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[51] When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. [52] And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; [53] but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. [54] When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" [55] But he turned and rebuked them. [missing text 56] Then they went on to another village.
[57] As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." [58] And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." [59] To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." [60] But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." [61] Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." [62] Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
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This is the Gospel selection that will be read aloud by a priest on the third Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. It will culminate either a Track 1 or Track 2 course of readings, depending on the path an individual church takes for Year C. The Track1 path includes an Old Testament selection from Second Kings, followed by a singing of verses from Psalm 77. In the Old Testament reading is said, “When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha said, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.”’ The Psalm then sings, “I will meditate on all your acts and ponder your mighty deeds.” The Track 2 path has selections from First Kings and Psalm 16. The Old Testament says, “So [Elijah] set out from there, and found Elisha son of Shaphat, who was plowing.” Psalm 16 includes the verse that sings, “Their libations of blood I will not offer, nor take the names of their gods upon my lips.” One pair from those four will precede the Epistle selection from Galatians. There, Paul wrote, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.”
To make the meaning of this reading selection clearly known, I will now translate each verse literally, rather than place focus on the paraphrases of the NRSV [the Episcopal Church's reading source]. To assist the student to see the differences presented by my translations, versus those of the NRSV, I have applied verse numbers to the above reading.
Verse fifty-one literally translates into English saying, “it was Born now within to this to fulfill these days of this of lifting up of his soul , kai his soul this face it firmly established of this to travel into Teaching Peace [Jerusalem] .”
This verse begins with a capitalized “Egeneto,” where the divine elevation to a spiritual level has the meaning be “It was born.” This word, in this specific form, appears over two hundred times in the New Testament. Rather than be read like a fairy tale, as “It came to pass,” when capitalized the third-person should be seen as Yahweh’s Spirit in Jesus, which was created by Yahweh for the purpose of saving souls. Thus, it is this “Birth” that was spread throughout the ministry of Jesus; and, this verse tells us of a new “Birth” of Spirit for others to witness in his ministry.
The NRSV makes this simply be “when the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up.” This account in Luke (Mother Mary’s memories shared), Jesus was still in the early “days” of his ministry. In Luke’s seventh chapter, John the Baptist was still alive, having sent messengers to ask Jesus if he was the one. In Luke’s ninth chapter, Jesus sent out the twelve in their internship ministry, with the feeding of the ’five thousand’ and the ‘transfiguration’ events told just prior to this one. This says Luke's ninth chapter is a synopsis of three years reviewed at one time, as remembered by Mother Mary, rather than represent a chronological account of everything that happened between the events remembered in chapter nine. While Mary's memories (divinely inspired) sped through Jesus' ministry that she witnessed, the focus of this verse is less about the timing of "days," and more about the coming end to the "light of inspiration" Jesus offered as a physical teacher in the world.
As such, the Greek written: “hēmeras tēs analēmpseōs autou” must be seen as heavily written in the Genitive case, where possession must be understood as the spiritual transfer of Jesus’ presence into others. This has the English say, “days of this of lifting up of himself” … where “himself” turns into a statement of “his soul.” This says “these days” of Jesus’ ministry were when he was seeding his own soul into the lost 'sheep' he found in ministry, which would mark them as souls in which his soul would fully resurrect, after his soul had been released in death – when “of lifting up of his soul” was complete. The external light of Jesus would become an internal light of Jesus, when his soul was "taken up" by another soul Jesus had marked as the Father's.
Following the comma mark is written the word “kai.” Because a comma mark is a symbol that states “and,” the word “kai” must be realized as written letters that are never be read as that worthless word of conjunction. What can be stated in a mark needs not take up space in letters. The word “kai” is a marker word of importance to follow. That stated importantly here says, “his soul [himself] this face firmly established.” That means it is important to see “these days” of Jesus’ ministry had him wearing “the face” of his intent and purpose, having been a “soul” [self] made by the hand of Yahweh. This says Jesus wore the “face” of sainthood – call this pronouncement of a divine halo surrounding his head.
