Galatians 5:19-25

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Luke 9:51-62

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for his arrival, but they did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village. 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.” And 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.” And Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Spiritual Formation on the Road to Jerusalem
Do you remember when you were in school, maybe in 7th or 8th grade, when your English
teacher would read stories to the class? I wonder if they still do that in school these days. I
always loved that part of class time. Our teacher would start a book with us and read a few
chapters every day until we got through the whole book.

That is what we are doing this summer with Luke. This morning we continue with our
readings from Luke’s Gospel, and we take up a text from Luke chapter 9. Recall that last week
we read a piece from Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, specifically the healing of the demon possessed
man from the Geresenes, and today, our reading is, we could say, a transitional text. That is,
Jesus has completed his ministry in Galilee, and now, he is traveling away from Galilee and on
the way to Jerusalem.

Outlining Luke
In general, Luke’s Gospel is organized in eight sections, and in the written text of this
sermon, I have included an outline of the entire book showing the eight sections as well as the
location of our current readings. We can use this outline as a reference as we continue reading
Luke for the next couple months.

Here is an outline showing the major sections of Luke’s Gospel:
1. Prologue, 1:1-4
2. Birth and Childhood of Jesus, 1:5–2:52
3. Preparation for the Ministry of Jesus, 3:1–4:13
4. Ministry of Jesus in Galilee, 4:14–9:50
5. On the Way to Jerusalem, 9:51–19:48
6. Teaching in the Jerusalem Temple, 20:1–21:38
7. The Suffering and Death of Jesus, 22:1–23:56
8. The Exaltation of Jesus, 24:1-53

Here is the same outline with the placement of our readings for both this week and last week:
1. Prologue, 1:1-4
2. Birth and Childhood of Jesus, 1:5–2:52
3. Preparation for the Ministry of Jesus, 3:1–4:13
4. Ministry of Jesus in Galilee, 4:14–9:50

Last Sunday’s reading, 8:26-39
5. On the Way to Jerusalem, 9:51–19:48

Today’s reading, 9:51-62
6. Teaching in the Jerusalem Temple, 20:1–21:38
7. The Suffering and Death of Jesus, 22:1–23:56
8. The Exaltation of Jesus, 24:1-53

So now, we are beginning the fifth section of Luke, a section we could call “On the Way to
Jerusalem.” And our reading this morning sets up this section.

On the Way to Jerusalem
This “On the Way to Jerusalem” section of Luke is the longest in the book. It runs from
chapter 9 to chapter 19. In these chapters, we are not given many specific locations that would
describe Jesus’ route to Jerusalem, but rather, we are given only an occasional mention that he is
resolved to arrive in Jerusalem as his final goal.

Our reading this morning is kind of a strange text. It’s not really a complete story, but
rather it’s a few bits and pieces of several different conversations. And these conversations reveal
a deeper meaning of this goal, this “getting to Jerusalem,” goal. The goal of getting to Jerusalem
is connected to Christ being “taken up.” The way this is expressed, “taken up,” refers to the
accomplishment of his mission. Jesus will complete his mission in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the
sacred center of God’s people, the Jewish people, and it is from Jerusalem that Christ will be
“taken up,” at the completion of his mission. This being “taken up” will be his “Exodus,” his
exit. It is the end of his work and his departure. So Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem, on the way
to accomplish his mission, and then to be “taken up” in his Exodus, an allusion to the ancient
Israelites’ Exodus from the Egyptian captivity.

A Travel Narrative
Here we have a sense of wandering. In this travel narrative of chapters 9 through 14,
Jesus is wandering, reminding us of the ancient people’s wanderings in the desert. And like it
was for the ancient Israelites, the wandering is formative, that is, it is meant to be spiritually
instructive. Jesus is teaching his disciples, and he is teaching them through this vehicle of
wandering. He knows his goal, the goal is Jerusalem, the center of the Jewish world, the place
where the redemption of Israel is destined to be carried out, and yet, at the same time, he offers
this time of wandering, of spiritual formation, to his disciples. And so, we have these series of
instructive encounters and conversations occurring along the road to Jerusalem.

