“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
—Luke 9:51
Pastor David Jewel mostly preached today on Jeremiah He emphasized what he thought made for a powerful sermon. What is the trouble being faced, in whatever scripture is being read, and what is the solution? Then today's "trouble" is brought into perspective, and the solution we hope will arrive.
That is what Creator's Wednesday Bible Discussion does. Each week, the group wrestles with and learns from the upcoming Sunday readings. We share what we are fervently trying to save: the planet, democracy, the church, or our collective future. We do it with the best of intentions, to make a meaningful difference in a broken world.
We discuss what we believe Jesus calls each of us to be. There are "hidden" assumptions as well. Much of what we discuss relies on the logic of many systems we see as currently collapsing. We act with urgency. We long for control and the best ways to ensure success.
We try to organize ways out of collapse. However, outwitting collapse may not be what’s needed. We live in a time of systemic unraveling: political, ecological, economic, and spiritual. Authoritarianism thrives in chaos, and that chaos is purposefully manufactured. Corruption is not an accident, but rather is the operating system. While the world is not ending, a world, as we’ve known it, may be.
Luke 9:51–62 marks a pivotal moment in this Gospel. Jesus has healed, taught, and gathered crowds. Now, he sets his face toward Jerusalem. He sets his face toward the center of power, toward confrontation, and toward death. Luke's tone shifts in these verses.
Along the way, enthusiastic people come to Jesus: “I’ll follow you wherever you go!” Jesus replies with a warning: “Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
A potential disciple says, before following, “Let me go bury my father first.” Jesus responds, “Let the dead bury the dead.” Still another wants to say goodbye to family. Jesus says, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom.”
Let’s be honest, these are hard words. Jesus sounds harsh, unreasonable, and without sentiment. Harsh, but not cruel. Instead, it’s clarifying. The U.S. and Iran may be at war after the bombing attack two weeks ago. Discipleship in wartime is neither occasional nor conditional. It’s not something we do only when it's safe. Hard soil must be plowed. Wartime discipleship breaks ground when planting seeds of peace in a landscape scorched by violence.
As Jesus and his disciples head toward Jerusalem, they enter a Samaritan village. The people reject them. James and John are offended and self-righteous. They ask: “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” Jesus rebukes them. When violence is in the air, Jesus’ followers turn to violent retaliation. They want certainty and a cleansing fire. They want to win.
Jesus calls for resistance instead. A nonviolent underground that doesn’t wait for peace to act but sows it. Many of Luke's would-be disciples bring what we often offer when we commit. Our good intentions, reasonable plans, and what we are balancing to take on that commitment. We act like we are embarking on a new project.
Yet Jesus is not recruiting project managers, nor is he inviting people into a particular way of taking on what is before us. We think everything is urgent. We build plans, spreadsheets, and systems to act. We attempt to engineer salvation. Jesus is not selling a vision of salvation, but acts with a face set towards suffering, and towards a path that we long for most. How to remain daily in the presence of God.
Collective salvation may not be simply about escaping conditions we fear. The current "solution" with Iran may not be to win peace, but to stay watchful. To stay with the brokenness.To stay with the earth. To stay with each other.
This is what Pastor Emillie preaches, and it is always inspiring. She yearns for Creator to forge a faith for our times. by taking us from our world of strategy and domination to a world of related stories: We choose to move from systemic solutions and "peace through threats", to developing our sense of relational living.
I remember a time when our congregation's focus was on scalability. We thought our mission was to have more members who contributed. Currently, our focus is on what I call, at this moment, soilability. We are exploring what we can uniquely grow, here and now. Rather than problem-solving, we have taken on a heartfelt task of pattern-seeing. We move from identifying our hoped-for deliverables to humble devotion.
Jesus never promised deliverables. He promised presence. “I will be with you always,” he said, rather than “I will fix this for you.” In today’s text, Jesus invites people to follow him without looking back, because the way forward is not built on perfection. The foundation is not a declaration of either war or peace, but on courage, on community, and trusting in a God who meets us in the unknown.
Last Wednesday, we speculated on the fall described in Genesis. Given human nature, we wondered if the Genesis fall was fortuitous or inevitable. Human history is built on institutions delivering all we think we desire. Instead, this may be Creator's time to tend to God's sacred ground with prayer, presence, and mutual remembering.
As we contemplate future ministry at Creator, will we encourage actions that better attune us to the gestalt around us, rather than agreeing on an agenda? Can our relationships with one another self-organize around the resonance of the moment rather than taking on some misfitted roles? The ongoing stories we carry may guide the rhythm of this congregation better than a road mapped for our future ministry.
This may not look effective in the eyes of dying systems, but it is deeply faithful. It might, at this point, be the best way to continue because, in the kingdom of God, faithfulness matters more than success. So, the invitation is not to follow Jesus with laundry lists of the conditions and outcomes we want, but with curiosity, open hands, and companionship.
Let's listen more than fix. Let's continue to discern more than direct, grab courage to experiment when we are tempted to follow many established, but ultimately hollow, traditions. To nourish one another rather than wrestling for control.
Will we dare to walk, not with a map, but with one another? Maybe our world can pray for God's kingdom life, which Jesus promised and constantly rises before us, like God's rainbow promise to Noah.
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