This is the sermon I prepared for Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Beatrice, Neb., for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, June 27, 2010.

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Readings

1 Kings 19:15–16, 19–21
Psalm 16
Galatians 5:1, 13–25
Luke 9:51–62

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Prayer

By your Spirit, gracious Father, empower us to follow your Son in faith, that we may keep our sights fixed on him throughout our days. Amen.

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Message

One of the cliches you can hear repeated
in news reports about politics and government
is that public officials have just pivoted
to focus attention on a new issue or problem.

The sense behind the visual image of pivoting
is that the officials now have set their sights
on a complex issue requiring full attention.

The problem, though, is that they run the danger
of pivoting so often—in response to so many polls—
that they create the opposite impression.
They are not resolute, but fickle,
and perhaps they are just turning in circles
like a centerpivot in a cornfield.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus himself reaches a true pivot point in his ministry.
In Luke’s Gospel,
up to the point just before today’s reading,
Jesus had devoted himself to his Galilean ministry.

But, with the opening sentence of the reading,
we hear a change in focus and attention:
“When the days drew near for him to be taken up,
he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51, NRSV)

“The days [drawing] near” refers to the coming days of his passion—
his trial, sentencing, torture, crucifixion, and death.
And in response to those days drawing near,
Jesus “set[s] his face to go to Jerusalem.”

The word “set” is the translation
of a form of the Greek word στηριζω (stérizó, pronounced “stay-rid’-zo”).
It means “to set fast, to turn resolutely in a certain direction, to determine.”

It has a seriousness to it,
a strong sense of will,
a heft and weight and force
that will not be diverted or dissuaded.

We get the feeling that Jesus displays energy and drive,
that he leans into the task before him
in a way that would overcome any obstacle,
overmatch any force arrayed against him.

And for Jesus, his task is to carry out the will of his Father
by the power of the Spirit they share,
no matter the personal cost to them.

We know what he had only recently told his disciples in Luke 9:22–24 (NRSV):

“The Son of Man must undergo great suffering,
and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes,
and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Then he said to them all,
“If any want to become my followers,
let them deny themselves
and take up their cross daily and follow me.
For those who want to save their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.”

This is his ministry
and it is the path of the cross
that all who follow him must take.

It’s not a time for pivoting too and fro.
It’s a time for setting one’s face,
for determining to take the cross and to bear it,
and to follow the Lord along the path he takes before us.

Today’s text tells us how hard this is
for people to witness and to embrace.
The people of Samaria,
who shared a longstanding rivalry with the people of Israel,
did not welcome Jesus,
because “his face was set toward Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:53, NRSV)

James and John, two of Jesus’ disciples,
want to call down the fire of God
to wipe out the Samaritans
the way Elijah called down fire on the prophets of Baal.
But that is not the way of Jesus,
the way of the cross.

And then he encounters people
who come up to him as he travels along.
They see him walking with purpose.
Perhaps they see something of the passion in his face
as he makes his way to Jerusalem.
They sense, maybe, his determination,
and they want to be a part of the movement.

But he reminds them, at every step,
how hard this way will be.
Animals have places to call home,
safe places, restful places,
but not the Son of Man
and certainly not those who follow him resolutely.

The way of the cross demands that God
and service to him be first in our lives.
And so, in a seemingly harsh saying,
Jesus counsels a would-be disciple
to leave behind family commitments
and to “go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:60, NRSV)
Finally, one person wants to follow Jesus,
but first desires to say goodbye to family.
The response from Jesus?
“No one who puts a hand to the plow
and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62, NRSV)

Who does that leave?
Do you feel fit for the kingdom?
I know I look back,
I try to make a start down this path,
but then, like a politician,
I convince myself of the goodness of an easier path.
I pivot and get distracted while my hand is on the plow.

I’ve never plowed a field,
but I get the impression from Jesus’ saying
that plowing straight and true for the kingdom
involves setting one’s face.
It’s like orienteering,
something I learned in Boy Scouts.
You get a list of compass directions and distances
and you set off through the woods and meadows.

The secret is to take a reading,
get your bearings,
know the length of your stride,
pick a landmark out ahead,
and then set your face, your gaze, on that landmark.

If you look back or watch your own feet
or pivot too much this way and that
to avoid rocks and fallen trees,
you can easily lose your bearings
and end off far removed from the mark.

Plowing for the kingdom,
proclaiming God’s good news,
taking up one’s cross and following Jesus
is like orienteering in the wilderness.

But what hope do we have?
Is there any chance we can follow him?
Are there any among us
who would deny themselves,
who would face lives with no holes or dens,
nowhere to lay their heads,
who would leave behind family
to become cross-bearing disciples of Jesus?

Well, on our own,
left to our own devices,
under our own power,
depending upon our own wills,
we would pivot away from suffering,
drop the cross from our shoulders,
and plow crooked and meandering furrows.

But the grace that comes to us
as a gift from God
saves us from living on our own,
by our own devices,
facing life under our own power
and depending upon our own wills.

Our Lord has plowed our lives with his cross.
He has planted in us the seeds of faith.
He moistens those seeds with baptismal waters.
He weeds the sin from our lives through confession.
He prunes us and cuts us back through trials
so that we can grow to bear the fruits of faith.
He fertilizes us with his body and blood in communion.

These are the gifts of God for us, the people of God.
They are what empower us
to step into the footprints of our Lord,
to follow behind him in faith,
to set our faces upon him in obedience,
and so to follow him with determination. Amen.