On second thought, I think I’ll follow that other guy...

Luke 9:51-62

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James & John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven & consume them?" But he turned & rebuked them. Then they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, & birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go & bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go & proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow & looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

“His face was set to go to Jerusalem.”

That seems to be the problem, doesn’t it?

Not for the Samaritans.

For us.

Then and now, we have a problem with Jesus “because his face was set toward Jerusalem.”

I want to follow, but I want to follow on my terms.

I don’t think we’ll ever know what to do with that “let the dead bury their dead” part of the story - but maybe one thing one might do would be to point out that it is there, and it does seem to get in the way of enjoying this week’s text, and maybe that’s good. 

Or at least maybe that helps get to the heart of the matter. 

I just heard an interesting story from my . . . (She’s not a barber, and I don’t have enough hair to call her a stylist.) . . . hair cutter person.

I don’t know how we got there. But she talked about some priest she knew, or met, or heard speak, who served a community in Africa. Some people came to him, asking that he care for someone who was dying.

Though he was not in the mood to do so, he walked the ten miles to their village, said last rites and all, and the man died. He turned to someone there and asked, “Was this your father?”

The answer “No.” 

“Whose father was he?” 

Nobody knew. They had found him, and did not believe he should die alone. They then took up a collection in this impoverished community to be able to bury him properly.

Let the living care for those they don’t even know.

"I will follow you wherever you go."

“His face was set to go to Jerusalem.”

We’re off to the cross. May God grant us the grace to carry that burden.

Dead Man Talking

Luke 7:11-17                                                                                                       Soon afterwards [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.  Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!” This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.  

Not preaching on this text on Sunday - but I will have to work with it a bit this week. 

I like this line, which I probably stole from somebody - one of you? I used it to open a sermon on this text a few years ago. . . 

"Tell me, do you think that Jesus raised this young man from the dead so that he could go on with the same old life?"

A good question. 
I wonder at what the dead man talked about. . . certainly not being dead. Certainly not about how being dead wasn't that bad. . . 
I do wonder though.

I closed the sermon with another good question. . . 

"So, tell me what you think.  Did Christ raise you from the dead so that you could live the same old life?  No, that really isn't possible, is it?"

to that we might say “amen”