Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head

 

 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face.  And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.  But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.  And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?"  But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.  For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them."  And they went to another village. 

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go."  And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."  Then He said to another, "Follow Me."  But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."  And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."  But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

 

- Luke 9:51–62 

 

On Saturday, we read that it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain of the Transfiguration, that a great multitude met Him.  Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, "Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child.  And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.  So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."  Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you?  Bring your son here."  And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him.  Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.  And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.  But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, "Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men."  But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.   Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.  And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.  For he who is least among you all will be great.   Now John answered and said, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us."  But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side."

 

  Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face.  And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.  But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.  And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?"  But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.  For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them."  And they went to another village.   In Saturday's reading and commentary, we noted that a subtle turning point has come in the progression of Christ's ministry.  Now the emphasis on faith grows even stronger; the disciples will have to be strengthened in their faith to bear the experiences that will be coming to them, and to carry out the mission they have of establishing the Church after Christ's Resurrection, and Pentecost.  Jesus has now warned them two times of what is to come at Jerusalem, telling them of His betrayal and persecution, but they have not understood Him.  Perhaps anticipating the advent of a material kingdom, they disputed among themselves who would be greatest (see Saturday's reading, above).  Here we read of a decisive moment, a signaling turning point:  the time has come for Christ to be received up, and so He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face.   He is prepared now to go voluntarily to His Passion in Jerusalem, and all that it will lead to.  St. Cyril of Alexandria comments on this passage:  "The disciples are to benefit from preaching the gospel and experiencing rejection, learning how to accept this with longsuffering and gentleness and not with a vengeful spirit."   Jesus is preparing them for the mission to the world that is to come.

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go."  And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."  Then He said to another, "Follow Me."  But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."  And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."  But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."  My study Bible remarks on the comment directed to Jesus, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go."  It says that there is a cost to discipleship.  Here, Jesus reveals three such costs.  First, the disciple relinquishes personal or earthly security.  That is, if the Lord has nowhere to lay His head, neither will His disciple.  Second, there is nothing -- not even the honor that is due to parents -- which can be an obstacle to serving the Lord.  Finally, a disciple cannot delay in accomplishing the good that is demanded by Christ.  

 

In today's reading, we are given several "costs to discipleship"  that the Gospel lays out.  First, there is the rejection of the Samaritans that the messengers (Christ's disciples) must contend with.  In the Samaritan town, Jesus is rejected.  Somehow there is an implication here of the rejection, the "lifting up" in Crucifixion and death that is to come to Jesus in Jerusalem.  This is a preparation for the times to come, both in Jerusalem, and in the disciples' greater mission to the world to come.  Then Jesus encounters others who would become disciples on the road to Jerusalem.   To one He tells truthfully, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."   Once upon a time I understood this as only indicating that discipleship may entail being poor, but in the context of rejection by strangers it means so much more.  It indicates a state that is physical, psychological, spiritual -- a place of not having a home in this world in the sense of a "place to lay one's head."  Spreading the gospel message, even being a faithful Christian and living in one's home community, may mean that there is no sense of being at home where one is fully accepted, at peace.  Discipleship brings challenges; as we seek to better follow Christ it just might ask us to do the things the disciples do, including leaving friends, even family members behind if we are called by the Lord in such a way.  This may be as simple as finding that practices or behaviors we've always accepted are simply things we're called to turn away from, and we are rejected by others in so doing.  Another says, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."   Even solemn obligations may have to be put aside if it is the right time for us to do something, if we are so called by the Lord -- called to mission away from those who will have no use for our faith.  Another said to Jesus, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."  But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."    Sometimes we will need to leave things behind in such a way that we can't spend time explaining, worrying over what some will think and why.  It is hard to accept these kinds of changes in our lives, even on perhaps the most casual and personal of levels.  But nonetheless Christ will call, and we might be asked to leave pieces of our lives behind as we go forward in our mission of becoming what He asks of us.  St. Paul left behind all that He knew as a Pharisee, speaking of it powerfully in his letter to the Philippians, referring to his worldly life as the life of the flesh:  "If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ"  (Philippians 3:4-7).  We can look to the whole of the New Testament as that which prepares us not with false promises of a worldly kind of success or happiness, but rather with the realities of what  it is to live a faithful life, both the sacrifices of carrying our own particular cross, and the joy that causes St. Paul to rejoice in saying that "what thing were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ."  Note that St. Paul is not at all ashamed of being a Pharisee, or of the Law, or of his Hebrew identity.  This passage means quite the opposite.  These, Paul is saying, are valuable and good things; but nonetheless he counts it all as loss for Christ, for the knowledge of Christ -- and St. Paul's conforming to Christ -- surpassing all of it.  This surpassing excellence is the gain of righteousness through faith in Christ, "for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3:8-11).  Discipleship, we could say from this passage and Christ's teachings in today's reading, is all about that transfiguration that leads us to things that surpass even the nominally "good" things we may know and believe, like delaying to say good-bye to those we leave behind, or obligations  which can be filled by others, even having a home, a secure place where we may lay our head.  Rejection is a part of the Christian life that we might have to face in various ways; it's not simply a part of life where Christianity is officially persecuted.  In a recent reading, Jesus taught, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels."  There are all kinds of ways in which we may take up our cross daily, and lose our life for Christ's sake, or even to be shamed for following Him and His words.  But it is the surpassing excellence of His righteousness that gives us joy and meaning midst the loss, a sense of self, a onfidence that transcends everything else.