I love this long season of Ordinary Time because we read through the Gospel for any particular year in a semi-continuous way. I especially like this time during Year C of the Sunday lectionary, when we read the Gospel According to Saint Luke. The long section of Luke's Gospel we read over the summer and into the fall is about Jesus' journey to Jerusalem.
This "Travel Narrative" is the heart, the center, and the core of Luke's Gospel. It begins in Luke 9:51 and extends to Luke 18:14. This Travel Narrative, wherein Jesus goes from his native Galilee to Jerusalem, makes up 351 of the 1,151 verses that constitute Luke's Gospel. In other words, his Journey to Jerusalem is just a little shy of one-third of this Gospel (30.4%). Jesus' journey is in accord with the overarching idea of Luke-Acts, which is to show that Jesus came not only for Jews and those who kept the Law but for Gentiles and sinners too.
For those inclined to story-telling, keep in mind that for the next several months, we're in the midst of the Greatest Story Ever Told, the story of Jesus' life and ministry. We spend a lot of time on his birth, his passion, and death often to the neglect of his life and ministry. While I think stories can be and often are useful for making homiletical points, we run the risk of telling stories at the expense of understanding the Story, in which are participants.
Last week, the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the beginning of our Gospel reading was Luke 9:51. In English, this verse is two clauses of an even longer sentence: "When the days for his being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51). In all the Synoptic Gospels (i.e., Matthew, Mark, and Luke), Jesus only goes to Jerusalem once. To follow Jesus is to follow him through passion and crucifixion, which is the only path to resurrection.
Christian discipleship is not only intentional, it requires determination, commitment, and deep trust. The theological name for deep trust is hope, which we often dismiss as mere wishing.
The above observations are borne out by our Gospel this week. Jesus sends out seventy-two of his followers as advance parties to the places he intends to visit en route to Jerusalem. He tells them up-front that he is sending them "like lambs among wolves" (Luke 10:3). They are to proclaim- "the kingdom of God is at hand" (Luke 10:9). As the advance party for Jesus, proclaiming the imminence of God's kingdom is just another way of saying, "Jesus is coming!" How is that, you might ask? Well, as autobaselia, Jesus is the kingdom of God in person.
Wherever Jesus is, God's reign is established. Hence, whenever and wherever we make him present, which is what we are to do as members of his true body, there is God's kingdom.
In our second reading from Paul's Letter to the Galatians, the apostle reiterates that our response to Jesus' call to discipleship is to journey with him to Jerusalem. The man from Tarsus, no doubt referring to his own travails, notes that he bears "the marks of Jesus" on his body." Just as the Risen Lord still bears the wounds of his crucifixion, I have no doubt that our scars, our wounds, especially those received from the vulnerability of our love, are most dear to him. It bears noting that he does not inflict these scars. Heaven forbid! He heals them and transforms them into something beautiful.
Isaiah's post-exilic hymn to Jerusalem is, even for us Christians, a beautiful hymn: Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her, all you who love her. One thing that links our readings from Isaiah, Galatians, and Luke together is the pattern of hope being realized through suffering and/or hardship. This is nothing other than the dying and rising that is the essence of Christian life.
So, over these next several months, let us resolutely determine to journey together with Jesus to Jerusalem in and through the liturgy.
If you're looking for something to help you on this journey, the late Eugene LaVerdiere's Dining in the Kingdom of God: The Origins of the Eucharist According to Luke remains a great companion for reading Luke's Gospel.
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