Keep Jesus, or Keep Looking?

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 and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and 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, and 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 and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and 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 and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

“Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”  NO?  Oh, wait, I’m not talking about the Samaritans this time, Lord.  There are actually only about 800 Samaritans left in the whole world these days because even after you said “NO!” to the fire from heaven, all sorts of people still went after them… Jewish people, Crusading Christian people, the Byzantine people, Arab people… basically everyone went after them.   

So Lord, just to be clear, I’m NOT asking to rain fire from heaven down on the SAMARITANS.  No, no, no… I’ve got a NEW list!  So?  How about it, Lord?  Some fire from heaven for the folks on the NEW list?  Just so you know, THESE people are PARTICULARLY awful.  They start wars, they terrorize people, they do the opposite of welcoming the foreigner, they want to take food and healing away from the elderly, the poor, and the vulnerable.  They lie all the time.  I mean ALL THE TIME!  Like I said, Lord, the people on this new list are really, really PARTICULARLY awful.  So, how about it?  Can I command some fire to rain down from heaven on them?  No?  Really?  Is the list too long?  How about just the top dozen?  No?  Still too many?  Just five then?  One?  I mean this one… is… OUCH!  Is it the timing?  Now just isn’t a good time? (pause) Okay, how about now then?

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting the distinct impression that Jesus doesn’t want us to rain fire down from heaven on ANY BODY at ANY TIME for ANY REASON!?  But I’ve got a list of people who really NEED to be consumed by fire from heaven and the sooner the better!  Don’t look at me like that.  You’ve got a list too and if our lists were a Venn Diagram it would pretty much be one, single, circle!  A single circle Venn Diagram of horribleness!  

Well then, if Jesus isn’t into fire from heaven, is Jesus really the Messiah we want to keep?  What do you think?  Should we keep looking?  Try to find a Messiah that will let us rain fire down on the people we want consumed?  Look for a Messiah that works on our timeline toward OUR agenda?  Should we keep looking for a Messiah that isn’t so particular about wanting a full time commitment… seems pretty clingy, really… maybe one that allows us to take a break from following from time to time?  So, keep looking for a Messiah like THAT… or are we going to stay with Jesus as our Messiah?   

Because if Jesus is going to be our Messiah, there is apparently NOT going to be any raining of fire from heaven on anybody… ever, even when the people on our list really are PARTICULARLY horrible.  If Jesus is going to be our Messiah, then it looks like Jesus is ALWAYS going to drive the agenda and we’ll always just go wherever he goes.  If Jesus is going to be our Messiah… 100% full time seems to be the only option and if Jesus is going to be our Messiah, it looks like there are to be no days off and no breaks even when we’re super tired!  

If all of that sounds like having Jesus as our Messiah would be REALLY hard, there’s a reason for that.  It's because having Jesus as our Messiah IS…  REALLY HARD!  You heard St. Paul, “it’s no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me.”  I NO LONGER LIVE!  That’s really hard!  Most people honestly prefer “Living”… over “No Longer Living” after all.  So, keep Jesus… or keep looking?

Everybody in this Gospel story wanted to keep looking.  The Samaritans wanted a Messiah that was headed to THEIR holy mountain.  The disciples wanted a “fire from heaven” Messiah.  The guys along the road wanted a Messiah of their own creation.  Folks still, to this day, all too often seem to keep looking for a Messiah of their own creation… one that loves who they love and hates who they hate… one who doesn’t ask too much and doesn’t call us out of our comfort zone.  

But the Messiah we’ve been given IS Jesus.  Jesus, who demands we “Love our Enemies”.  Jesus, who calls us to COME AND DIE to ourselves and live in love fully for the other.  Jesus, who calls us to care for the least, the lost, and the last, risking everything in the process.  The Messiah we’ve been given is the Jesus who showed us with his life… that the Jesus Way of living… this sacrificial way of love, kindness, generosity and radical inclusion... is THE way to an Abundant and Eternal Life.  

So that’s the long way round to the one question this Gospel lesson is asking us, isn’t it?  Will we embrace the Messiah we’ve been given, who does not do vengeance and has a very difficult and demanding WAY… OR will we, like the Gerasenes did last week… like the Samaritans did this week… like so, so many throughout the ages who embrace lies, violence, greed, and the demonization of the other have done and continue to do… will we like them, send Jesus away and continue to look for a Messiah of our own creation?  That’s the question.  Not just the question we get in this lesson once every three years either, but the question we must wrestle with each and every day of our lives.  Will we keep Jesus as our Messiah… or will we too send Jesus away and keep looking?  Amen.