In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Please be seated.
The language that Luke uses
in today’s gospel text
is not an accident.
When he says,
“He set his face to go to Jerusalem,”
he’s communicating a resolve.
Jesus knows
that it’s time for him to be taken up —
taken up on the cross
and later taken up at the Ascension.
This is an allusion to Isaiah 50,
where the suffering servant says,
“I set my face like flint.”
The route Jesus takes to Jerusalem
which we’ll be hearing for the next few months
is a wandering one,
not unlike the path of following Jesus
as his disciple.
Nevertheless,
Jesus knows what will happen
and that he participates in it.
His going to Jerusalem to be taken up
is going to Jerusalem
to confront the leaders.
Jesus’ and his followers
are already seen as potentially subversive,
seen as potential enemies of the empire.
That’s what he’s charged with
when he’s ultimately put to death.
Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem
and his disciples follow him…
if they’re willing.
Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem
knowing that conflict awaits him
and that doing the will
of God who sent him
is the only path he can take.
Whether because of the tensions
between Jews and Samaritans —
or that harboring subversives
is asking for trouble
when you’re already on the fringes of the fringes —
Jesus is rejected in the Samaritan village
we hear about today.
This week Samuel Alito,
in not so many words,
said that the existence of my family
is pornographic.
The Supreme Court ruled that parents
get to dictate curriculum
based on their religious beliefs —
and seeing the existence of people
that they just wish didn’t exist —
somehow violates the exercise of their religion.
On the same day
the court ruled that judges were going too far
in limiting the power of the president —
which somehow hasn’t been a problem
until the president is trying
to delete the plain text of the constitution
about citizenship
with an executive order.
Here at St. Hilda St. Patrick
I haven’t seen most of you
in three weeks!
Sanctuary of Sound seems to have gone well,
and Kathleen and Dawn and Kim
are busy building connections with Goshen
and looking at concrete steps toward growth.
To bring our budget into a more balanced state,
if our people and pledges don’t grow,
everyone —
including Logan and Finny and Topher —
would need to pledge
about $4,100 for next year.
That’s per person,
not household!
After talking with people who’ve been taken by ICE,
CalMatters opened their report with these words:
“The masked agents pull up quickly.
They jump out of unmarked vans or trucks.
They wear blue jeans or battle fatigues.
They approach Latino men,
at times yelling and carrying assault rifles.
When someone runs,
they’re taken.
When they don’t answer a question,
they’re taken.
When they can’t produce papers,
they’re taken.”
It doesn’t take a lot of imagination
to feel wearied
by the cares and occupations of this life.
Weariness is not what Jesus promises,
but following Jesus
does not poof away
the cares and occupations
of this life.
I can’t imagine how frustrated
the disciples must have been
to offer calling down fire
on the Samaritan village
because they didn’t want this group of Jews,
this group of subversives,
staying the night and eating.
Jesus has been transfigured
and faces rejection by outsiders
just like facing rejection by his hometown
not long after his baptism.
But Jesus was planning to bring good news
to an even bigger group!
His grace is too big for racial and ethnic distinctions
and it’s certainly too big to rain down fire
for people asking him to move along.
So Jesus rebukes the disciples
and they move along.
Jesus’ face is set toward Jerusalem,
and he’ll confront the powers and principalities of this world
by going somewhere else.
Following Jesus
does not poof away
the cares and occupations
of this life.
As people offer to follow him
Jesus tells them that the time to follow
is now.
He’s not asking of them — or us —
anything he’s been unwilling
to do himself.
He has no place to lay his head;
he asks them
to leave those not following him
to bury their own dead;
he tells them
that there’s no time for goodbyes.
Elisha is able to tell his parents farwell
in our lesson from the Hebrew Scriptures today.
Jesus’ disciples don’t get such a reprieve.
The time to act and the time to follow,
is now.
I’ve seen in you
how through God’s grace
we’ve set our face toward Jerusalem.
Our Sanctuary Task Force
is making us be prepared
for the ways we may be called
to confront the evils of empire
if they come knocking on our door.
The urgency they’ve had
is hearing Jesus’ call
to let the dead bury the dead
while those who have life
have to share life.
The choice to actively work to grow
is rejecting the powers of this world
that seek to kill, steal, and destroy.
The bubbling up to observe Pride
at Evening Prayer and Potluck
and flying a flag out front this month
tells the world
that God’s love is big enough for all of us,
and God won’t be raining down fire
on those he’s come to save.
Yesterday NPR reported,
“Around 100,000 people
defied a government ban and police orders on Saturday
to march in what organizers called
the largest LGBTQ+ Pride event in Hungary’s history
in an open rebuke
of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government.”
My friend Rob,
posting from the Netherlands,
said this about the march,
“As hundreds of thousands of people
from across the continent and beyond
gather in Budapest,
we’re reminded that even when light, hope and love
seem to be being suffocated
by darkness, despair and hate,
they still remain and will burst forth.
We were here, we are here, and we’ll always be here.”
That’s what setting our faces,
following Jesus wherever he leads
and being strengthened by his defeat
of death itself
looks like.
That’s what it looks like
because Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death
and upon those in the tombs
bestowing life.
Amen.