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June 30 2019
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The LORD said to Elijah:
"You shall anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah,
as prophet to succeed you."
Elijah set out and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat,
as he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen;
he was following the twelfth.
Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him.
Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said,
"Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,
and I will follow you."
Elijah answered, "Go back!
Have I done anything to you?"
Elisha left him, and taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them;
he used the plowing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh,
and gave it to his people to eat.
Then Elisha left and followed Elijah as his attendant.
Brothers and sisters:
For freedom Christ set us free;
so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters.
But do not use this freedom
as an opportunity for the flesh;
rather, serve one another through love.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement,
namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
But if you go on biting and devouring one another,
beware that you are not consumed by one another.
I say, then: live by the Spirit
and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh.
For the flesh has desires against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh;
these are opposed to each other,
so that you may not do what you want.
But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
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."
After the great round of celebrations – Lent in preparation for Easter through to Pentecost and its follow-up, we return to Luke's teaching on what it means to be disciples of Jesus
In the second part of today's gospel selection, Luke has a couplet (same found in Matthew 8:19-22) about what happened when two potential disciples turned up. Usually we just see a hard life, like that of the homeless and without a family. That is the stuff of vocation pamphlets and recruiting programs, but I think there is more to it.
The first volunteer says he's ready to go wherever it takes him, no conditions. Jesus tells him it means he'll be homeless! He'll be as vulnerable as a back packer with none of the securities we take as essential.
But I have to wonder what exactly this means, because in the gospels there is no indication that Jeshua and the disciples slept rough every night and lived wild; that was John the baptist. Jeshua enjoyed hospitality, willingly offered in a culture where it was an honour to have a wandering prophet or rabbi stay in the house. There were also women who provided for them; some must have been women of means and influence. So what is this 'nowhere to lay his head'?
The emphasis is not on the ascetic side of it, as if he took on punishing poverty for its own sake, but on the freedom of it. He did not belong anywhere. He didn't have a home and office to work from; not even a base camp. He had no particular social standing let alone social security. When the crunch came Jeshua had no civil rights and no right to appeal the rulings of biased judges. Being homeless is a metaphor for being powerless.
Apply these things to the disciple today: the standard is not about living hard, or making a show of a life at odds with normal standards. It is about being free. Disciples will not join groups just for the leverage membership would give them. Their modus operandi will be to speak truth, to encourage and to offer sensitive critique of every member and branch of their society.
Their only identity is the one Jeshua has: “Sent by the Father, Anointed One, Word of God”.
Or, in our real language, "Someone who understands you and helps you because we have the same Father."
The mission is not to feed all the hungry in the world, but to say to the those in power: “The people need bread! Provide for them!” It is not to cure all the sickness of humanity, but to say over and over: “The sick person, the crippled person, those with mental and physical disabilities, those of such different make-up they are rejected: all these are our sisters and brothers and we will embrace them with healing love.” Nor is the disciple's mission to create a 'Just Society'; people have to do that themselves, with their different contributions. Jeshua's job is to proclaim justice, and to keep on stirring society's conscience until people begin to see the truth.
The mission of Jeshua is to speak, to proclaim the healing Word in caring for everyone around. It is not a mission to lead a violent revolution or to gain influence in the halls of power. His mission is to be a sign. It is already contained in his name 'Jeshua': God saves, and in his title 'Messiah': anointed by Yahweh, empowered by God, filled with Spirit. His mission is to speak the truth with love.
Pope Francis insists this proclaiming is not 'preaching at' but 'talking with'. The buzz word is dialogue.
* * * * *
The second man was called personally by Jeshua, but he asks for a few days' grace while he goes off to his father's funeral. It does not make any sense to say Jeshua responded to this request with an insult. Luke perhaps felt this could happen, so he added a third example which, with its mention of ploughing, sends us straight back to Elisha (as in today's first reading). That young man too wanted to say goodbye to the family and apparently Elijah saw this as not good enough – or is there something else here?
I think in Elisha's case and in this one in the gospel, it was more about 'The Family' than about the intimate relationship of parents and children. The Family as an institution often claims to own the children.
Elisha's family were wealthy, and therefore influential. Twelve yoke of oxen in a row ploughing the field! That is a big operation, a multi-million dollar concern, big enough to allow the family to set the price of grain for the district, perhaps for the whole country. As they grew they would have absorbed many small land-holdings and captured local and national markets It was only proper that Elisha give notice and tender his resignation,but for Elijah priority lay in God's call, and the business was to be left manage as best it could.
By referring us to this background story Luke is saying that his man was not just concerned to be there for mum as they buried dear old dad. His father was a patriarch, a padrone, perhaps head of the clan, and that's the institution Jesus declared to be, in terms of the kingdom of God, dead. How you might interpret 'family' in our world is a question to work on.
* * * * *
One way comes to mind. The church community currently is divided into those who have left by determined choice, those who just don't go any more, those who are working in theoretical and practical ways to develop a new style of church, and those who stay - the 10% faithfully attending Mass, as dedicated as ever to putting their heart into parish life. For many the parish community is like a family; for some it is their family.
Among these some may be called to leave it behind them and take a new way in the new conditions of the world, but it's a tough call to tear oneself away from this family which at some level is more dear than home itself. In fact there is nothing wrong, and a lot right, with staying faithful to the old way, as long as it's not merely a blind emotional tie. We might think about Paul's injunction (second reading) to live by the spirit, and to recognise that the 'flesh', the 'ego', the 'natural' way of thinking may be opposed to the spirit's way. There's a curious inversion when you compare the natural family and the community family of believers.
While the natural family runs its course, the kids grow up and leave home, the parents enter quietly into the third age and gently retire from life, and it's a smooth transition; each generation just runs down and literally dies out. On the other hand, the parish family goes in the opposite direction. It binds you deeper in as you grow. It involves you progressively more as you become closer to each other and your needs become greater. I wonder if, perhaps, older people are called to become independent, and to develop their freedom in living their spiritual lives in their own way. There are signs among those I know that the progressive thinkers are to be found in this older group, while younger people cling to a narrow view and naturally look for security in the old customs and traditions.
We have said above that what applies to one applies to the community as a whole, the ecclesia, the 'church'. To have no home. To have no power of political influence. To be free to be all things to everyone. It's hard to recognise these qualities today. Hard to see Jeshua in today's church, very securely housed in the cathedrals and the parishes, ruled by the priests. Hard to see how it has its mission right when its method is so far removed from the gospel standard. Hard to say it is filled with the spirit of Jeshua, let alone have a claim to identity with Jeshua – saviour, anointed one, sign-presence of Yahweh saving this world with power.
Homeless, and free of commitment to factions or power brokers, the community of believers will avoid dictating standards to others. It will dialogue towards mutual understanding; then the Spirit can work on weaving its web of harmony.
Disciples who want to put on the cloak of the prophet Jeshua will not use the position they hold nor the prestige and influence their family name can provide. They will have nothing in their tool kit but God's message of love. And they will, themselves, be the message, as Jeshua is the message. You are the presence of the healing, comforting, enlightening God in your small world. And the Spirit flows from your heart as a warm fire of love – as we find in Luke 12:49-50:
I've come to set the world on fire and I wish it were lit already.
But there's a baptising I've got to go through,
a bath that will be both testing and purifying,
and I'm under pressure till it's done.
And again in John 7:38-39:
He who believes in me, as the scripture has said,
'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'