1/6/2024 0 Comments Luke 9 51 56 sermon writer![]() ![]() In Luke’s gospel especially, Jesus’ mission is to reveal the hospitable love of God for all, even for those who rejected God’s Son. Rather than responding to their request, he simply went on to another village. They wanted Jesus to use his influence with God to ensure that they were punished. ![]() In this morning’s gospel reading, they react in a very hostile way to a Samaritan village that refused hospitality to Jesus and his disciples. On that occasion, Jesus brought them down to earth by asking them if they were willing to drink the cup he must drink, the cup of suffering. On one occasion they approached Jesus and asked him for the two best seats in his kingdom, one on his right and the other on his left. The disciples James and John, the sons of Zebedee, often show themselves in the gospels to have a very different mindset to that of Jesus. We too, at such times, can draw on the strength that the Lord gives us in prayer when we have to face into some difficulty journey. He went up the Mount of Transfiguration to pray. It is at such times that we can call upon the same resource that Jesus called upon, just before he set out on his journey to Jerusalem. At one level we do not want to make the journey, but at a deeper level we know we have to take it if we are to be true to our deepest calling. There are times in all our lives when we have to steel ourselves for some journey. The rejection he immediately receives from a Samaritan village is a foretaste of the bloodier rejection he will encounter in Jerusalem. Jesus knows that at the end of this journey, he will fall into the hands of sinful men. He has to steel himself for this journey, because, as he will say later in this gospel of Luke, Jerusalem is a city that has a reputation for killing prophets. Jesus has to resolutely take the road to Jerusalem. However, this will not be a joyful journey towards an encounter with God. In the gospel reading, Jesus sets out for the city of Jerusalem. As followers of the Lord, we believe that we are all on a pilgrimage, a life-long pilgrimage, towards the heavenly Jerusalem where we will see the Lord face to face. We are on a pilgrimage to a place that has somehow been touched by God. If you have had the opportunity and the privilege of going to the Holy Land, something of that same excitement takes hold of you. They go to entreat the Lord and to seek his favour. Not just the people of Israel, but nations of every language, want to go to Jerusalem because they have learnt that God is present there in the Temple. The first reading envisages a joyful journey to Jerusalem. (i) Tuesday, Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Timeīoth readings today are linked by the theme of the journey to Jerusalem. ![]()
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