3 Pentecost/Year C
June 26, 2022
Galatians 5:1,13-25; Psalm 16; Luke 9:51-62
We continue this week…with some questions and confusion about what it looks like to say yes to following Jesus…
Last week, I invited you to consider how you were being drawn into the gospel we heard on Sunday…I pointed out that there were a variety of ways, that all of us sitting here today, would be drawn into the story…
I expanded on that thought by saying… It’s not such a simple thing…when we all sit here and listen to a story together… we don’t necessarily have a common understanding right away of what we just heard…(here in the church or in our communities, or in our national conversations with one another)…We don’t all hear the story in the same way, we don’t all have the same backstory that we bring to the current conversation…and we don’t all leave this place after having heard the stories shared…in the same way…
And that in every story being told…there are a variety of voices…some are heard…some are not…There are a variety of people, striving to tell the story of their experience…some are seen…and some are not…
All of this to say…that I think last week’s gospel story as well as this week’s gospel story has a lot to teach us about the healing and reconciling work that Jesus invites us to follow him in… And today – we hear how important living a life by the Spirit and be guided by the Spirit is in choosing to follow Jesus…
In today’s gospel, Jesus is continuing in his travels on the way towards Jerusalem…with the disciples…He sends the disciple ahead of him…and on their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
The disciples were ready to exact revenge on those who didn’t welcome him and believe in him...but Jesus rebukes them…
As they continue in their travels, others tell Jesus they want to follow him…but Jesus responds to them in a way that seems a little harsh on the surface… Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.
Yet, it seems as though Jesus is trying to remind them once again…that they are focusing on the desires of the flesh, as we heard about in our reading from Paul’s letter to the Galatians this morning…They seem to fixed on gratifying the desires of the flesh, instead of trusting and following him…following him in a way of life that will bring God’s diverse people together, and in a way of life that will proclaims freedom, justice, healing, hope, joy and peace for all God’s diverse and beloved children…
For us today, as those who want to follow Jesus, Living in the Spirit and being guided by the Holy Spirit…is how we discern where Jesus is calling us to go…when he says “Follow Me”…
How do we know we are following Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to be our guide and our compass in thought, word and deed?
We will know by these signs…
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
It is not such a simple thing, as I mentioned before…but we can turn and begin again, day by day, to times of prayer, alone and in community with others, and call upon the Holy Spirit for the wisdom and the strength and the guidance…to live by the Spirit and to say Yes...to trust and follow Jesus in the way of love…a way of life and love that leads us to join together with others in the healing and reconciling work he is calling us to do…
Today’s psalm… (Psalm 16) would be a perfect prayer meditation to begin with… You will show me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore. (Psalm 16:11)
Rev Julie Platson
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, AK
Hymn after sermon: If you believe and I believe – WLP 806
If you believe and I believe and we together pray,
the Holy Spirit must come down and set God’s people free,
and set God’s people free, and set God’s people free;
the Holy Spirit must come down and set God’s people free.