(Lk 9:51-62)
Jesus intends to make a scratch against the tide - and to do so he has to fight: it was not enough for him to make a career out of “combing” sheep.
He understands that it is the hairpin bends and crises without stability that produce the Result of God - when the tenacity of Faith comes into play.
The young Rabbi leaves his region to confront severely and uncompromisingly the established reality of the holy city - an eternal web of interests.
It will be a fight to the death, because people's happiness is at stake.
He hardens his face without do-goodisms [v.51 cf. Greek text] and goes, knowing full well what a cruel task he was taking on.
Nobody with a “head on their shoulders” would have had the guts to expose themselves to that deadly danger.
The opposition of the power that wants to be perpetuate itself is fierce, but the Son of God does not let himself be crushed by prudence.
The climate with which his Exodus begins is already heavy, but he doesn’t desist.
The Lord still sends messengers [Angels] «before his face» (v.52). He does not renounce to spread the vital wave of his proposal.
In fact, he valued the 'stable' spiritual relationships of his time as very ambiguous: they ignited inner conflicts - although as today they extinguished outer ones, blunting them (just for a while).
And in Person of Christ, ‘Apostle’ is the one who pulls a situation in the opposite direction to the customary or to the fascinating, disembodied, sophisticated; however external.
By creating the turmoil that solves the real problems, the Master first detaches himself from anyunquism.
Not because the conflict can then been "leaded back", "managed", "adjusted" - with a different winner (vv.54-55).
With an open face, the very squabbles that erupt will serve to dispel the fog, kindle souls, generate different paths (v.56).
So - even suddenly - the possibility of putting together new forces, new resources and “ancient” awareness will be created.
The Father makes use of cross paths, wich intersect and overlap. For a Genesis of Happiness at all costs, even in hard snout.
By letting out our gritty character - not only in extreme cases - the Helmsman of the soul, the irreducible Friend, will be able to guide the everyone’s personal route and journey. Encouraging the achievement of stubborn and liberating goals.
If, on the other hand, history had already been written and the way remained external, the experiences would always be the same.
Life would not give birth to other forms; only reductions.
And forced domestication can rob us of hidden wealth, stealing our personal destiny: this is the real mistake to avoid!
Otherwise, having lost the energy-Person that leads to the destination, Uniqueness would pale into the mediations that hold us hostage.
To internalize and live the message:
What’s the style of your testimony? Are you outraged, short-tempered, and furious, or just determined?
[Tuesday 26th wk. in O.T. October 1st, 2023]
