Luke 9:51\u201362 ESV – Bible Gateway<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n This begins a major section in Luke that is the beginning of the final journey to Jerusalem. He has set his face on this journey. A verse from the third servant song of Isaiah provides key background: \u201cI have set my face like flint, \/ knowing that I shall not be put to shame\u201d (Isa 50:7). Also in Ezek 21:7 \u201cSon of man, turn your face toward Jerusalem: preach against its sanctuary, prophesy against the land of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brant Pitre writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luke always has his eyes ultimately on the end of his gospel, which is going to be Jesus ascending into heaven. It\u2019s not just the cross; it\u2019s not even just the resurrection. It\u2019s him being taken up into heaven. That\u2019s the culmination of Jesus\u2019 exodus that he\u2019s going to accomplish in Jerusalem.[1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Jesus sends messengers ahead of him to make preparations before entering a Samaritan village. It is entirely plausible that the Samaritans would be very interested in Jesus and the stories about him that had already traveled to them. The fact that his ultimate destination is Jerusalem is a barrier for them since Mt. Gerizim was established as basically a rival altar that they used instead. Historically there was already conflict between the Samaritans and Israelites over this. This conflict was on the rise. The historian Josephus wrote about Jewish pilgrims being murdered by Samaritans as they passed through and that there was a supposed plot to place human bones in the Jerusalem Temple to defile it during Passover. Likely there was also increased violence against the Samaritans themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n John and James react against their refusal to see them in a way once again earning the sobriquet \u201cSons of Thunder.\u201d A lot is going on here as they reference calling down fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans. We can see this as a reference to Genesis 19, where God rains down fire from heaven upon the Sodom and Gomorrah, and Eli\u2019jah calls down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice. John the Baptist has been killed, and possibly these brothers see themselves picking up John\u2019s role in the spirit and power of Eli\u2019jah.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n This question they put forth to Jesus, it seems, they expect a reply for their zeal. They have seemed to forget many messages from Jesus they had heard on their journey involving loving your neighbor. They have let their prejudice override this. It only states that Jesus rebukes them for this and that they move on to another village instead. Some early manuscripts expand Luke 9:55 to include, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of, for the Son of man came not to destroy men\u2019s lives, but to save them.\u2019\u201d[1]<\/a> Whether or not this was in the original text, it gets to the heart of why they were rebuked. The Samaritans wanted Jesus on their terms, and James and John also wanted Jesus to react on their terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Gospel continues to relate two encounters with men who either wanted to follow Jesus and one where Jesus called them to follow him. They are examples of the commitment to follow Jesus unreservedly. An interesting aspect is that this also relates to Genesis 19, where Lot\u2019s wife looks back, despite being warned not to. This also relates to the example of Eli\u2019jah and Eli\u2019sha with a difference. In the case of Eli\u2019jah, he grants Eli\u2019sha\u2019s request to say goodbye to his parents and dispose of his property rather quickly. Jesus\u2019 does not give the same type of request to the young man he calls to follow him. His demand supersedes even the love of parents mandated in the Old Testament. Jesus is implicitly revealing his divine identity in doing this. When God indeed calls us to do something, it supersedes all earthly attachments as it is not only meant for our good but for others. There is also a question regarding the man\u2019s request to bury his father because it might be that his father has not yet even passed. Jesus knows us intimately and only calls us towards the good. It is straightforward for us to devise delaying tactics for his call. Delays that in everyday situations are our duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Discernment is involved, but once we are intellectually convinced he is calling us for something\u2014we must respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter Kreeft comments on this passage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n God always has a good reason for asking us every single thing he asks of us. And there is no reason for us to think that we will always recognize what that good reason is. Why should we think we will? Do we think we are as wise as God is? If our God never asked us to do or endure things that we did not understand, it would not be the true God at all because that mind would be equal to our own mind.[3]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n If you think Jesus is calling you to maintain a status quo with no changes required, it is not Jesus. If you hear Jesus calling you to a radical change in your life that is not comfortable or reassuring, he is leading you to eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regarding Jesus\u2019 comment that he has nowhere to rest, the Catechism says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 544<\/strong> The kingdom belongs to the poor and lowly<\/em>, which means those who have accepted it with humble hearts. Jesus is sent to \u201cpreach good news to the poor\u201d; he declares them blessed, for \u201ctheirs is the kingdom of heaven.\u201d To them\u2014the \u201clittle ones\u201d\u2014the Father is pleased to reveal what remains hidden from the wise and the learned. Jesus shares the life of the poor, from the cradle to the cross; he experiences hunger, thirst, and privation. Jesus identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes active love toward them the condition for entering his kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luke 9:51\u201362 ESV – Bible Gateway This begins a major section in Luke that is the beginning of the final journey to Jerusalem. He has set his face on this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scripture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17403,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17402\/revisions\/17403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nSources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n