Try on a New Perspective
- The Rev. Ann Fraser
- Jun 25
- 2 min read
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:57-62
Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, says Jesus. But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. To the eager would-be follower who says they will follow Jesus wherever he goes, this might have sounded like a discouraging brush-off.
This exchange follows an experience in which Jesus and his disciples have passed by a Samaritan community where the villagers declined to extend hospitality to them as they traveled toward Jerusalem. Others who approach Jesus want to follow but feel they must first see to other things at home. You wonder whether Jesus feels wistful or even exasperated about being on the move while all these others are so oriented to their own home and hearth. Even the foxes and birds have more to call home than Jesus!
And yet perhaps Jesus is not at all troubled by this aspect. One who has no permanent place to tend might find it easier to be at home in many kinds of places. My friends who have moved often, whether as kids or through work or military service, wound up with generous friend-making abilities. Those may have been hard-won through the trials of multiple moves, attaching and reattaching, but they bear fruit that blesses in every direction. These are people who don’t merely look for community but create it by their willingness to connect with others.
You or I may not be in a particularly transitory time in our lives – maybe there’s no change of address on the horizon. But what might it mean to try on that same orientation in our spiritual or political ways of seeing? I wonder if our understanding of one another and our compassion for the world would grow as we travel from our most homey attachments to visit ideologies further afield. Can I look at this political question from another side? Is there a perspective I haven’t listened to that I can hear from? I may or may not be persuaded, but I can become more generous.
There are such heavy things pressing on our world – fear and violence and uncertainty. There are more life-giving things to do than dive down rabbit holes of despair. Whatever I learn from a new perspective can only add to my prayers and ability to be a compassionate presence in this world. Knowing Jesus is on the road ahead of me might help me keep moving toward my neighbor.
Peace, Ann +