Fifth Sunday After Pentecost

July 1, 2007

Jesus has set his face towards Jerusalem. He is moving towards the cross. He knows his time among his disciples is short. It is time to prepare them for continuing his ministry. It is time to make sure that they have their priorities straight.

And maybe it is time that we do the same thing. So many of us live such busy lives, with so many demands being made on our time, on our attention. In the hustle and bustle of our lives, few of us probably have an opportunity to take an honest look at our own priorities.

What are the most important things in your life? What are your priorities? Take a few moments to think about that question. Be honest. What aspects of your life would you list as a high priority? Family? Friends? Relationships? Job? God? Good health? Happiness?

Juggling all these things can be quite difficult sometimes. And every once in awhile, we probably get them mixed up. Our child needs our attention, but the priority of the job wins out. Our friend needs our help, but family commitments keep us from offering the help they need. The doctor tells us we must lose some weight, but that extra bowl of ice cream makes us happy.

How do we sort out all of these priorities?

Jesus disciples seemed to have the same problem. They were struggling with how to fit being a follower of Jesus into their own priority system. Maybe by looking at Jesus response to their struggle, we can get some insight into how to sort out our own priorities.

First, we have Jesus being rejected by the people of a Samaritan village. In response, the disciples want to bring down fire from heaven and destroy them.

There’s some history behind this. The Samaritans and the Jews had been feuding for some time. Their disagreement had to do with, among other things, where the holiest place in Israel was. The Samaritans claimed it was Mount Gerizim. The Jews claimed it was Jerusalem. The Samaritans were descended from the Northern kingdom of Israel. The Jews came from the Southern kingdom of Judah. After both kingdoms were conquered and taken into exile, when remnants returned to Israel, the Jews claimed that the Samaritans had inter married with their captors, making their blood line unclean. Similar derogatory accusations were made by the Samaritans regarding the Jews. Even though both groups claimed to be sons of Abraham, there was much animosity between them.

Because Jesus was headed for Jerusalem, the false temple, according to the Samaritans, they wanted nothing to do with them. The disciples, who are all devout Jews, are outraged. Let’s zap them all with holy fire, they suggest.

How does Jesus respond? Let it go. Drop your high priority on what is pure and what is not. We have no time for family feuds. If you’re going to walk with me, let go of your religious bias.

This is our first lesson on reordering our priorities. We are to avoid breaking people up into our group versus their group. There is no us and them. All are children of God. And if others reject us, and even despise us, we do not respond in kind. That only perpetuates the divisions. We let it go, and move on.

Next they meet a potential disciple along the road who tells Jesus he will follow him wherever he goes. Jesus responds by telling him that "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." As Jesus heads for Jerusalem, where Pilate and the cross await him, there’s no time for creature comforts. In a crisis, our happiness has to take a lower priority. To be a follower of Jesus, to give the kingdom of God a high priority, is going to be uncomfortable sometimes.

Then they encounter a man who wants to bury his father before following Jesus. Jesus responds by saying, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

That sounds pretty harsh, doesn’t it? Add to it the next encounter, in which a potential follower wants to say good bye to his family before joining Jesus. What is Jesus response? "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

I think it is important that we try to wrap our heads around what Jesus is saying here. When in the midst of a crisis, what will be our priorities?

In a crisis, it is so very important that we stay in the present moment. The temptation is to be drawn into regretting the past or fretting about the future. Once you have made a decision, let go of the past. Let the dead bury the dead. Dwelling on the past will only cloud your thinking and keep you from moving forward on the path you have chosen.

When it comes to our relationship with God, it is critical that we remain in this present moment. Because it is only in this present moment that we encounter the living God.

We are each invited to walk with Jesus, to become his disciple. No one is to be forced to make this journey, but it is an opportunity which must be seized no matter what the costs involved. It is the way to eternal life, not only for ourselves, but for everyone. This needs to be a high priority in our lives.

These encounters with Jesus from this morning’s gospel can help us set our priorities. But they should not be seen as demands. They represent a sense that important things are happening every day of our lives and we must seize the opportunities while they are still available. Today’s opportunities will never return.

Will we continue to mix up our priorities? Will we still make a wrong decision once in awhile? Will we still freeze up in a moment of crisis? Most likely. After all, we are only human.

But here’s the exciting part of being a follower of Jesus. Once we say yes to God, and agree to walk in the way that god has revealed to us through Jesus Christ, something miraculous happens. We begin to be transformed from the inside out. God, who dwells within us, begins to adjust our priorities. We become a new creation.

And that is where we find our hope. Left to our own devices, most likely we will continue to make the wrong calls and be less than we want to be. Our trust is not that we will be able to trust our own priorities. Our trust is in God, who will reorder those priorities.

That’s what I have experienced in my life. Left on my own, I can be a pretty selfish person. I am my first priority. That attitude got me in a lot of trouble in my younger years. But over time, God working within me has slowly transformed my own self-centeredness.

That spiritual transformation still has to struggle with my human nature. Someone drops in at the office here. I’m late for a meeting and have a phone call to make before I can go. I really don’t have time for this person. So I only half listen to what they are saying. But then something within me whispers “Pay attention.” And, usually, not always, but when I’m open to God’s spirit, I make time, I shift my priorities. There is a child of God before me who is in crisis. I have to let go of everything else.

Let go of the family feuds. Let go of the past. Be in this present moment, and allow God to set your priorities. Let us put our trust in God to transform us from the inside out. Let us be followers of Jesus, and together work to transform the world.