Today's Old Testament reading has Elijah calling Elisha
to follow him as God's prophet but Elisha returns home first to say
goodbye to his parents and to feed his friends with his own oxen, an act
of kindness but finality.
Next Paul writes to the Galatians and contrasts the life of the flesh with that of the spirit. "For the flesh lusteth against the spirit; and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary to one another." Paul then list the works of the flesh and the fruits of the spirit. In a reading one can see this is a stacked deck; the fruit of the spirit could never be criticized. And, truthfully, the sins of the flesh would not be considered any sensible man's ambition.
Finally, Luke writes of Christ's "resolutely determined" journey to Jerusalem and His death. It is a difficult reading, especially in the context of the other readings. First, James and John, angry that the Samaritan village will not welcome Christ, asks
“Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Where they got this idea, what possible history they could call on for it is not explained but, while Christ rebukes them, He must have thought they were nuts. Christ then remarks that The Son of Man has nowhere to rest His head. Then two men ask to become disciples but both, as with Elisha in the Old Testament, have human, family responsibilities--good reasons to delay:
“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.
So Christ seems here to dismiss man's family and human responsibilities--one could say the life of the flesh--in favor of the life of the spirit. This, in spite of the leeway Elijah gave Elisha.
I don't think so. Christ has no quarrel with the practicalities of life. He spent thirty years in the practical world. The conflict between flesh and spirit is what makes men, men. He knows who, between Martha and Mary, has chosen the better part but those parts are inseparable. But the life of the flesh is not the sin of the flesh..
He sits in a Samaritan village where no one will welcome Him, His goofy apostles want to obliterate the area with fire and brimstone and He can not even find a place to rest. The Old Testament is being urgently overwritten. He is turning towards Jerusalem to die; there is no time to see your parents or check your fields.
Next Paul writes to the Galatians and contrasts the life of the flesh with that of the spirit. "For the flesh lusteth against the spirit; and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary to one another." Paul then list the works of the flesh and the fruits of the spirit. In a reading one can see this is a stacked deck; the fruit of the spirit could never be criticized. And, truthfully, the sins of the flesh would not be considered any sensible man's ambition.
Finally, Luke writes of Christ's "resolutely determined" journey to Jerusalem and His death. It is a difficult reading, especially in the context of the other readings. First, James and John, angry that the Samaritan village will not welcome Christ, asks
“Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Where they got this idea, what possible history they could call on for it is not explained but, while Christ rebukes them, He must have thought they were nuts. Christ then remarks that The Son of Man has nowhere to rest His head. Then two men ask to become disciples but both, as with Elisha in the Old Testament, have human, family responsibilities--good reasons to delay:
“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.
So Christ seems here to dismiss man's family and human responsibilities--one could say the life of the flesh--in favor of the life of the spirit. This, in spite of the leeway Elijah gave Elisha.
I don't think so. Christ has no quarrel with the practicalities of life. He spent thirty years in the practical world. The conflict between flesh and spirit is what makes men, men. He knows who, between Martha and Mary, has chosen the better part but those parts are inseparable. But the life of the flesh is not the sin of the flesh..
He sits in a Samaritan village where no one will welcome Him, His goofy apostles want to obliterate the area with fire and brimstone and He can not even find a place to rest. The Old Testament is being urgently overwritten. He is turning towards Jerusalem to die; there is no time to see your parents or check your fields.
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