30 June 2013 - past break

30 June 2013 - past break

Today's readings are about discipleship.  When we begin to follow the LORD our lives change radically.  We have to be prepared to let go of even the goods from our old lives.  We have to be ready to make a sudden break from all that came before.

But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. 
But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 

It is not just the urgency of the proclamation that is at work here.  Continuing to be surrounded by the things we've given up can be a liability.  It gives rise to occasions where force of habit tries to draw us back from our newfound freedom to the old yolk of slavery.

For freedom Christ set us free;
so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.

We can't just guess at how to do this.  We have to listen to Jesus.  Our desire to be radical can be misplaced.  Elisha heads and Elijah and, rather than abandoning everything immediately, is able to put it to use as food for his people.

Elijah answered, “Go back!
Have I done anything to you?”
Elisha left him, and taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them;
he used the plowing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh,
and gave it to his people to eat.

He even kisses his mother and father goodbye.  He does not demonstrate the same spirit of attachment that the man in Jesus's parable demonstrates when he asks to bury his mother and father.  In other words, that man asks to become a disciple eventually, on his time, when it is convenient.  This is why Jesus rebukes him.

We will only be able to let go of earthly goods to the degree that the LORD himself becomes our inheritance.

O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.

He wants to be our source of joy in himself.  Nowhere else can we find lasting peace.

“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

In him is all of the fulness of blessing that we see hinted at in the lesser goods of this world with which we tend to content ourselves.  Let us not be content with less than God for he is not content with less than our whole hearts.

You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.