Jesus has a single-mindedness in the Gospel lesson for this weekend. He is moving forward, setting his face toward Jerusalem. Along the way we learn about a Samaritan village and then three individual encounters. There is an abruptness here that may conflict with our image of Jesus as loving, kind, and compassionate.
If you were asked to name one word that might define Jesus’ single-mindedness, what might that word be? Many of us would name love. Others might name compassion. At the staff meeting this week people named gentle, forgiving, tenacious, dedicated, and unwavering. We might pick up on Paul’s “Fruits of the Spirit” in the Galatians and name qualities like joy, peace, or patience.
If we stay with love for this moment of Jesus’ single-mindedness, we might ponder how love has both shades of yes and no. Love forms the ways we say yes with a spirit of compassion, kindness and mercy. Love also forms the ways we say no, tending boundaries that can also reveal compassion, kindness, and mercy.
There is a clarity here for us to listen for in Jesus. Perhaps Jesus’ single-mindedness that discerns yes and no, spoken in love, is needed in our lives and world today?
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Peter