Spiritual Formation
Spiritual formation takes time. What I’m talking about here, this term “spiritual
formation,” is a type of education. But it’s more than simply classroom education, more than
learning formulas or analyzing concepts. Spiritual formation has to do with the development and
refining of the human heart. Spiritual formation is a lifelong process of attempting to live from
our spiritual heart, our spiritual center, our deepest self, our true self, that is, who we really are.

In taking on spiritual formation, a person accepts a commitment to some form of influence. The
person wants to be influenced for spiritual growth. We are always being influenced by
something, whether or not we are aware of it.

I remember years ago, I was teaching an introductory class in meditation. The class was
open to the public. I had advertised, and there were about 75 people who showed up. During the
class, a lady in the audience raised her hand and said, “I’m not sure I want to learn meditation
because I’m afraid of being brainwashed.” And I replied, “Most people are already
brainwashed.” Thinking back on this, it was probably a harsh thing to say. But the point was that
we are constantly being influenced, in one way or another. In spiritual formation, we choose
influence. Rather than allowing whatever the wind blows in to influence us, we make a
conscious choice of the source of our influences.

Three puzzling statements
In our text this morning, Jesus presents the goal of his teaching as something he calls
“Living in the Kingdom of God.” In reference to this “Living in the Kingdom of God,” there are
three puzzling statements in the text. I’m not going to try to explain them because I read them as
puzzles or riddles. They are objects for our contemplation. They’re the kind of statements that
you hang onto for a while, you carry with you for a while, you chew on them and struggle with
them for a while. And then, maybe sometime in the middle of the night, when you least expect it,
you wake up with a new insight. Oh! That’s what he is talking about: “The son of Man has
nowhere to lay his head.” “Let the dead bury their own dead.” “No one who puts a hand to the
plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” These are strange statements. We could
contemplate these statements and see where they take us, and this is an example of spiritual
formation.

This is the kind of work a person takes on in spiritual formation. We are presented with a
problem or a difficult text, and we struggle with it for a while, maybe even for years. Our
mistakes are part of our spiritual formation. We could see our whole life as spiritual formation:
our relationships, our challenges, our problems, the whole thing.

Bill Moyers and spiritual formation
This past week, I learned that Bill Moyers died at age 91. I’m sure you remember Bill
Moyers. He was White House Press Secretary for Lyndon Johnson and then went on to work in
public broadcasting and documentary films. He grew up with strong Baptist roots in Marshall,
Texas and later earned several degrees, including the Master of Divinity from Southwestern
Baptist Seminary. I first learned about Bill Moyers when I watched his interview series with
Joseph Campbell that aired in 1988. Here was a television journalist from East Texas, complete
with southern drawl and Baptist credentials, in a dialogue with an East Coast ivy league literature
professor, asking very probing questions about religion and spirituality, life and death, and the
meaning of the whole thing. In the course of the interviews, I got a sense that Bill Moyers was
asking sincere and humble questions, questions related to his own spiritual journey. I admired
that, since I was asking similar questions.

Watching Bill Moyers’ interviews with Joseph Campbell was a significant turning point
in my own spiritual formation. A few years earlier, at age 18, having grown up in church, I had
rejected the church and left Christianity once and for all. But the Moyers-Campbell dialogue
opened a new door for me, a new way to reflect on religion and spirituality. Eventually, after
many years of spiritual journey and formation, I was able to find new meaning and inspiration in
the Christian faith. And here, I’ll invite you to contemplate a question with me: What are some
turning points in your own spiritual journey? What influences have shaped your spiritual
formation?

I’ll conclude with this: In our reading from Galatians this morning, we have some
specific instructions for this journey, things that lead to the Kingdom of God and things that do
not lead to the Kingdom of God. The description in Galatians of the fruit of the Spirit shows us
this precisely. What is the Kingdom of God? It is exactly this: love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is a way of life that leads to
the Kingdom of God, and it is the Kingdom of God. It’s how we get there, and it’s how we live
when we are there.

The invitation this morning is for us to think about our own spiritual journey, our own
spiritual formation, as we continue to read about Christ’s journey toward Jerusalem in the
coming weeks.
Amen? Amen.