Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina

26th February 2023

Luke 9:51-56

Today we are going to collectively use the ancient Christian practice of Lectio Divina – which is about sacred listening. We will read the Bible passage a total of three times, and I will explain each time what you are invited to listen for.

1) This passage from Luke’s Gospel follows the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain.

Having just glimpsed this moment of his divine glory, the disciples set out with Jesus on his journey to the city of Jerusalem, where he will fulfil his God-given mission.

[read Luke 9:51-56]

2) What word or phrase stands out for you?

[read Luke 9:51-56]

3) Why might this word/phrase stand out for you?

     What might God be saying to you in this passage?

[read Luke 9:51-56]

Prayer:

God, help us to hear from You and know what You are trying to tell us, teach us, encourage and challenge in us. Help us to incorporate our own understanding with those around us in the church, and to share our understanding with those in the wider community.

May we always seek to hear Your Word for us all, as we discern Your will together.

Amen.

Some of my thoughts on this passage…

·      as I reflect on this passage

·      know [something] of us together as a Church whanau

·      and look ahead to where we are journeying

CONTEXT:

As I’ve mentioned,

·      this passages follows the Transfiguration of Jesus “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (v35)

·      “…he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (v51) Sets out on the journey towards Jerusalem – the city of his execution (Jesus has foretold this earlier in this chapter)

·      We are at the start of Lent, and we make our journey toward the cross of Easter.

Hearing this passage, we might imagine ourselves on a pilgrimage with Jesus, learning how to be a disciple.

Early on in this pilgrim journey, we hear in this passage the awkward moment… The locals show no hospitality.

It’s not clear why the Samaritans are inhospitable at the fact that ‘[Jesus’] face was set towards Jerusalem’ (v53).

Perhaps the specific reason is less important in this story than the lesson that disciples of Jesus aren’t to be surprised by opposition to the mission of Jesus.

In this instance, Jesus’ disciples overreact

(if we are being gracious: their reaction shows how much they regard Jesus, and ‘don’t want no disrespect’)

Ken Davis story about a lift…

[Ken was staying at a hotel, where he was about to give an important speech, and he suddenly remembered he didn’t have his notes (not something a Minister ever has to worry about!)   Let me tell you Ken’s story…]

My notes were still in my hotel room on the ninth floor.

I sprinted to the lift, diving like Indiana Jones through the doors just as they closed.

Whirling to face the front, I frantically pressed the button for the ninth floor. Then I crouched, panting like some predatory cat, poised to spring through the doors the second they opened.

The lift finally reached the ninth floor and stopped.

But the door didn't open. There was a sound like the door had opened. There was that little convulsive shake a lift makes when the door opens.

But the door didn't open.

My imagination went wild.

What if I was trapped in here for weeks?

Maybe archaeologists would pry the door open sometime in the future, only to find my skeleton slumped in a corner.

In a panic I pressed the little "Open Door" button.

Each time I pressed it, the lift would make a sound as if the door were opening.

It would shake as if the door were opening.

But that door didn't open.

I kicked the door.

I didn't want to hurt it; I wasn't trying to be destructive.

I was only helping the maintenance people--I figured a good kick might jar the door loose.

Maybe a second kick, a really good one, would be even more helpful.

In the process of abusing the door, I allowed my finger to slip from the little "Open Door" button and the elevator set off on its travels again.

Now I was frantic.

The elevator crawled to the fourteenth floor and stopped.

Once again it offered all the sound effects and tremors that accompany an opening door, and once again the door remained shut.

I lost control.

I banged on the door, jabbed at the "Open Door" button, and started yelling,

"Someone call the front desk! Call the police!

The stoopid lift door is stuck!"

From behind me, a voice said, "No it isn’t."

I felt a cold chill.

The lift had been empty when I entered it.

Was the thing haunted? Every hair on my body stood at attention.

With bulging eyes I spun around, prepared to defend myself against some misty lift phantom –

only to face seven wide-eyed hotel guests waiting to get on.

This was one of those elevators with doors in both the front and the back.

The people just stood there. They seemed reluctant to share a small, closed-in space with me.

So the disciples overreact. 

Possibly because they are offended by the way Jesus is treated.

Do we sometimes behave like we are protecting God…?

Or maybe like we are protecting our ego…?

Returning to the passage, perhaps you notice the counter-cultural way Jesus responds to rejection:

‘Then they went on to another village.’ (v56)

This says so much about Jesus’ response to rejection.

When the people of that Samaritan village do not welcome Him, and His disciples threaten to ‘call down fire from heaven to burn them up’, Jesus just simply, quietly, without any drama,

…moves on.

Are you holding offence in your heart against anyone or anything?

Do you need to ‘move on’?

Could it possibly be time to simply, without any drama, unclench your fists, relinquish your sense of righteous indignation, and quietly move on?

What it might mean to ‘move on’ from our grievances – to let go of what we need to in order to follow Jesus?

Let us sing: ‘Help Us Forgive, Forgiving Lord’ CH4 693 (TUNE CRIMOND)