In the beginning of the Gospel of John we hear that Jesus came from the Father full of Grace and Truth. There’s no question that Jesus lives out both these things in harmony in his dealings with people during his earthly ministry, by showing love through miracles, and teaching clearly about the Kingdom of God over and over again. In this reading from Luke chapter 9, Jesus demonstrates how he is taking that Spirit of Grace and Truth and filling his church

Jesus fills his church with a spirit of grace. This first half of the Gospel demonstrates how Jesus asks us to view rejection by the world. Jesus has resolved to travel to Jerusalem for the last Passover he will celebrate, and there to be crucified. He had been in Galilee, which is in the northern part of Israel, and Jerusalem is in the south. In between is that place called Samaria. Samaritans appear occasionally in Jesus’ travels between north and south, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively as here. You might recall that when Jesus spoke to the woman at the well in the Gospel of John he was in Samaria. Even in that event the religious conflict between Jews and Samaritans is highlighted, which helps to explain the reaction they had to Jesus here in Luke chapter 9. She had told Jesus that they worshipped on a mountain in their land, but Jews believed the only true worship could take place in Jerusalem. The origin of the Samaritans also helps us understand what is going on, as it is recorded in 2 Kings 17:

24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled them in the cities of Samaria in the place of the people of Israel. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 25 When they began to settle there, they did not fear the Lord, so the Lord sent lions among them. The lions were killing people, 26 so they said to the king of Assyria, “The peoples whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the customs of the god of the land. That is why he has sent lions among them, and the lions are killing people, because there aren’t any people left who know the customs of the god of the land.”

27 So the king of Assyria commanded, “Get one of the priests who was exiled from there. He will go and live there and teach the customs of the god of the land.” 28 So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came and lived in Bethel. He was teaching them how they should fear the Lord.

29 But each nation was still making its own gods and setting them in the shrines[d] of the high places which the Samaritans had made, each nation in their cities where they were dwelling. 30 The people from Babylon made Sukkoth Benoth. The people from Kuth made Nergal. The people from Hamath made Ashima. 31 The people from Avvah made Nibhaz and Tartak. The people from Sepharvaim were burning their sons in the fire to Adrammelek and Anammelek, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 [e]They were fearing the Lord, but they were making priests for their high places from all kinds of people, who were serving them in the shrines on the high places. 33 They were fearing the Lord, but they were also serving their gods according to the customs of the nations from which they had been deported.

34 To this day they are acting according to their former customs. There are none of them who fear the Lord, and there is no one who acts according to the regulations, ordinances, law, and commands which the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob, to whom he gave the name Israel. 35 The Lord had made a covenant with them and commanded them, “Do not fear other gods. Do not bow down to them. Do not serve them. Do not sacrifice to them. 36 Rather fear the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm. Fear him and bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him. 37 Keep the regulations, ordinances, law, and commands, which he wrote for you, and do not fear other gods. 38 Do not forget the covenant I made with you, and do not fear other gods. 39 Fear only the Lord your God. He is the one who will save you from the hand of all your enemies.”

40 But these nations did not listen. Instead, they acted according to their former customs. 41 These nations were fearing the Lord, and they were serving their idols. Their children and their grandchildren did just as their fathers had done. They are doing this up to this day.

Their origin as a mixed up people, especially in regard to their religious practice, set them at odds with those who kept the faith as handed down correctly. The woman at the well demonstrated they had some expectation of the promised Christ, but now they could not recognize him.

The sad thing we see is that their false traditions made them hostile to the truth- to Jesus himself. Jesus, by passing through their land on his way to Jerusalem, is in a way passing judgment on their worship as incorrect. What they were doing was no good. Jesus was willing to come to them, in grace, and share with them the free gift of the kingdom. They couldn’t give up their self-chosen works.

If you think of sharing your faith with someone else, what would think would be more likely to cause offense to someone: law or gospel? Probably a lot of people would assume a sharing of true law of God would be more offensive, especially given that our broader culture has less and less regard to God’s will. That may happen too, but remember that the law is written in our hearts. It’s almost intuitive. People do have some understanding that they are not perfect, that they lack something. It can be hand-waved away, or minimized so that its not there, but their consciences will testify to them on some level. But what about the Gospel? Would you expect Jesus giving himself freely in our place, coming to us without our deserving or asking for it at all, would offend to the point of rejection? I’ve experienced that personally, and more experienced pastors or other Christians who have done a lot of interpersonal evangelism will say the same- that Grace is offensive.

