger, the “fire” we see when people don’t agree, but Jesus rebukes this idea they have. He moves on. He is asking people, “Follow me?” and people are saying “Yes! I’ll follow you wherever you go….but first let me…” and the reasons they are giving are GOOD! Noble, responsible reasons. Reasons that are hard to argue with. Jesus seems unmoved by them. I feel like this is maybe Him saying, “Wake up!! I’m talking about Heaven here! Eternity, in Heaven, with God the Father…nothing of this earth is more important, nothing!”
I think this is where surrender comes in, this is where we leave it in Gods hands and follow Him. Can we intentionally surrender our life to Him? He didn’t come to destroy us. He came to save us. Can we trust Him… with everything? Reality is we are living on this earth right now, and we have our busy lives, with responsibilities, and I don’t think He is asking us to ignore our lives demands, but can we put Him in the center of our lives? Can everything we do stem out from our lives of Faith? If we love God and believe He made us and put people in our lives for us to encounter, won’t we love them more if we view them as a gift from God, our husbands, our children, even strangers? Can we start to see people, maybe the way God sees them?
Can we realize He is calling them too, to follow Him. We don’t know what chapter of their story they are living in. Maybe they are not ready to follow Jesus….yet. Maybe that is a few chapters away. So maybe we just walk along beside them, we don’t send fire, and we don’t shove, we just walk.
While we follow Jesus…all the way to the Cross.
Today’s devotion was written by Beth Brennan
