While the title of this essay makes me squirm a bit, I recently taught on a passage that prioritized the destination, in contrast to, the journey. While the theology of journey and I have been good friends over the past 4 or 5 years, I could not wrap my brain or my heart around Luke 17:11-19 with this sort of lens. 11Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a]met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" 14When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. 15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."
We simply don't encounter the journey of the Samarian. We also don't learn about the asnwer to Jesus' questions and what happened within the journey of the other nine. The writer of Luke, maybe only as he/she can do, reminds us of the importance, not of the journey, but of the destination of the foreigner... The destination of thankfulness at the feet of Jesus.
In the midst of our busy lives, which are often justified by postmodernly proclaiming that "God is with us in the journey", we need to remember to practice a theology of destination. At the feet of Jesus. In order that, in bringing the text full circle, he might say once again to us, "Rise and go!"
Mini Putt
2 comments:
Thanks for the thoughts. In my class on the Puritans with J.I. Packer we talked about two classic images of the Christian life. 1) The Warfarer - the soldier for Christ, the knight, putting on the full armor of God, spiritual warfare, etc. And 2) the Wayfarer - the Christian life as a journey - especially seen in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. I thought that this last one fits well with a postmodern view of Christianity. But, Packer also stated that in previous eras the journey was defined by the destination. The journey is not the point - the destination is. Therefore a journey in the wrong direction isn't as good of a journey as a journey toward God.
A few journey-destinations from Scripture:
1) Abraham - Leaving Ur to go to the Promised Land
2) Israel - From Egytp thru the desert and into the Promised Land
3) Psalms of Ascent to the Temple
4) Jesus' approach to Jerusalem
The Christian journey seems to be defined largely by the destination.
Blessings.
P.S. THanks for the paper on women in ministry
I love how the text introduces the narrative: "On his way to Jerusalem..." - the cross as the backdrop, and in understanding the historical/geographical context, it seems "the border between Galilee and Samaria" is a detour in the road.
Jesus seemed quite comfortable walking the border, living in the tension.
For more on this discussion, go to www.lakeshoremuskegon.com and listen to the 11.25 sermon "Thanksliving".
Great talking with you this afternoon!
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