29 Jun Sermon – Sunday, June 29, 2025
The very first line tells us what frame of mind Jesus is in. He has his mind made up, his mind is focused on what lies ahead. He knows that the days are drawing near when he will be taken up, so he’s headed to Jerusalem to complete his mission.
In fact, Jesus has been on a mission since birth, but now he’s laser focused. Everything he says reflects his determination to bring about the kingdom of God. He wants others to get ready, too, so he sends messengers ahead to Samaria.
Samaria is a place where descendants of the Israelites who were left behind after the Assyrian conquest practiced their own version of Judaism [ritual practices and worship] on Mount Gerizim rather than at the temple in Jerusalem. They believed Moses had chosen Mount Gerizim as the holiest religious site and chose the Torah also known as the five Books of Moses as their only scripture. Historically, there was mutual animosity and prejudice between Israelites and Samaritans rooted in disputes over the correct place of worship, ethnic purity, religious practices and the criteria of scripture.” *
Who were the Samaritans in the Bible and who are they today? — FIRM Israel.
On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus sent messengers ahead to Samaria in an attempt to make ready for him. But the Samaritans weren’t ready for him. They weren’t ready to accept Jesus as God’s messenger instead of Moses. But even knowing that was the case, Jesus wanted to give the Samaritans a chance. Imagine if the Samaritans had welcomed, accepted or received him. How might the West Bank look different today had persons of Jewish descent welcomed, accepted or received him. But they did not because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
That fact, in and of itself, told the Samaritans what they were interested in knowing. If Jesus wasn’t on board with them, they weren’t interested in buying what Jesus was selling. And when James and John became so angry that they wanted to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, Jesus wanted none of that.
His only desire was to give the Samaritans, as a people, a chance to welcome, accept or receive him as he passed them by one final time. After all, there had been that woman at the well, and the Good Samaritan who helped that guy who’d been beaten on the road, and that one leper out of ten who returned after being healed to give thanks.
Before he died, Jesus said that once his followers receive the Holy Spirit, they shall witness to him in Jerusalem, in all Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth. “Christianity expands after the martyrdom of Stephen when Philip goes to Samaria to preach and perform miracles, leading to the conversion of many Samaritans.” * Jesus didn’t give up on the Samaritans just because they refused him.
Then they go on to another village, where along the road, someone says to Jesus, “I will follow wherever you go.” Here someone offers the complete opposite reaction to Jesus’ presence. They demonstrate blanket acceptance, they hand over a blank check, as it were, to follow Jesus wherever he goes.
But Jesus replies, “Not so fast. Do you realize that to follow me means that you will have nowhere to lay your head? Unlike foxes and birds who make a home which suits their needs and is of their liking, you will have no such thing for even I have nowhere to lay my head.
To follow Jesus is to have no claim to satisfy one’s needs or preferences. In fact, one must relinquish the right to do as one would naturally do. Jesus approaches the next person and says, “Follow me.” But they wish to first go and bury their father. We don’t know if their father would die years from then or was dead already, but in any case, wanting to go and bury their father would delay them from following Jesus for a full year’s time, the time it took to bury someone and then as was Jewish custom, collect the bones in an ossuary for final burial.
No one really knows what Jesus meant by saying, “Let the dead bury their own dead,” but he does say that he wants that one to go and proclaim the kingdom of God. That’s Jesus’ main concern, furthering the kingdom of God.
Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me say farewell to those at my home.” What’s the big deal here? Elisha got to return to his home, kiss his mother and father goodbye and then feed his neighbors twelve oxen roasted medium well over a pit of burning wooden yokes.
We know Elisha had his hand to the plow, was driving oxen in a field and looked back. Why was he fit for the kingdom of God, but not so one who made a similar request?
Think about the urgency Jesus feels in the moment. He’s trying to communicate that time is of the essence. His time on earth is running out. He knows how people are. They say one thing to your face and are full of good intentions, but given the chance to back out, they often do.