That being “firmly established” by Yahweh’s presence within his flesh, his purpose in ministry was “to travel” places where the scattered flock of Yahweh had been placed. The “face” Jesus took to those lost sheep would be recognized by those lost sheep who were Yahweh’s. They would come to his “face,” so Jesus could “Teach them Peace.” This is the meaning behind the name “Jerusalem;” and, that capitalized word should be seen as having greater value than the residual fact that Jesus was always headed [“facing”] towards Jerusalem, from his first day in ministry. Jesus was always going to be "Teaching Peace."
Verse fifty two literally translates into English saying, “kai he sent angels before with face of his soul , kai having traveled , they came in to a village of Samaritans , even as to have made ready to his soul .”
This verse begins with the word “kai,” which means it is important to grasp the third-person aspect of who “sent angels” (“angelous”). The NRSV translation makes it seem as if Jesus barked out some orders to his disciples, so some were “sent” ahead as “messengers;” but that should make one wonder, “What was the message sent?” The third-person seen as Yahweh “sending” His Son is not the first time Yahweh has done that. His “sent angels before the face of his soul” says the ”soul” of Jesus had come prior, with a different human face – all wearing the same “face” of Yahweh, as did Jesus.
Following this statement of the “days” of Jesus in ministry, which was like that of Elijah and David prior, Jesus “traveled” so the “face” of Yahweh could be shared with others. At this time, we are told Jesus and his disciples “came into a village of Samaritans.” It should be noted that Samaria was a city and a region, which had been slap-dab in the middle of David’s Israel. It had been where Elijah ran, because Bethel was in Samaria the region. So, despite the Jews hating Samaritans (and vice versa), due to them having remained in Samaria, while mixing with Gentiles, there were still lost sheep of Yahweh’s flock there [the focus of the Good Samaritan parable]. As wherever Jesus traveled was “to make ready his soul” to transfer into and mark the souls of Yahweh’s flock, so too was it in this “village” the group entered.
In the divine elevation of the capitalized "Samaritans," it is valuable to realize the meaning behind the word says those people were "Watch Keepers," where they kept "Watch" for Yahweh. When that meaning is realized, the Samaritans should have run towards Jesus, seeing Yahweh had sent their Good Shepherd to find them. Because they would be found uninterested, even resentful of a group of Jews coming into their village, the "Watch Keepers" had fallen asleep on duty.
Verse fifty-three then literally translates into English saying, “kai not they received his soul , because this face of his soul it existed traveling to Teaching Peace [Jerusalem] .”
This verse also begins with the word “kai,” so it is important to grasp the meaning of those Samaritans “not they received his soul.” That says they refused to look upon the “face” of Yahweh that Jesus wore. That says they turned their backs to Jesus; so, his soul [himself] could find no seekers to receive the spiritual transfer that would mark them for salvation. The “because” is not explaining that somehow Samaritans knew Jesus was headed to Jerusalem, but explaining that the Samaritans (due to deep animosity for anyone robed as a Jew) refused to look upon “this face of his soul” [himself]. That “face” would have “Taught Peace” to the Samaritans, had they looked upon it; but they turned their backs to Yahweh.
Verse fifty-four then literally translates into English saying, “having Perceived now , these disciples He Who Closely Follows [James] kai YAH Has Been Gracious [John] they spoke , Master , wish you we should tell fire to have descended away from of this of spiritual heaven kai to destroy their souls ?”
This verse says it became obvious to the disciples that their presence as recognizable Jews was not only “seen,” but divinely inspired by Yahweh’s Spirit, so they “Perceived” this rejection of Jesus. In the naming of “James” and “John,” when the meaning behind those names is understood as taking on a divinely elevated meaning from the capitalization, all of the disciples can be seen as identified by those two names. Each one of them becomes “He Who Closely Follows” Jesus. The name "James" is similar to “Jacob,” also meaning “Supplanter,” where all the disciples would become Jesus reborn after Pentecost Day, "Closely Following" him, "Supplanting" his soul in theirs. As such, the Apostles would all then importantly know that “YAH Has Been Gracious” to their individual souls.
This way of reading these names says each one of the disciples had received a portion of Jesus’ soul in them already, alongside their souls, each having been marked as Yahweh's flock. This inner connection is why each truly called Jesus his “Master” or “Lord.” The capitalization here divinely elevates that relationship to a spiritual (soul) level.
