Pilgrimage - a Picnic?
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
Pilgrimage - a picnic? 27 June 2010 The Revd Jenny Wilkens
- 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
- Galatians 5:1, 13-25
- Luke 9:51-62
http://wellingtoncathedral.org.nz/index.php/Sermons
Well, this morning I want to say thank you, St Paul, for the opportunity to follow in your footsteps in pilgrimage. I now feel I have a much better idea of what is was like for you to make those epic journeys across from Jerusalem to bring the good news of Jesus to the people of Ephesus, Philippi, Athens, Corinth, and can identify with some of the things you had to put up with as you made your journeys - the heat, the mosquitoes….
Paul: 'But hang on a minute, Jenny, yes, you were travelling round Greece in temperatures in the high 30s, but you were in an air-conditioned coach most of the time! And I seem to recall you had stops every two hours for what you euphemistically called "coffee in, coffee out" breaks! And you may have grizzled about the Greek toilets where you weren't allowed to flush paper down the loo, but had to put it in a little basket next to it, but that is nothing compared with those long drops you saw in Ephesus where 40 men could sit alongside each other, and 'getting the wrong end of the stick' was quite a problem when the stick was in fact the toilet brush!
And I seem to recall the only ship you went on was a 4 night cruise ship in the Aegean between the Greek islands - I don't recall you having to go through a shipwreck on the island of Malta like I did!! Oh yes, I know you had to do lifejacket drill on the cruise ship as soon as you got on, but that was just a drill! I think you had quite a cruisy pilgrimage compared with mine!
Well, St Paul, I guess I would have to agree with you, but the pilgrimage group from this Cathedral and Diocese did have a great time journeying through some of the places Paul visited in Greece and Turkey, and we thank you, the parishioners of the Cathedral of St Paul, for your prayerful support while we did so.
But hearing today's Bible readings, we get the idea that pilgrimage, discipleship, journeying with God has never been easy, it has never been one long picnic in the sun!
Our first reading brings us full tilt into the story of the prophet Elijah literally handing over the mantle of his ministry to his younger disciple, Elisha. Yet we get the distinct impression that Elijah is trying to put Elisha off, we know he is all too aware of the realities and the cost of the ministry of prophet, midst much opposition from the political and religious authorities of his day.
Yet Elisha is dogged in his persistence in following Elijah to the end, and has the courage and chutzpah maybe to ask for a double portion of Elijah's spirit, perhaps he senses he will need it for the tasks he will face in the future in God's service.
I think we sense that same spirit of Elisha in Jesus as we see him in our Gospel reading 'setting his face to go to Jerusalem' (Lk 9:51). Our reading today begins a part of Luke's gospel which is unique to his gospel, and not found in the other gospels - it is often called Luke's 'travel document'. It shows Jesus on his way travelling from Galilee south towards Jerusalem, and focuses on themes of discipleship, what it meant for Jesus to travel towards Jerusalem and the cross, and what it means for us to follow in his footsteps, to follow in the way of Christ.
We will be reading from this section of Luke's gospel in the weeks and months ahead, right up until the end of the church year, and it is entirely appropriate that we explore these issues of discipleship in what is called the 'green' season of the church, the season where we concentrate on our growth in our walk and life of faith.
Just what sort of model of discipleship is Jesus advocating? Will he follow on in the tradition of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, as did John the Baptist? John the Baptist certainly didn't pull any punches with the crowds, telling it like it is, and calling them to change their lifestyles not tomorrow but now!
At first blush, it seems that Jesus is proposing quite a different tack, quite a different way of relating to those who didn't agree with his mission. James and John, those Sons of Thunder, were all for calling down fire on a Samaritan village who wouldn't welcome Jesus and his team - that's what Elijah had done to his enemies (2 Kings 1:10), why shouldn’t we? But Jesus rebuked them - this wasn't the way they were going to operate or behave.
