Luke 9:51-62  You know the drill, read the Bible with me :). If you don’t have one handy, here’s a link!

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%209%3A51-62&version=NLT

Jesus was very literally a man on a mission.  He has work to do and he’s getting it done.  If you read the gospel Mark wrote, he is always saying things like, “the next morning” and “immediately” when he is talking about Jesus moving from place to place.  Luke seems also to portray Jesus as a driven man.  He sets out resolutely toward Jerusalem aware that time is marching and his days are numbered.  Samaria is directly on the way to Jerusalem so he sends people ahead to get things ready for his trip but the Samaritan’s didn’t want him to come.  

See, the Jews and Samaritans had history. They both claimed to worship God, but when the nation of Israel was divided into Israel and Judah, their kings had set up places of worship outside of Jerusalem to keep the people from returning to Jerusalem.  The temple was built in Jerusalem by King David’s son Solomon, before the split, and it was the centre of worship for all Jews.  Sacrifices were only to be made in the temple at Jerusalem, but the Samaritans claimed their worship sites were the ones God had ordained.  As religious disagreements often can, this got heated.  By Jesus’ day Jews and Samaritans hated each other and avoided one another.  And, of course, Samaria was en route to Jerusalem.  So around every important holiday the roads were full of Jews heading to Jerusalem because they believed that was the right place to worship.  The many annual pilgrimages were a slap in the face to the Samaritans.  So they responded with hostility.  They made the Jews unwelcome to the point that they would often walk days out of their way to avoid Samaria on their trips to Jerusalem.  But before you feel too bad for the Jews, remember they considered themselves objectively better than the Samaritans.  They treated Samaritans like second class citizens, decidedly beneath them.  The hate was mutual.  There were no good guys in this conflict.  

So when Jesus wasn’t welcomed to Samaria, it probably wasn’t personal.  He was just  considered another “high and mighty, holier than thou” Jew the Samaritans wanted nothing to do with.   

Regardless, James and John were known to have a bit of a temper.  They felt slighted by the Samaritan’s rejection which they would have no doubt experienced regularly.  But this time they were feeling powerful.  This time they were with Jesus and he was important (which made them feel important).  He was doing wild miraculous stuff all the time, so quite frankly, they didn’t have to put up with this Samaritan crap anymore.  I think it’s safe to assume they were eager to teach the Samaritans who was boss and that their indignation had very little to do with Jesus being disrespected.  

Of course Jesus responds as we have come to expect him to.  He stops, tells them off, and moves on.  Jesus is not in the “destroying people” business.  He is a healer and a reconciler.  It must have been frustrating to see how easily his disciples could forget that.  

Once again, I need to hold back from judging the disciples.  They are very much like us today.  I observe throughout history that people don’t really learn from being oppressed.  You see this pattern where a group of people who have suffered unjustly find the balance shifts, and suddenly they have power over their oppressors.  

So how do they respond?  Do they remember how it feels to be unjustly treated?  Do they work toward creating an environment that treats everyone with respect like they wished for when they were oppressed?  Nope!  They just enjoy the privilege of being the oppressors.  Sometimes people really stink.  We see it then.  We see it now.  Jesus is having none of it.

This passage also reminds me that, at this point, people had some big expectations of Jesus.  They had read that the Messiah would be a deliverer appointed by God to set them free. They wanted him to sweep in and crush their enemies and make Israel the most powerful nation on earth.  Even Jesus’ closest followers did not understand his true mission.

This is probably why he had so many people who wanted to be his followers.  Only they didn’t understand what that meant.  People would make these grand statements of allegiance to him. “I’ll follow you anywhere!”  This guy was probably hoping Jesus would lead him into victorious battle against the Romans.  But Jesus basically responds, You’ll follow me anywhere, but will you follow me nowhere?  You want to follow me into a palace, but I don’t even have a house here.  My kingdom is not what you are hoping for.  

He also called their bluff. He invited them to follow him to see how they would respond.  Think about it.  They are acting like he’s a future emperor, but when he says, “Follow me,” they start coming up with excuses why they can’t yet.  How well would that fly if he actually was emperor?  Honestly, Jesus sounds kind of harsh here, but he’s just helping them see their own hearts.  They are fair weather friends and they are waiting to see what the weather is going to be.  If Jesus meets expectation, and makes Israel the glory of the world, they want to be on that train.  But if he gets squashed in the attempt, they don’t want to be associated.  

Yikes, yet another opportunity for self-evaluation.  Do I quietly have restrictions on the places I will follow Jesus? Am I with him all the way, unless he asks too much? 

I’ll follow him anywhere!  But will I follow him nowhere?