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The Lord be with you.

A reading from the Holy Gospel is written to us by Luke.

When the days for Jesus being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent

messengers ahead of him.

On the way, they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his

reception there. But they would not welcome him because his destiny was Jerusalem. When the disciples

James and John saw this they asked Lord do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?

Jesus turned and rebuked them.

And they journeyed on to another village. As they were

proceeding on their journey, someone said to them, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus answered him, foxes have dens and birds

have nests, but the human one has nowhere to lay his head. And to another he said,

follow me, that he replied, Lord, let me go first and bury my father but he answered let the

dad bury the dead. But you go and proclaim the reign of God. And another said, I will follow

you Lord. But first let me say farewell to my family at home.

To him Jesus said no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to the Lord.

Well, I'm sure all of us are thinking, myself included, what kind of world is Jesus talking about?

This is not the way you and I live, avoiding our father's funeral, telling the dead, as it were, to bury the dead. They're all clearly exaggerated statements, but why would he make such strong statements?

No one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. Haven't all of us looked back with

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