Are you and I offended by God’s grace? We too can fall into a rejection of Jesus’ grace both for ourselves and others! What does the grace of Jesus say about our own good works? It says we can’t actually do anything to contribute to salvation, Jesus has done it all. Lots of people would even prefer to get a to-do list from church. Jesus comes to us and says “done”.

We can be offended by the Gospel when it comes to others who perhaps don’t deserve it. How can someone who has a deathbed conversion be just as saved as the cradle Lutheran, who goes to church every Sunday for his whole life? Or, how can God truly love and forgive that person, who does that thing I would never do? The answer to these problems is to truly understand what the spirit of Grace is in Jesus, and to truly understand our own depth of sin. Jesus comes to all in a spirit of free Grace, a truly undeserved love.

Jesus teaches us how the church handles rejection. James and John, indignant at the treatment of their teacher, ask Jesus if they can call down fire and consume the town that rejected Jesus. They seem to be thinking of an example from the Old Testament prophet Elijah who called down fire to consume men sent to collect him for King Ahaziah, to kill him for his prophesying. Jesus rebukes them: You do not know what kind of spirit is influencing you: The Son of Man did not come to destroy the souls of man but to save. It is important to understand clearly what Jesus is saying. He is not teaching a divide between the way God operates in the Old Testament versus the New Testament. God is characterized as a patient and gracious God, and the God in the Old Testament is the same as the God in the New Testament. When you read the account in 2 Kings chapter 1, God preserves his prophet from those who are seeking to kill him. This was God’s judgment against the hardened unbeliever. That is for God to decide. The situation in Samaria is different. They have rejected Jesus initially, but Jesus gives them more time. God himself sets the time of Grace for all people. So the church does not engage in retribution and revenge, but in persistent proclamation of the Good News.

They move on to another town and Jesus also teaches us how he fills us with the spirit of Truth. Three men encounter Jesus with different attitudes. The first is impulsive and zealous: I will follow you wherever you go! The second, in response to Jesus’ call to follow is conflicted- let me go first and bury my father. The Third, a divided mind and attention- Let me first go say farewell to my household.

At first glance Jesus might seem harsh with them. But notice that he does not really reject them. He gives correction to their possible misunderstandings of what it means to follow Jesus. He shows that the Spirit of the Church is the spirit of truth- whether that truth is nice or not is not the important thing.

So, the corrective Jesus gives to the impulsive zealous follower: The son of man has no place to lay his head. In other words, following Jesus is not a ticket to a glorious and easy life. Jesus himself was persecuted and as we just heard sometimes even driven away by people. The nature of the Kingdom of God on this earth is transitory, but it lasts into eternity. Jesus refocuses him on the reality of possible hardships in this life, but the reward is more than worth the temporary troubles!

To the one with conflicting duties: Let the dead bury their own dead. Here Jesus uses dead in two senses: the spiritually dead and the physically dead. The urgency of the Proclamation of the Kingdom is highlighted by Jesus. Those who have died are now beyond our reach. Go and proclaim the kingdom to those who can still hear the message.

To the one with a divided mind: God’s Kingdom demands your undivided attention. One cannot be looking back at your former way of life, preconversion, when one lived as an unbeliever, and think that was something good or OK.

Jesus does not compromise the truth of the Kingdom of God in order to be appealing to outsiders. He does not try to sell it to people. The Truth can never be compromised. Neither does Jesus pit Grace against Truth. We too must be guarded against this temptation. The Gospel is not something we are selling. We have no need to dress it up and make it pretty so that it can be stomached by the world. The state of many churches in our world is the result of such an attitude toward the truth as revealed in the Word. We can never be embarrassed or ashamed about anything in God’s Word- including things that go against the culture. We teach some stuff, because the Bible teaches it, that is not very cool and even very much looked on as wrong, stupid or hateful. Much of it has to do with God’s Creation- The time, that God created the world some thousands of years ago in six days by his powerful word, that he created the species of animals, and humans as a special creation. That he made male and female- for marriage and with the man as head and the woman as his suitable helper- and these roles play out in church and society as well. Even that God created the nations of the world- these truths are attacked by the world and even from within the church at large. But should we be embarrassed? Never! Jesus says the one whose loyalty and attention is divided is not fit for the kingdom of God. Yes the Spirit of Grace is given to us by Jesus, but it is never compromised by the Truth, even difficult truths.

We don’t follow Jesus on our own terms- We follow Jesus on His terms.

Did these men follow Jesus? He doesn’t tell them no. He merely shows them the truth about following him. We don’t know the outcome for them. a better question is perhaps this: Would you?