When the NRSV makes it seem as if James and John (the brothers of Zebedee, a.k.a. “sons of thunder”) had some power “to command fire to come down from heaven and consume” the rude Samaritans … that is ludicrous. The correct way to read their question is as them requesting Jesus' permission to become ‘fire and brimstone preachers,’ asking Jesus if they should preach to message of eternal damnation to the Samaritans, for them turning their backs to the Son of man. They knew that their failure to listen to Jesus would lead their souls to a ruinous end.
Verse fifty-five then literally translates into English saying, “having Changed (direction) now , he censured to their souls . < kai he said , Not you perceive of what manner of spirit exist your souls > ;
In this, the capitalized Greek word “Strapheis” is divinely elevated in meaning, so it means more than simply, “but he turned,” as the NRSV puts it. The root verb “strephó” means, “to turn, to change,” implying in usage “I turn, am converted, change, change my direction.” [Strong's] The spiritual level of meaning becomes relative to the disciples rudely suggesting rejection of Jesus now will mean eternal damnation was assured in the future. Thus, the capitalized word places focus on times coming when that attitude is found “having Changed.” The disciple knew that “Change now,” so they knew why they had not rejected Jesus. This "Changed direction" is then Jesus 'calming the storm' that had arisen in his emotional disciples, where their reaction to rudeness was to become rude themselves. That "Turn" means their anger was quickly calmed and quieted.
Rather than think Jesus “rebuked them,” as that would be the 'crying baby syndrome,' where Jesus himself would have also become emotionally disturbed. Put one crying baby in a room with calm babies and the whole roomful of babies will soon also be crying. A better translation says “he censured;” but he did not do this vocally. We know this by the signal of an angle bracket before the word "kai." The angle bracket denotes spiritual communication and the word "kai" denotes it is important to grasp what "Jesus said" without using his physical voice. In this, Jesus might have simply shook his head, “No,” while the soul of Jesus within his disciples spoke to them spiritually. Thus, no one spoke anything to the Samaritans; and, this is at the root of the command to love your enemies, because hatred is spread by adding condemnations to that fire. When people turn their backs in rejection, then they are saying to you, “Turn away from me.” You love them by understanding their silent statements; so, you do as they wish out of love.
It is at this point that there is missing text, which the NRSV saw no reason to translate words placed within angle brackets (< >). There are such angle brackets surrounding the remainder of this verse. The beginning of verse fifty-six also begins with much stated between angle brackets, with nothing of those words read aloud in any Episcopal church. This is like someone seeing divine text (Holy Scripture) as optional; and, then taking the lazy approach and turning his or her back to Yahweh’s servant Luke (as Mother Mary’s memory writer).
The angle brackets are seen as asides, thus translated as unnecessary to translate. In reality, they are equally important statements, just stated spiritually … not vocally. Just as Jesus gave a sign to his disciples not to throw fuel on the fire in the village, the importance was a whisper that their souls heard. Jesus said, “Not you perceive of what manner of spirit exist your souls.”
This follows verse fifty-four beginning by saying the disciples “Perceived” the rejection of the Samaritans. That “Perception” was not from any one Samaritan or group of Samaritans coming to them and telling them to leave. They “Perceived” their acts that ignored their presence. Thus, Jesus whispered to the souls of his disciples what they had not “perceived.” They saw the level of “spirit” in the “souls” of others and judged it as low. However, at the same time they were blind to the “spirit that existed in their own souls.” That whisper immediately was the “censure” placed on the disciples, because they all realized they were turning away from Yahweh in the same manner as were the Samaritans turning away from Jesus. Without saying a physical word, the disciples each "censured" themselves, after suggesting anger to be their response.
Verse fifty-six then literally translates into English saying, “< this indeed son of this of man not he has come breaths of life of humankind to destroy , on the other hand to save (rescue) > . kai they traveled towards a different (nearby) village .”
