Daily Mass Gospel Reflection-

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 6.26.22 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 9:51-62

Friends, in today’s Gospel,
Jesus rebukes James and John for their desire for vengeance.
We are walking with Jesus and his disciples as they make their way to Jerusalem.
As they pass through Samaria, they are refused hospitality,
for their destination is Jerusalem, and this annoys the Samaritans.
Bothersome? Stupid? Racist?
Sure, all of those things.
As a result, James and John (the sons of thunder) cry out:
"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?"

Can you hear echoes of this cry up and down the ages?
Whenever people have been unjustly treated, excluded,
looked down upon, they experience, naturally enough,
feelings of hatred and a desire to get back.
Correctly enough, they will say that their family
or their race or their country was offended, and so they, with justification, react.

But Jesus turns only to rebuke them.
Why? Because following him and his way of nonviolence is more important than race or country or ethnic group.
Our feelings for him have to go beyond even our justified feelings for these good things.

[MurphsLaw]

+++When the days for Jesus’ being
taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey
to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him because the destination of his
journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John
saw this they asked,
“Lord, do you want us to call down
fire from heaven to consume them?”
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and
they journeyed to another village.

As they were proceeding on their
journey someone said to him,
“I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him,
“Foxes have dens and birds of the
sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to
rest his head.”

And to another he said, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “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.”+++