Proper
8 :: I Kings 19: 15–16, 19–21; Psalm 16; Galatians 5: 1, 13–25; Luke 9: 1–62
This
is a homily prepared for St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene
Tucker, to be given on Sunday, June 30, 2019.
“PRIORITIES:
GOD’S AND OURS”(Homily texts: I Kings 19: 15–16, 19–21 & Luke 9: 51-62)
As
is often the case as we make our way through the season of Pentecost (called,
in some traditions, “Ordinary Time”), we are offered the choice of two different
Old Testament readings. We are also offered choices in the Psalm texts that are
appointed.
Informally
known as “Track One” and “Track Two”, at least one of the appointed Old
Testament passages often has some common thread which ties them, thematically,
to the Gospel text.
The
tie which connects the call of the prophet Elisha in our Old Testament reading
from I Kings 19 to the calls issued by Jesus to two different (unidentified)
persons in Luke, chapter nine, is the reaction of those called to the calls
which were given to them. In each case, God’s priorities take precedence over
the priorities and the former life of those called.
Let’s
explore this common thread.
We
begin with the call of Elisha.
The
prophet Elijah’s time of ministering for the Lord is about to draw to a close.
The time has come for someone else to assume those responsibilities (notice
that Elijah casts his mantle over Elisha….perhaps it is from this act that the
phrase “assuming the mantle” has come into our everyday speech).
Once
Elisha has been called into God’s service, he says to Elijah, “Let me kiss my
father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” Elijah allows him to leave
and bid his parents goodbye.
Now,
let’s turn our attention to the Gospel text before us this morning.
Here,
we see that a Samaritan village refused to receive Jesus. (Luke tells us,
somewhat mysteriously I think, that the reason for this refusal was because
Jesus was on a mission to go to Jerusalem.)
Then,
along the way to Jerusalem, two persons encounter Jesus, and a call to serve
the Lord ensues. To the one, Jesus says, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the
air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another, He
says, “Follow me.” But the one approached replies, “Lord, let me first go and
bury my father.” Then, we hear Jesus’ response, which has become another common
saying in our everyday speech: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks
back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Here
we see the common thread: A call to
serve the Lord involves a change in one’s life. Something new will replace what
existed beforehand.
That
said, something different can be seen in the call of Elisha and the calls that
Jesus offered: Elisha tells Elijah that
he needs to go home and “tidy up” his relationships with his parents. Elijah
allows this to happen. But, as part of that “tidying up” process, Elisha
destroys those things that were his means of making a living (the plow and the
oxen who pulled it) before God’s call came to him. For Elisha, then, there is
no going back to his former life. It is gone.
Gone,
too, are the former ways of living when the calls that Jesus offered to these
two unnamed persons is made. To the one, Jesus says that God’s call to ministry
will be an itinerant one, one which will involve constantly being on the move
from one place to another. To the other, Jesus says that all former ties with
family, place and background are part of one’s former life. Those things which existed prior to the
giving of the call have now been superseded by this new life of service to God.
It
is easier for us to identify with the circumstances of Jesus’ ministry, and the
ministries of the original band of followers who were called into God’s service
with Him, than it might be for Old Testament figures like Elisha. As Jesus’
suffering, death, resurrection and ascension take place, these original
Disciples (the original twelve, minus Judas, plus Matthias, and then plus Paul
– a “Baker’s Dozen” Apostles) who will become Apostles will go out into the
world, carrying the Good News of what God has done in the sending of Jesus
Christ to take up our humanity.
Each
of these Apostles went out, engaging in an itinerant ministry, moving from place-to-place.
For many, all their former ties to family, place and background were superseded
by their new life in Christ. For them, there was no going back to their former
life. It was gone.
In
the New Testament, many calls to come into relationship with God the Father
through God the Son are recorded. Most all of these are what are now known as
conversion experiences by persons of mature years, that is, they were adult
confessions of faith. Sometimes, the response to the call was immediate. (It’s
worth noting, at this point, that we can see a variety of different paths to
faith in Christ among those who answered God’s call….there is no one, set way
in which people responded…..that’s an important thing for us to remember as we
invite those who do not have a relationship with the Lord into such a
relationship…there may be different ways in which people will respond.)
These
New Testament conversions often involved a complete severing of ties to family,
place and background. That new relationship with Christ
meant that the Church became these new converts’ family. In the age in which we
live, much the same dynamic can be in place: Coming to faith in Christ can mean
that the Church will become that new Christian’s family. In some cases,
conversion to Christ may cause estrangement or distancing from one’s family and
former friends. In other cases, those who come to faith in Christ may not live
anywhere close to the place they came from.
The
radical welcome that the early Church offered new Christians was one reason for
its growth: That early Church offered a new way to live, a new relationship
with God, a new value to one’s life, and a new community which offered genuine
love, care and support.
We,
today, the Church, are called to do the same.
AMEN.
