Jesus was “determined to journey to Jerusalem’ and on the way “entered a Samaritan village.” “They would not welcome him.” “When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?’ Jesus turned and rebuked them, and He said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of.’”
We move along on many journeys in our life time. Many are physical; from young to old, from home to the road – a first home to a second one, to college, and to various work places. We take to the road for vacations where we walk along the beach or mountain trails. On our physical journeys we have likely come across or made a cache. A cache is an external container usually used to store food. It is our energy for the physical journey which we also share with others. If we are wise, our physical journeys are also spiritual journeys. On our spiritual journey too there is a cache, but it is internal. We are born with and learn to deepen an internal radiance, a spirit brimming with energy for life which we share with others. We meet others at different stages of their spiritual journey who are also learning to share their energy for life. Some are at a stage of travelling a troop trail shown to them by soldiers, ancient and current. Soldiers give their energy to enemy vigilance. In the Gospel, first the inhospitable Samaritans and then James and John trip up on enemy making and on doing harm, Let us “call down fire from heaven to consume them.” They live unaware of their inner cache of energy for life. We see it in our day when a conflict arises and people call upon a soldier’s external cache or reserve of violence from a deity who grants them “fire from heaven.” We need not fall into the trap set by Samaritans, by James and John – soldiers influencing us to chose up sides; Jew vs Samaritan, U.S. vs Iraqi, straight vs gay, citizen vs immigrant, pro-abortion vs anti-abortion, MAGA vs liberal, and on it goes. Hopefully, we are challenged by unifying wisdom figures like Jesus, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of.” Do we “know what kind of spirit we are of?” What is the cache or energy reserve we have stored up and from which we act?
“for every action defined there are infinite that remain… possibilities compile and cache and compress and comeback… where one can merely conject their meaningfulness, realizing that there is infinity in everything and therefore potential even in the kinetic.” (Aaron Amrich)
Prayer: Spirit of Wisdom, we journey together on this path of life.
Question: Who do I let immobilize me from sharing my energy for life?
June 26, 2022 Gospel 9:51-62 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time