Jesus’ Mission
Today’s scripture highlights the importance of Jesus’ future mission on this earth and invites His followers to join Him. All other commitments now take lesser importance than the mission to establish God’s kingdom which has just begun.
In Lukan Gospel, the first sentence of today’s scripture sets the tone for the remainder of Jesus’ mission. “When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Lk. 9:51). The word ‘taken up’ is a reference to His resurrection and ascension into heaven, yet it also implies His passion and death on the cross. Though, Enoch (Gen. 5:24) and Prophet Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) were taken up to heaven, Luke is referring here to the ascension of Prophet Elijah as an example for Jesus’ ascension (Elijah – typology).
Jesus had already dialogued with Moses and Elijah in the event of His transfiguration (Lk. 9: 28 -36), He then sets His Face to go to Jerusalem. Like Elijah, when Jesus ascends, He will pour out his spirit on His disciples so that they can perform much greater things than himself.
Going to Jerusalem is therefore an important part of His mission. Jerusalem is the centre of Jewish culture and spirituality. It will soon become the new centre of God’s mission of salvation to the entire world. Jesus is thus absolutely determined to take His pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
This pilgrimage is not easy – Jesus will be resisted, rejected, and ultimately crucified. Cost of the Pilgrimage is enormous for one must leave behind everything one possesses. “… the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Lk. 9:58). To indicate the challenges of this journey, Luke presents the first rejection of Jesus’ mission in Samaria. The Samarians were half Jews, but they rejected the centrality of Jerusalem as the means of salvation. Since Jesus was resolutely determined to go to Jerusalem, they rejected Him.
Luke beautifully brings out the importance of Jesus’ mission when one of the followers told Jesus that He is interested in the mission but needs some time to say goodbye to his family. Jesus’ response was sharp, “No one who puts hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Lk. 9:62). In the first reading we saw Prophet Elijah give Elisha timeout to celebrate his departure with his family. Luke is telling us that Jesus’ mission is much greater in importance than that of Elijah. This mission is so important that any compromises will be against the plan of God.
– Fr. Ranjan D’Sa, OCD