Vagabond King

October 3, 2018

Today’s gospel opens up with a poignant sentence that is quite easy to overlook. “As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey…” We are on a journey and it is continuous. Not everyone loves a good road trip, an extended vacation, a pilgrimage, or a long journey, but I do. I love the excitement of sleeping someplace new each day and the simplicity of carrying everything I need with me. The idea of a vagabond life has always intrigued me. My childhood best friend, David and I, once decided to set out on a journey (we ran away from home for like 5 minutes), complete with quintessential red bandanas on the ends of sticks packed with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a few of our favorite luxury items such as Malibu Barbie for me and Matchbox Cars for David. We probably walked less than a mile before we were convinced that we were starving and once we ate our sandwiches the lure of the adventure was over and we simply walked back home with our dreams on the ends of our sticks. I believe we thought that as long as we had each other we’d have everything and I think that is Jesus’ message to us today. 

One of his disciples was pretty darn enthusiastic about their current evangelization adventure and said, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus’ response to this eager disciple was a very practical one for the time, but a pretty deep theological one for us, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Obviously, following Jesus anywhere would require tremendous sacrifice, discipline, inconvenience, and trust. Families would be left at home for extended periods of time and logistics of feeding and housing dozens to hundreds of disciples was probably just a big nightmare. There was no earthly permanence (practically speaking) to being a follower of Jesus because his time on earth, dwelling among them was limited. The deeper message for us is that once the Holy Spirit entered the scene at Pentecost, we ourselves became the den, the nest, the pillow for His head, and we carry Him wherever we go. This indwelling now has Jesus following us wherever we go, not coming after us, but residing within us as a permanent residence. He fulfills that concept that David and I set out with, “as long as we had each other we’d have everything.” 

Everything means everything, which is Jesus’ second message for us today. He said to one of his disciples, “Follow me”, and said disciple came up with probably the best most understandable excuse to delay following him, “I have to go to my dad’s funeral, but as soon as that is over, I’m all in, Jesus!” I mean who’s going to argue with that totally legit thing to have to do right? Is Jesus telling us to ignore the obligations of our lives? Of course not, he is telling us to put him first and follow his lead. Guess where Jesus would take that disciple if he had followed him? To his dad’s funeral of course! 

Jesus’ last point today is that we cannot get stuck in the past and a journey requires forward momentum. My journey with David ended the minute we went back. The gospel opens with “As Jesus and his disciples were proceedingon their journey”. This journey continues with us and it can only move forward when our “Vagabond King” finds a permanent dwelling within us. We have the amazing privilege to be his host, his companion, his pillow, his den, his nest, and his resting place. I love that he has chosen to go with me wherever I go and I love that when I put him first I have everything I need. He is my sustenance AND my luxury item for the journey and it is well with my soul. 

Reading 1 JB 9:1-12, 14-16

Job answered his friends and said:

I know well that it is so;
but how can a man be justified before God?
Should one wish to contend with him,
he could not answer him once in a thousand times.
God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
who has withstood him and remained unscathed?

He removes the mountains before they know it;
he overturns them in his anger.
He shakes the earth out of its place,
and the pillars beneath it tremble.
He commands the sun, and it rises not;
he seals up the stars.

He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads upon the crests of the sea.
He made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south;
He does great things past finding out,
marvelous things beyond reckoning.

Should he come near me, I see him not;
should he pass by, I am not aware of him;
Should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay?
Who can say to him, "What are you doing?"

How much less shall I give him any answer,
or choose out arguments against him!
Even though I were right, I could not answer him,
but should rather beg for what was due me.
If I appealed to him and he answered my call,
I could not believe that he would hearken to my words.

Responsorial Psalm PS 88:10BC-11, 12-13, 14-15

R. (3) Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
Daily I call upon you, O LORD;
to you I stretch out my hands.
Will you work wonders for the dead?
Will the shades arise to give you thanks?
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
Do they declare your mercy in the grave,
your faithfulness among those who have perished?
Are your wonders made known in the darkness,
or your justice in the land of oblivion?
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
But I, O LORD, cry out to you;
with my morning prayer I wait upon you.
Why, O LORD, do you reject me;
why hide from me your face?
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.

Alleluia PHIL 3:8-9

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I consider all things so much rubbish
that I may gain Christ and be found in him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 9:57-62

As Jesus and his disciples 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."
Jesus answered him, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God."