This verse continues this silent conversation between Jesus’s soul and the souls of his disciples. Jesus whispered to them that what the disciples were suggesting was like any “son of mankind,” where “son” is in the lower-case spelling, as ordinary and human. The Samaritans saw a group of “men,” all of whom wore the garb of priestly students of Judaism. As men of ‘the cloth,’ they were not expected to serve Yahweh by threatening the souls of others with condemnation (destruction by fire). Only Yahweh “breathes the life of humankind,” so only Yahweh will take away that “life,” when it is time. Because Jesus was training his intern priests – as “sons of man,” not as his soul resurrected within each of them – he told them (as their Lord and Master – Teacher) the role of a priest of Yahweh is to lead souls to salvation.
This silent message taught by Jesus to his disciples is “censured” from the lessons of Luke, by the NRSV (and others). By doing so, they act as little translation gods on earth, determining what Scripture is worth presenting to the lost lambs. By doing so, they serve only themselves (their own egos), while condemning others to hell (by their omissions). This act of "censure" says those who omit these words of Scripture (as well as explain why they are contained within angle brackets) are failing to heed the silent recommendation Jesus made to his disciples. It shows pulpit hired hands turn their backs to Yahweh and Jesus, just as did the Samaritans.
Verse fifty-seven then literally translates into English saying, “Kai of traveling of their souls within to this path , he said a certain one advantageous for his soul , I will Follow to you where if you might depart .”
Verse fifty-seven begins with a capitalized “Kai,” which means that which follows is most important to grasp. It can also signal an important change of focus in the text, as a new lesson to be learned. Here, the Genitive case that begins, “of traveling of their souls [themselves]," says this possession is then spiritual and “within” or “inside” (“en”) their souls. The disciples accompanied Jesus in his “traveling,” which was his ministry. As such, “to this path” is not a physical road or path they walked. It says “this path” was that of righteousness, which Jesus' soul led their souls to follow. Importantly, after having learned a lesson in humility in the Samaritan village, as the group "traveled" in the possession of Jesus' soul, the disciples felt a need to voice their commitment to Jesus.
In this verse is a repeated word that also will be found used in verse sixty-two. The word is “pros,” which the NRSV casually translates as “to,” connecting that to “auton,” as “to him.” Strong’s shows “pros” as meaning: “advantageous for, at (denotes local proximity), toward (denotes motion toward a place),” implying in usage: “to, towards, with.” HELPS Word-studies says it properly means, “motion towards to "interface with" (literally, moving toward a goal or destination).” In my mind, this makes a motion towards a goal (salvation) necessary to be read as “advantageous for” one’s soul, which is then stated in the verse, as “auton” – “himself,” becoming “his soul.”
The “advantage for a soul” is salvation. As such, “a certain one” (from “tis”) becomes a statement that one of the disciples is who “said” to Jesus, while “traveling,” “I will Follow to you where if you might depart.” Here, the “advantage for” a disciple would be to speak bravely about protecting Jesus, because (following the story in Luke of the Transfiguration, when Jesus told the disciples he would die) such a statement of personal commitment could earn ‘brownie points,’ relative to the pecking order that the disciples later began arguing about. This then makes the conditional scenario presented: “if you might depart” (with “depart” also possibly meaning “die”) a refusal to accept that death as a foretold certainty. The "if" statement is then said as an assurance to Jesus, saying, "if you die," then this disciple would take over for him, as the leader of the school of disciples.
This means the probability of “a certain one” being Simon-Peter should be seen. The capitalization of “Akolouthēsō,” meaning “I will Follow” is divinely elevated to become a statement inspired by Yahweh. There are similar capitalized forms of this word also found in verses fifty-nine and sixty-one. This makes the three uses symbolic of the three times Jesus was shown (in John’s vision-dream) to ask Simon if he loved him. However, the series beginning here (in these selected verses) has Jesus being addressed by his disciples about his prior stern warning, “If you after me to come, then deny yourself, lift up the stake (cross) of your soul kai let him follow me.” [Luke 9:23]
As Peter was the one most often to be the one who spoke from divine inspirations, while not having a clue what he was saying, his thinking “follow” would be found true as “Follow,” after Jesus’ soul would be raised in Peter’s dead flesh on Pentecost (still some time away). This “certain one” was thinking he could become a Master of disciples, but the reality he would face before actually “Following Jesus” (as Jesus reborn) would mean Peter went through much weakness and denials. That says the commitment made boastfully would be realized after coming to terms with his own weaknesses of the flesh.
