Wednesday 28 September 2022

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Today is Wednesday the 28th of September, in the 26th week of Ordinary time.

Luke Parker sings, ‘Home’. As you listen, take a moment to consider where you would call “home”…and, maybe, why?

Though my feet are bruised

I will walk this race home to you

Cause you have placed in my heart a spirit song

I will light your way home

I will light your way home

Child, take my hand

Child, take my hand

And on this journey's walk

Through the valleys and the mountains and the rivers we'll go

Cause you have placed in my heart a spirit song

I will light your way home

I will light your way home

Child, take my hand

Child, take my hand

From dust to dust my bones give in

A puff of smoke gone in the wind

I turn my eyes to meet the one

Who leads me gently homeward bound

Home, home

I am, I am coming home

Will you light my way home?

Will you light my way home?

I'll take your hand

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 9:57-62

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘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.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

How do you immediately respond to this reading from Luke’s gospel? What stays with you?

Jesus, travelling to Jerusalem, towards his Passion, shows his commitment to his mission – I have nowhere that is home, I have no time, or space, to rest. How does this image of Jesus’ life speak to you?

Following this, the requests of the followers have a different weight. They have other commitments. Jesus has only one. Do you have any sense of how Jesus is feeling at this time?

As you listen to passage again consider the true meaning behind the Lord’s challenge.

…“but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Perhaps your call to follow Jesus has been costly, in terms of other commitments and relationships? Perhaps there have been times when following the call has been ‘a bit much’?

In a time of reflection, consider these thoughts and feelings with the Lord who calls you to him.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.