They might say they will do thus and so, as Charles Stanley used to say, but then something else comes along, they get distracted or change their minds. They think twice, think harder or better of what they agree to, feel pressure and end up making promises they just can’t keep.
Here’s where Psalm 16 comes into play. We must pray for help to keep our word, ask for God to remind us of who we are and what we must do, not just so we please God, but so that we will be satisfied with our portion and lot. So that we realize that our boundaries enclose a pleasant land and a rich inheritance. That the Lord gives us counsel and makes our heart to teach us night after night.
Set the Lord always before you. God is at your right hand, so that you shall not be shaken. Therefore, your heart is glad, your spirit rejoices, your body shall rest in hope. For God will not abandon you to the grave, nor let his holy one see the pit. The Lord God will show you the path of life; where in his presence there is fullness of joy and in whose right hand are pleasures forevermore.
This is what Jesus offers to those who welcome or follow him along with language which doesn’t sugarcoat the reality of hardship and suffering. God knows that it is hard to leave the familiar for the unknown, to volunteer and risk loss, to step out of one’s comfort zone and take chances. These are things experienced by God himself when Jesus leaves heaven bound for earth and becomes human to suffer and die like one of us so that we can live forgiven and free.
As Paul says, “We are set free.” Like the oxen, we are relieved of the yoke which bound us to sin and forced us to work as slaves to self-indulgence. Paul doesn’t name sins of the flesh to shame his listeners or readers, but merely to identify those things that enslave us. There are no limits to fleshly desires, they never stop or are satisfied by indulging them. They cause you to want more and become all consuming. He warns against things that bring temporary pleasure, power or escape because they are traps.
Nothing will free us but love for our neighbors as ourselves, one single commandment meant to summarize all of the other laws. Led by the Spirit, we will live by the Spirit, and not seek to supply our own sources of gratification. Following Jesus doesn’t mean complete abstinence from those things given by God which satisfy, only those which cause harm to us personally or between us persons.
Think about the things Paul mentions, in every example, the person is out of control. They are pursuing things to their detriment. Their behavior causes conflict. It disrespects others, degrades and weakens the status of every human being. They are the antithesis to how God wishes to establish his kingdom on earth and in heaven.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things, because laws exist to insure the common good and to practice these virtues do the very same thing, insure the common good.
Finally, Paul reminds us that those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, to live and be guided by the Spirit. If we do not claim what Paul reminds us of, passions and desires will continually seek the upper hand and attempt to dictate your behavior.
Laws try to dictate our behavior, but obeying every one of them proves difficult. That’s why the provision given by God to be guided by the Holy Spirit is essential, especially for those attempting to follow Christ. Our natural tendency is to follow personal leanings and do what satisfies us. Following Christ isn’t meant to be a battle of the wills: our will versus God’s will.
Following Christ is a way of life that produces the fruits of the Spirit. I don’t know about you, but when I try to produce the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control using my own willpower, I fail miserably.
Outwardly, I may manage to perform rightly, but inwardly, there’s a part of me that resents not suiting myself as desired or having to always be oriented toward others rather than simply indulging myself. At my core, human beings want what they want when they want it.
It’s a fact that applies not only to those in helping professions or in caregiving roles, but to most people with the exception of those who derive self worth from being needed and those genuinely oriented to be unselfish.
If the truth be told, I think it explains why society is so consumer-oriented, why many of us eat or shop more than we should, look for other ways to make ourselves feel better, try to escape reality or responsibility, or fantasize about alternatives to the life we lead.
Let us pray, shall we? Show us the path of life, O Lord, and protect us from running after that which will not satisfy. Give us the desire to accept your counsel. Teach our hearts to find gladness in acknowledging your goodness and becoming more aware of your presence. Make our bodies, hearts and minds be satisfied with our portion and rejoice, having found pleasure and rest in you. In your holy name we pray, Amen.
*Who were the Samaritans in the Bible and who are they today? — FIRM Israel.