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Some very good material in Kenneth Bailey's discussion of the end of Luke 9 (in Through Peasant Eyes). Bailey is especially illuminating on the first of Jesus' encounters with the reluctant disciples. This man volunteers to follow Jesus, but Jesus alerts him that the cost will be great. Jesus is leaving for Jerusalem, and though He has received some hospitality in Galilee and offered hospitality on a massive scale, He will be (in David Moessner's words) the journeying guest who is not received. Better to be a bird or a fox, if you like to have a home to come to in the evening.
Bailey points out that Jesus' small parable may well have political overtones. Jesus calls Herod a "fox" several chapters later, and that could be alluded to here as well. And the "birds of the air" are reminiscent of the various nations that find their roosts in the tree of Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon (Dan 4). Jesus is saying, then, that the ones who are comfortable and cozy are the Edomite foxes and his allies, and the Romans and other hangers-on who populate Israel. The true Israel, Jesus' Israel, is dispossessed, homeless, cast out of the land. This Israel will eventually inherit the earth, but for the time being following Jesus means giving up hope for nearly all inheritance and comfort.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, October 04, 2003 at 09:29 PM
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