I’m looking for some insights into this one. Can you find a consistent theme throughout this passage? I see a lot going on here, but I’m trying to see if there’s a consistent message from verse 51-62. 

Luke has 24 chapters in his gospel but in chapter 9 we read that Jesus is preparing to head to the place where his life will end. This is important in understanding the challenge of what it means to follow Jesus. I think everyone wants to follow Jesus, but do we want to follow him to death.

Why don’t the Samaritans receive Jesus’ disciples? In the gospel of John Jesus has a conversation with a woman at a well in Samaria. During their conversation she brings up that her community has a different religious practice than that of Jesus. Jesus and the Jews worship in the temple in Jerusalem, but the woman and here people worship on “this mountain.” Is it the religious differences that keep the Samaritans from receiving Jesus? What ensues is even more interesting. James and John, I believe with good intentions, ask Jesus if they should wipeout the village fire from heaven. Obviously they are offended that this village shuns Jesus, but thankfully cooler heads prevail and Jesus rebukes them and they continue on their way to another village.

This next paragraph seems like a stark shift. Jesus encounters a number of individuals who either ask to follow Jesus or Jesus invites them to follow him, but these invitations are met with challenges replies. Is Jesus first response meant to inform the would be follower that following Jesus is difficult? Is Jesus insinuating that he is homeless and those who follow Jesus are also without a home? Next Jesus invites someone to follow him and they respond with what seems like a very valid excuse. “Let me go and bury my father.” Is Jesus’ response insensitive? “Let the dead bury the dead.” Maybe this response is less shocking when we attach Jesus’ next words, “Proclaim the kingdom of God.” God’s kingdom is one of life over death. If this follower commits to this message does it reflect the eternal promise that his father will live forever in heaven? The last excuse is just a simple farewell but Jesus has strong words for this individual too. I have never plowed a field, especially by hand, but I think I get what Jesus is saying. If you try to do something like plow a field, and you aren’t looking ahead, it isn’t going to go well. Just as Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem, this response invites us to set our eyes on the work and mission of God. So, where are we looking?