So far so good, but Jesus then goes on to issue some pretty stark challenges to those who would be his followers: to one who bowls up with great enthusiasm and spontaneity and says "Yes, I will follow you wherever you go", Jesus replies that foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
Overseas travel reminded me again of the vulnerability of going out into the unknown, and trusting that God would provide our needs for shelter and safety - and we of course had hotels and plane flights booked ahead of time. Yet even we were humbled and privileged by the number of individuals who would help us out when we were struggling with train timetables in German at Munich on the way to Dachau, or who would talk to us when we visited a Greek Orthodox church to have a look around and to worship, reminding me of the so vital ministry of our greeters here at the Cathedral.
As Jesus calls disciples to follow him, I was struck again by the urgency of his appeal. Elijah had let Elisha go home and kiss his parents goodbye (1 Kings 19:20) But here Jesus sanctions no such niceties, not to say goodbye to family, not even to look after the needs of dying parents, even though it was considered the sacred duty of a child to make sure their parents received a decent funeral. I wonder if you consider this quite shocking - I think Jesus here is stressing the urgency of the call to follow him and to proclaim the kingdom of God, such that nothing else can take priority, not even family. And perhaps Jesus is hinting too at that greater family that he is bringing into being, the family we can all belong to of all those who love God and who seek to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
By now you might be having second thoughts if you were a would-be disciple of Jesus, just what am I getting into? But as we hear Paul speaking in his letter to the Galatians, he declares that following Jesus as master and Lord is the place of greatest freedom you could possibly find: 'for freedom Christ has set us free' (Gal 5:1); 'for you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters' (Gal 5:13). Just what does Paul mean?
We tend to think of freedom as meaning we can do anything we like, and as teenagers we long for freedom from the restraints of our parents, if only I could leave home, then I can do as I like, when I like, and at whatever time I like! We tend to focus on freedom from the things we don't like or don't want to do. But Paul says the danger is that when we use our freedom just to do what we like, just to indulge ourselves and our desires, without thinking about other people, we can quickly fall into slavery to all sorts of things that can entrap us, things like that rather gruesome list of vices: 'fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing' - they're a rather interesting list, aren't they, not ranked, just juxtaposed, and note that so many of them are to do with disordered relationships, about the break down of good ways of relating one to another.
I think Paul's most graphic image is this one: "if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by each other" (Gal 5:15) What a powerful image of the way we can tear each other apart by our words and actions!
I want to contrast that with the way of discipleship that brings freedom, as Walter Brueggemann describes it, on the front of our newssheet: "Discipleship with Jesus is no picnic, but it does give freedom, of a very peculiar kind. It is not self-indulgent freedom, but freedom that enhances the neighbourhood. The sum of the new freedom is "love of neighbour", it refuses the ordinary ways of the world. Life with Jesus is indeed another way in the world."
Freedom that enhances the neighbourhood - that is an image that really grabbed my imagination. I was talking with one of our local Thorndon residents the other day about how the Farmers' Market has 'enhanced our neighbourhood' and we got talking about how our two Cathedrals in this area, ourselves and our Catholic neighbours, can continue to enhance our neighbourhood by following Christ together, and seeking to love our neighbours right here in Thorndon.
How can you 'enhance your neighbourhood' this week at home, at work, at school, at uni? As Elisha asked for double the spirit of Elijah, perhaps we need to pray for double the fruit of the Spirit of God in our lives - which fruit of the Spirit do you need God to grow in you for this week: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control?
And let's remember that we're all in this together. Archdeacon Danny Te Hiko spoke yesterday at our Regional Synod about the 'team spirit' of the All Whites, how everyone was important in where the team got to, including those who weren't on the field, but were behind the scenes, in the reserves, or supporting the players, or the fans at home like us. We all have a role to play in enhancing the neighbourhood, and in helping each other through the winter to follow in the footsteps of Christ. May we continue on pilgrimage together here, to God's glory among us. Amen.
