What does it mean to follow Jesus? “To follow” is a key concept throughout Luke’s gospel, and Luke 9 offers crucial answers to this question.  For Jesus’ disciples, following Jesus means being sent to the villages and relying on the hospitality of others, taking “nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money -- not even an extra tunic” (9:3).  Following Jesus entails offering the hungry crowd something to eat, even when all they have is five loaves and two fish (9:13). By following Jesus, Peter is able to declare that he is “the Messiah of God” (9:20). Following Jesus means taking up the cross – the epitome of losing one’s life in order to save it. In our passage for today, Jesus emphasizes the radical devotion required to follow him. There is no room for hedging bets, because following Jesus means abandoning lives of security – a security found in homes, in tradition, in family. “The first would-be follower makes a spontaneous, enthusiastic offer of unconditioned allegiance. Jesus’ sobering answer drives home the gravity of discipleship. The Son of Man is en route; he lives the life of a homeless wanderer, having no shelter, no home, no family – none of the things that people usually consider requisite for ordinary life, ‘nowhere to lay his head.’ Even the animals are better off” (Anchor, p. 834). Glory and healing, death and servanthood; these are the paradoxes of a life spent following Jesus.

When we read this passage through the lens of the contemporary issue of homelessness and the crisis in affordable housing, a different set of images comes to the fore. Jesus says here that while even animals have homes, he has nowhere to lay his head. He has become homeless, a vagrant. What does it mean to follow the one who literally became homeless for our sake? What would it look like to follow Jesus such that even our homes become sanctuaries for the poor, the oppressed, the homeless? Do we have the moral imagination to envision our church buildings as shelter for those who need it? Do we have the courage to challenge the structures of our society that inevitably make some rich and others poor? And do we really trust Jesus enough to renounce our own sources of security?  This calling to a costly discipleship resonates throughout Luke’s gospel; what might it look like in our own lives?

By Chris Liu-Beers, Program Associate, North Carolina Council of Churches