Follow Me 

Awhile back , the angels suggested I dedicate Sundays to the Gospel Readings for Sunday. With Love and Gratitude, here is the Gospel of Luke 9:51-62. With an inspired message and also a channel from the Angel Realm behind it. 

When the days for Jesus’ being taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
“Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?”
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.

As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him,
“I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him,
“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

And to another he said, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
And another said, “I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”
To him Jesus said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”

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The Samaritan’s inhospitality aroused the ire of the James and John. The town rejected Jesus solely because His destination was Jerusalem., revealing the historically based hostility between the Samaritans and the Jews. But Jesus rebukes their violence, accepts rejection on the leg of His journey as he did at the start of his Galilean ministry, and refuses to be distracted from what awaits in Jerusalem. His resolute determination sets the stage for the difficult sayings that follow. 

To the first would-be disciple, Jesus announces the conditions of the ministry of the “Son of Man” (and his disciples). To a second, he speaks of the dead burying the dead. Variously interpreted, this saying likely addresses the potential disciple’s desire to delay ’till his father’s eventual death, using that family obligation as an excuse to avoid following Jesus. Or, if the father had recently died, he may be seeking a year’s reprieve in order to rebury the father’s bones after the body was decayed. Even if the meaning is, “Let the spiritually dead bury the dead”, the point remains that nothing is to supercede one’s commitment to the gospel. Clearly, Jesus’ blunt language gets our attention and shocks us into reflection on the requirements of discipleship. 

The last saying asks all disciples to imitate Jesus in resisting distractions from the call of the gospel. Jesus remains resolutely turned toward Jerusalem, his hand firmly on “the plow.” [see reference] 

“Jesus is here for everyone who wishes to plow. Always. In every word , make the Gospel, known to someone. Perhaps your words could help another. God sees those who sow His Gospels and their reward will be great in Heaven. Jesus understands what it is like to be human, and to have flesh, for the Spirit and the flesh are opposites- yet the Spirit will guide your heart as One in the Lord when you turn toward Him and seek to plow the field for God.” ~ the Angels 

Reference: The Workbook for Lectors, Gospel Readers and Proclaimers of the Word 2016