PENTECOST IV

June 24, 2023

“There’s No Place Like Home”      

Are you starting to forget what the past three summers were like?  Many of us were very concerned about going anywhere that would involve eating in restaurants, staying in hotels, or even having a fairly short visit with friends and/or family.  We didn’t want to contract Covid 19, and certainly didn’t want to infect others if we were carrying the virus but symptom-free.  It felt as though a weird, murky fog was hovering over and around us much of the time.  It’s been so liberating to once again feel that it’s safe to get out of our self-imposed comfort zones.      

When our children were young, we included visits to grandparents and other family members with any vacation or travel plans.  A trip “back home” and being with friends and family is so meaningful, as we reminisce and update, reconnect and renew.  We may see some things differently, perhaps gain a new appreciation for what we had taken for granted.       

The Gospels are filled with accounts of Jesus’ ministry, as he went out into the countryside, to small fishing villages and little farm towns.  People had lived there for generations, and many worked at the same occupations as their fathers before them.  This was a way of life they had always known, and there was a sense of community and security.  It was home.     

But this itinerant preacher, a young man from Nazareth and the son of a carpenter, came along and stirred up these calm, quiet places.  He invited young men to leave their homes, their families and their work to join him traveling throughout the countryside, teaching, preaching, and healing.  He taught them about God as a loving creator and father, and gave them the confidence to preach and teach this good news to others.  They soon were going to unfamiliar places, where they found people eager to hear the message of love and forgiveness in a new and exciting way.     

The disciples left the safety and security of what they knew, and the only homes they had ever had, because the power of this message was greater than their need to stay with the familiar.  They gave themselves wholeheartedly to spreading the gospel as far and wide as they were able, with the faith that their listeners would be inspired to carry it even farther.     As others sometimes indicated a wish to follow Jesus, he spoke of how the birds had their nests and the foxes their dens, but he had nowhere to lay his head.  It sounds a little sad, even wistful, as though he had no place to call home.  But he was making it very clear to any would-be follower that following him was not an easy path.     

Our Lord found himself at home in the company of his disciples, or as the guest of those who were eager to hear the good news of God’s love and care for all.  Jesus’ home was in the hearts of his followers, and we are all invited to share our hearts and homes with him. 

Finding the way home to Jesus,

Your friend in Christ,

Mary Rogers