Walk on By

Tuesday of the Twenty sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Readings for Tuesday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Jb 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23

Responsorial Psalm Ps 88:2-3, 4-5, 6, 7-8R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.

Gospel Lk 9:51-56

Reflection:

In our Gospel today, Jesus begins his final and fateful journey to Jerusalem. This trip will be one which prepares his disciples for the trials that are ahead of them. As his trip to Galilee began with rejection by the people of his home town, this one begins with rejection by the Samaritans.

When I first read of the disciples asking the Lord if they could rain down fire on the town, I thought this to be a reference to Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. After doing a little digging I discovered that scripture scholars believe this is rather an allusion to the Prophet Elijah from the Second Book of Kings (2 Kings 1:10 ff) and that by rejecting this option Jesus was really distinguishing himself from Elijah.

If the Lord had intended this to be a lesson for his disciples, what do we, his modern day disciples, learn from the story? First we must recognize that like the twelve, we are on a journey that will ultimately end with our passing from this life to the next.

In the first reading, Job, who as we saw yesterday had everything taken from him, lands, property, and family, by Satan, now wished he had never been born. This wish was made only because the road had become so difficult. (Of course, Job never did what Satan wanted him to do; curse and blaspheme against God.) Perhaps Job’s story was placed against the backdrop of today’s Gospel so we can be reminded just how difficult that journey may become for us.

The second point we must take away from our story today is what Jesus teaches in his response to the brothers, James and John. He rejected a violent resolution to the resistance that blocked their way. Even though he could have forced the issue with the Samaritans, he chose rather to go to another village were they would be welcome. Oh, and the subtext of the rejection of Jesus and his disciples was due to religious intolerance. The Samaritans do not like or associate with the Jews in Jesus time and, for the most part, the feeling is mutual. It is not surprising therefore that James and John want to take the extreme measure of toasting the town.

For us, that means that when we encounter resistance, whether it is out of simple ignorance or if it is out of hatred bread by racial or religious bias, our response must be to walk away. It does not matter if we recognize that the situation is unjust. Violence for us is not an option. We can take pity on them in the knowledge that the very emotions that feed them, hatred and bigotry, are destroying them more surely than they are harming us. Our hope is in the Lord.

Pax