Luke 9:51-62; Jesus' Mercifulness and Toughness

"When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53 but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. 54 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?’ 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 Then they went on to another village. 57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ 58 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.’ 59 To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ 60 But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ 61 Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ 62 Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’"

I. Introduction

This memorable passage signals a shift in Jesus' focus in the Gospel of Luke. Now Luke's interest is on his ultimate destiny-- offering himself up for human redemption in Jerusalem. In contrast to this theme, the focus in the earlier section of Luke, beginning with his sermon in 4:16, and the Galilean ministry (4:16-9:50), was on the "release" of the captives. Now the motifs are different, even if Jesus still "releases" people. Three of these motifs should be mentioned briefly. First is the emphasis on the outsiders as being outsiders no longer. The all-inclusive work of the Kingdom of God is to bring in the poor, lame, blind and maimed (14:13) or to "turn the tables" on the rich through the story of the rich man and Lazarus (16:19-31). A Samaritan is used as an example of the mercifulness that all disciples ought to demonstrate (10:25-37). The release of captives is now supplemented by the extension of the Kingdom to all, irrespective of social or religious position. Second is the stress on the obduracy or obtuseness of the disciples. They just don't seem to "get it." I think there is a theological reason for Luke's underscoring this point--people only "get it" when the Spirit descends on them on Pentecost. We need spiritual enlightenment and empowerment to understand and effect the work of Jesus. Third is the centrality of Jerusalem to the divine purposes. I noted in another context the presence of three straight uses of "Jerusalem" in 13:33-34. Jerusalem is thus the place where things will culminate; Jerusalem will also be the place from which the Gospel spreads to the rest of the earth. While Jesus was in Galilee he aroused opposition as well as support, but it was on a localized level. Now that he makes his way to the center of the Jewish world the stakes will be much higher, even though the reactions will be just as divided as in Galilee.

II. The Journey Theme

The theme of "journey" is paramount in this passage. While Jesus was moving around Galilee to heal and teach, in this passage we get the impression that he is moving through Samaria to Jerusalem. Using geometrical terminology, Jesus' movement has gone from a sort of circular to a straight line ministry. His heart is now set on Jerusalem. Indeed, the language used by Luke to describe how Jesus "set his face" to go to Jerusalem (9:51) is reminiscent of prophetic language, where the prophet of God also has to assume a stony and determined exterior because of the opposition he faces and the task of single-minded devotion to God (see Is. 50:7; Jer. 3:12; Ezek. 21:2).

Notice also the language especially in 9:51-57. The verb "to travel" or "to proceed" is used five times, the word "way" or "road" once and the word "depart" or "go" is used three times. Certainly Luke wants to have us believe that Jesus is now "moving along." To paraphrase Ecclesiastes 3, there is a time to stop to observe and help and a time to be moving along. Yet, this section of Luke's Gospel is not an ancient travelogue, as if the author wants to depict the sights and sounds of villages along the way to Jerusalem. We have a number of longer vignettes or stories as this section opens, but the "background" motif is that Jesus is "on the move." There is urgency and direction to his motion, even though he has time to deliver some of his most memorable parables and teaching in this section.

III. The Elijah/Elisha Theme

Other sections of the Gospels speak of Jesus as the Son of David or as someone "greater than Solomon." I like the advent hymn, "Hail to the Lord's anointed, great David's greater Son." Yet in this passage Luke is following up on another Biblical parallel, one that he has already hinted at in his transfiguration narrative (9:30) and that is the parallel of Jesus and Elijah. Yet, I suppose that "parallel" isn't the best word to describe what Luke is trying to show--In fact we have a twofold contrast between between Jesus and Elijah. First, the disciples want to call down fire from heaven against a Samaritan town that won't receive them. Elijah did this in II Kings 1 when the representatives of King Ahaziah failed to acknowledge the God of Israel. But instead of doing this, Jesus showed mercy. In Joel Green's words:

"In this case, Jesus' refusal to act according to the script provided by the ancient presentation of Elijah signals a serendipitous extension of clemency and mercy that will be matched both by the exemplary behavior of other Samaritans in the journey narrative (10:25-37; 17:11-19) and, in Acts, by the proclamation and reception of the message of the kingdom of God in Samaria (Acts 1:8; 8:5-26)," The Gospel of Luke, 406.

Then, the story of Elijah and Elisha is in the background of Luke 9:61-62. A person wants to follow Jesus but first bid the family adieu. This was precisely what Elisha wanted to do when Elijah called him to the path of discipleship in I Kings 19:19-21. Elijah permitted it, but Jesus doesn't seem to allow it here. Someone greater than Elijah is present, and the response to the call must be immediate and complete.

IV. The Nature of Discipleship (9:57-62)

The three stories of would-be disciples who were either turned aside or discouraged by Jesus have always alternatively confused and inspired me. I have been confused because the people who want to serve Jesus have said the right things (the verb "to follow" in v. 57 is the technical term for being a disciple) or will want to discharge their family responsibilities faithfully. Why would Jesus refuse them? Then, on the other hand, I have been inspired to think of this passage as the "total dedication" passage--a concept that is present in Luke's Gospel even more than some of the others (see, for example, Luke 14:26-27). We see examples of Jesus' mercifulness in not following the Elijah method in dealing with the Samaritans; we see an indication of his toughness in this passage, where no one, in fact, is really "worthy" to follow him. Social and familial conventions are of little value for Jesus now that his face is set on Jerusalem. Even those who know all the right words are discouraged from following him. Those who think that discipleship to Jesus is nothing other than thinly-baptized Americanism or an excuse to get in with a popular crowd have really not pondered this passage in Luke very thoroughly. In fact, I find this passage very hard to reconcile with being a "good" child.

In any case, we have a Jesus who doesn't mince words here. He is on a mission and really doesn't now want to be bothered with anyone other than those who are already with him on the journey. Sometimes focus takes over. That seems to be what is happening here.

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