Verse fifty-eight then literally translates into English saying, “Kai said to his soul this Yahweh Will Save [Jesus] , Them crafty people (foxes) dens they possess , kai birds (those with wings) of this of heaven (spirituality) dwelling places ; this now Son of this of mankind not he possesses where this head he might make to yield .”
Here, the name of “Jesus” is written, which is the first of only two times the name is found in these selected verses. As a capitalized word, the name should be read as being divinely elevated as “Yahweh Will Save.” While “the certain one” spoke in human terms to Jesus, Jesus not only replied in human terms (the manner of divine Scripture says more than immediately caught), the use of “auton” says Jesus spoke to “his soul” with these words, as the extension of “Yahweh that Saves” souls. What the deeper meaning of this said must be grasped.
It appears that Jesus said some more funky stuff that sounds good, but nobody explains what it means. Here the funky comes off as “foxes” and “birds.” One lives in “holes,” while the other lives in “nests.” To hear that and then hear Jesus saying he has no place to lay his head totally misses the point of divine possession. That is the truth of what Jesus said to “a certain one,” who had just promised to be there for Jesus, if he “departed.”
The Greek word translated as “foxes” is “alōpekes.” The word implies “a crafty person,” where being “foxlike” is metaphor. When the English word “foxlike” shows characteristics that include “cunning, artful and sly,” it does not take much of a leap to see Jesus is talking about the serpent who craftily lured Eve to do what it suggested to do in Eden. This makes the “dens” (or “holes, burrows, and lairs) “they possess” (from “echousin”) be the souls of their prey. This metaphor from Jesus says demons have the souls of the wicked to call their homes.
The Greek word translated as “birds” is “peteina.” According to Strong’s, this word means “winged,” while implying in usage “birds, fowl.” When one sees “foxes” as Satan’s little helpers, then “winged” becomes the spiritual equivalents to demons, as “angels.” The Greek word “kataskēnōseis” is translated as “nests,” simply because the NRSV translated “winged” as “birds,” and “birds” live in nests. In reality, the word means “lodgings,” implying “dwelling places.” When “angels” is read as the metaphor, their “dwelling places” would also be souls. This is what the ancient world deemed to be “Desdemona,” which was benevolent possessions, by fortunate spirits. We last saw one of these (the classification means “ill-fated, unfortunate”) when a spirit [Legion] possessed the girl in Philippi, which Paul cast out. Still, Jesus said souls received spirit possessions by "elohim" [common angels], so they found homes in humans as well as the “foxes."
When Jesus then said, “this now Son of this of mankind not he possesses where this head he might make to yield,” the key word is “now” (“de”). While the soul of Jesus was trapped in his own flesh, he was unable to fully possess another soul (like could demons and spirits). The meaning of “this head he might make to yield,” is to enter into the soul given a body of flesh at birth and influence the fleshy brain to follow the will of the Mind of Christ. The Greek word “klinē” is the third-person singular, subjunctive form of “klinó,” meaning “to cause to bend.” It can imply “rest, recline” (thus “lay”), but the better direction to take in reading this meaning as: “cause to give ground, make to yield.” This says a soul must willingly submit control of its body of flesh to a divine possession – the resurrection of Jesus’ soul – but that can only happen after his body of flesh released his divine soul to possess others.
When this verse is read as a response to the first "certain one" [Simon-Peter], who said bravely that he would "Follow" Jesus, that "certain one" still did not know what spirit possession meant. All of the disciples had witnessed Jesus cast out demons and they themselves had enough of Jesus' soul in them to cast out unclean spirits; but (just like Christians walking the earth today) none of them understood that Jesus had to die, to release his soul, so his soul could enter into their souls fully and "bend their heads" to his ways. Thus, Jesus' response was, "You have the symbolic proof before you, seen in the homes of foxes and birds, but you do not yet understand what I means when I say, "Follow me."
Verse fifty-nine then literally translates into English saying, “he Said now advantageous for a second (person) , you Follow me . this Now he responded < Lord > you Turned to me at the beginning ⇔ , to having departed , to have buried this father of me .”
