OPUS DEI LX

A SAMARITAN VILLAGE IS INHOSPITABLE Luke 9:51-56

Now it happened that as the time drew near for him to be taken up, he resolutely turned his face towards Jerusalem and sent messengers ahead of him. These set out, and they went into a Samaritan village to prepare for him, but the people would not receive him because he was making for Jerusalem. Seeing this, the disciples James and John said, “Do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?” However, he turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village.

HARDSHIPS OF THE APOSTILIC CALLING: UNCONDITIONAL COMMITMENT Matthew 8:18-22; Luke 9:57-62

When they were traveling along and the crowd all about him, Jesus gave orders to leave for the other side. They met a man on the road, one of the scribes, came up and said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has no here to lay his head.” Another man, one of the disciples, said to him, “Follow me,” “Let me go and bury my father first.” However, he answered, “Follow me and leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you sir, but first let me go and say good-bye to my people at home.” Jesus said to him, “Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

JESUS GOES UP TO JERUSALEM FOR THE FEAST AND TEACHES THERE John 7:1-24

After this Jesus traveled around Galilee, he could not travel around Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. As the Jewish feast of Shelters drew near, his brothers said to him, “Leave this place and go to Judea, so that your disciples, too, can see the works you are doing; no one who wants to be publicly known acts in secret; if this is what you are doing you should reveal yourself to the world.” Not even his brothers had faith in him. Jesus answered, “For me the right time has not come yet, but for you any time is the right time. The world cannot hate you, but it does hate me, because I give evidence that its ways are evil. Go up to the festival yourselves: I am not going to this festival, because for me the time is not ripe yet.” Having said that, he stayed behind in Galilee. However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up as well, not publicly but secretly.