“He set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).
In July, the Common Lectionary brings us again to the “Lord of the harvest” passage – this time from Luke. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2).
Have you ever paused to wonder: Why are they few? Christian mission is the highest adventure and most deeply rewarding enterprise imaginable, isn’t it? Why are the laborers few?
If you have followed the Lectionary (or have learned in another way to read the Bible in context), you will know. July begins with Luke 10; but June ends with Luke 9 – and therein lies the answer. Why are the laborers few? It is due, I think, to Jesus’ terrible “face” (9:51 ff.). Jesus, you see, had “set his face to go to Jerusalem” – and it must have been a terrible sight. A showdown awaited in Jerusalem. Danger and uncertainty awaited there…and eventually a miserable cross. And now you could see it in his eyes. Jesus had “set his face.”
From that moment on, everything was changed. Jesus arrives in “a village of the Samaritans” (9:52). “But they did not receive him because us face was set toward Jerusalem” (9:53). He meets a would-be recruit along the way; on this journey, Jesus warns, foxes and wild birds will fare better than the Son of Man. Another recruit appears but begs first to bury his father. “Let the dead bury their own dead,” Jesus replies (9:60). Still another recruit requests permission “to say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus admonishes, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (9:61, 62). Jesus had “set his face” toward the work that awaited in Jerusalem; now everything and anything less was an empty distraction. No wonder the laborers are few!
North America sends approximately 60,000 full-time cross-cultural missionaries. If North American Christians number close to 200 million, we are sending one missionary for every 3333 believers. Put in another way, this amounts to one day in a decade, approximately, given to Christian mission. Or 3 cents a day of an average household income. Not bad, maybe. But not much.
Perhaps the “face” of Jesus alarms us, too. He is so focused upon the salvation of the world! He is so passionate about it all! Perhaps we are led to distraction, like so many first-century recruits.
Jesus understands the power of smallish distractions. It is not, certainly, that Jesus is against the custom of funerals or courteous farewells, per se. Yet he knows that the highest and most deeply rewarding adventure in the world will be driven off-track, often enough, by very little things – an unanswered letter, or an invitation to dinner, or an unread newspaper (one of my personal foibles), or an overdue book from the library. And we get around to mission one day in a decade.
If the face of Jesus alarms us, we must learn to look deeper – and we will see something more. The One who calls us, loves us. The One who sends us into the harvest, leads us gently there. We may wind up on the road with him to Jerusalem. But not alone.