Here is a two-way communication, with Jesus now stating to “a second” or “another” disciple, instructions that will be “advantageous for” him. That instruction says, “you Follow me.” That can even be seen as a prophecy, stating what will happen. When the second-person form of “Follow” is extended to see “your soul Follows me,” then this is more spiritual talk between a disciple and his inner lord.
The response needs to be seen as including the capitalized word “Kyrie” written within angle brackets, meaning it is a silently stated whisper. After hearing Jesus give him an instruction to “Follow me,” the recognition of “Lord” could be a bow forward, towards Jesus, as an act of submission before one’s recognized “Lord.” That explains the angle brackets around “Lord.” Still, this response is shown to include a ‘left right arrow,’ which is a symbol (impossible for the NRSV translation to show) that says truth exists, if that before is true, then that after is true. That response needs to be analyzed.
The first word (following “< Lord >”) is a capitalized “Epitrepson,” which is written in the second-person, attaching “you” to the root that means, “to turn to, entrust, to permit,” implying in usage “turn to, commit, entrust; allow, yield, permit.” [Strong's] The divine elevation leads this response to be a mutual level of “Commitment” between Jesus and this second disciple, where the disciple recognized Jesus “Turned” to face him “at the beginning” of Jesus’ ministry. That then “Turned” the disciple from his past ways, to the path his soul set out upon, led by Jesus. The left right arrow then says the disciple was “Committed” to “Follow” Jesus from the “beginning,” until the end, when Jesus will be found “to (be) having departed.” This statement of truth is interesting and needs further analysis.
The angle brackets surrounding “Lord,” say this disciple would not directly call Jesus by that title. He signaled submission with a gesture. When the left right arrow is realized to also point out false statements, where if that before is false, then so too is that which follows, one needs to consider this disciple as being Judas Iscariot. By not calling Jesus his “Lord” or “Master,” Judas would have been “Turned” to Jesus for all the wrong reasons, from the very beginning. To have his level of “Commitment” truly verified, then Judas would have to still be “Turned” to Jesus when he died. That was not the case; meaning the comma of separation, leading to the statement “to having departed,” says Judas was the traitor that “Turned” in Jesus, “having (him be) departed.” Since Judas was not alive when Jesus died (having killed himself), the left right arrow becomes the test of the “Commitment” in this disciple that Jesus told, “you Follow me.”
This would then make Judas saying, “to have buried this father of me,” seem as if a disciple committed to Jesus to Follow him, but after he buried his father. That can now be seen as not being the intent. Instead, it is Judas admitting “to have buried this,” who was Jesus. To call Jesus “father,” in the lower-case spelling, says Jesus was seen by him as an “elder, ancestor, or senior,” not as the “Son of mankind.” It can even imply that Judas Iscariot (where “Iscariot” means “Man of the City”) was related to a leader on the Sanhedrin, who was then sent to follow Jesus as a disciple, in order to report back to them what they wanted to know. This places Judas Iscariot in a classification of zealots, similar to Saul (who would become Paul), as Judas would have Jesus "Turned to him in the beginning , to have die," as a way of proving to the other disciples that Jesus was only a 'son of man,' not a god. Judas would then realize the errors of his intellect, when the presence of Jesus' soul beside his would let him know how serious an error his soul had made.
Verse sixty then literally translates into English saying, “he Responded now to his soul , you Permit these dead ones to bury these of themselves dead ; you now , having departed , you proclaim this of kingdom of God .”
Here we find Jesus’ response to Judas (if it is indeed him that was the “second” disciple in these verses). Again, reading “autō” as “to himself,” which converts to “his soul,” we can see the truth of Jesus’ response to a known betrayer. The first word Jesus spoke is capitalized, as “Aphes.” This is divinely elevated, in the second-person, where the spiritual focus is on what “you Leave, Send away, or Permit,“ with that including “Permit to depart.” This leads to the “Permission” to allow “these dead ones to bury these of themselves dead.” This focus of the ‘dead” must be seen as a soul alone in a body of flesh, where all flesh is dead matter, which will eventually force the soul to “Leave” it. In this, Jesus certainly was not suggesting a disciple’s deceased father should be buried by some other dead father. All death is metaphor for the soul having not been assured eternal life. Therefore, Jesus’ answer makes perfect sense to have been made to Judas Iscariot, as he would sacrifice his opportunity for eternal life (he “Permitted dead” to himself), by following those who were equally “dead” in Jerusalem. They could “bury” each other.
