Third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 8: 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14; Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20; Galatians 5:1, 13-25; Luke 9:51-62
Elisha asks Elijah for a “double share of your spirit”. Elijah tells him he has asked for “a hard thing”. Faith is often a hard thing.
In today’s gospel, we meet Jesus as a fierce taskmaster: he won’t let one person bury his father, and when another wants to say goodbye to his family, he tells them that no one who “looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God”.
In my daily life, I teach history, and I can comfortably say that one of the things that people do is look back. They look back, and tell stories about where they were and how they got here. Jesus is telling us that the story starts anew when they join him. Maybe a few people manage that, but most of us are tethered to Jesus and the world.
Paul is also demanding: we need to renounce the “desires of the flesh”, fornication, impurity, idolatry, but also jealousy, anger, factions. There’s a long list, and most of us will find ourselves at one point or another somewhere on his list. IF we can put those things aside (a big if!), we will enjoy freedom in Jesus. The fruit of the spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Sounds kind of nice, doesn’t it?
We often find ourselves in settings where someone decrees that a true Christian would do X. Many of us are convinced that those who proudly proclaim their Christian identity are not practicing the love and inclusion we see in Jesus. And they would say that one or another of our beliefs is counter to Christianity. But what if, as Jesus suggests, none of us are fit for the Kingdom., yet we are all there because of God’s grace?
It’s a hard thing to follow Jesus; all of us fall short at some point or other. But all of us are, ultimately, welcomed into the kingdom anyway. It’s a reminder to us as we engage with each other and with the world. We don’t have to agree with people, but we need to disagree in ways that keep them human. It’s a hard thing, but what I needed to hear this week.