Verse sixty-one then literally translates into English saying, “he Said now kai one different (a third) , I will Follow to you , Lord ; before now you permit me to take leave of to those among this house (dwelling) of me .”
Here, a third disciple joined in with committing to Follow Jesus, where the use of “kai” signals this is an important disciple. In this statement, the NRSV makes it appear this says, “but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” There is nothing written that says “but.” After a strong commitment that plainly identified Jesus as his “Lord,” he said, “before now you permit me to take leave of to those among this house of me.” The Greek words “próton de” translate to say, “before now,” not “but.” This then says this disciple had already been “permitted to take leave of” anyone else he had been committed to – “those of his house” or family.
In pondering who this important disciple would be [knowing John the Beloved was not a disciple and did not routinely travel with Jesus], the thought has come to me that it could be Thomas. The name "Thomas" means "Twin," and this was not a common name given to children by Jews in ancient times [it is a modern favorite]. As such, like Jesus told Simon, "You are Peter" (or Cephas), the name "Thomas" could be a nickname given to Thomas by Jesus, implying he either looked like Jesus or knew what Jesus would say, before he said it [like Radar on M.A.S.H.]. The fact that Thomas was the brave one of the twelve on the evening of Pentecost Sunday, not being locked up with the other; and, because Thomas spoke that he would not believe until faith had overcome him (by personal experience), all that points to Thomas being an important disciple. If so, we now learn that Thomas had said all his goodbyes to family and friends when he first met Jesus, as he was committed forever.
Verse sixty-two then literally translates into English saying, “he Said now advantageous for his soul this YAH Will Save [Jesus] , None having placed upon this hand on the basis of plow , kai perceiving into these after , suitable he exists to this kingdom of this of God .”
In this response to the third disciple, Luke again said this attitude spoken was “advantageous for his soul” [himself]. The second naming of “Jesus” must again rise to the divine meaning that says “Yahweh Saves,” which indicates this disciple was committed to that salvation. When Jesus then said, “None,” as a capitalized “Oudeis,” the divine elevation of this word says there can be “Nothing” of oneself remaining in service to anyone other than Yahweh. There can be “No one” other than the One God. The statement of “Nothing” says All is the commitment.
The “hand” must then be seen as one’s soul becoming an extension of Yahweh on the earthly plane; and, that “hand” is as Jesus reborn. The “plow” is symbolic of the work of a servant, which becomes the entrance into ministry, in the name of Jesus. This reference to a "plow" then connects to the place Elisha was, when the mantle of Elijah was thrown over him. Just as Elijah said to Elisha's request to say his goodbyes to his parents, the third disciple knew the work of ministry was a "plow" that could never be released. The work of the "plow" reaps salvation.
Jesus then next spoke words that Luke identified as important, where “perceiving into these after” is another prophecy of Jesus, knowing the result of his disciples’ commitment. This was then determined to be “suitable” for those souls truly committed to service for Yahweh. For those [not Judas Iscariot] “existing” as His Son, they would then be granted permission to enter the “kingdom of God,” after their souls leave their bodies of flesh.
As the Gospel selection for the third Sunday after Pentecost, when one’s personal ministry as Jesus reborn should have begun, one needs to see oneself as either a disciple of Jesus or a Samaritan, who turns away from him. One is either a follower or an enemy. When one chooses to be a follower, one is then asked to become Jesus, where “Following” means the complete sacrifice of one’s soul to Yahweh, so one’s soul become a Virgin womb in which the Son of Yahweh’s soul will be seeded. Because Judas Iscariot was a betrayer, one needs to be aware of the dangers such false commitment will play on one’s soul. If it was Jesus speaking to Judas Iscariot, as the second disciple, the same can be told to all like him: “you Permit these dead ones to bury these of themselves dead.” There are already way too many Judas Iscariots reborn into false ministry. It is time for those with serious commitments to step up.