counter-cultural, Jesus?

But this is all very counter-cultural.
I feel sure that vulnerability, weakness and dependency, and the very idea of putting someone else life before our own.
these things are not particularly welcome in our society and are certainly not instinctive for us.

Our society, as was the case in Jesus' times, is very self-centered. Just look at our nations attitude to asylum seekers ....

Or to climate change. We would much rather keep our own lifestyle than surrender some of it in order  to give the future generations a sustainable way of life.

What Jesus was trying to sell was radical unselfishness and it always was a hard sell. Arguably, we in the church still find it hard to take. We, the followers of Jesus, still struggle to live out the message of the sermon on the mount. ...

Perhaps this is why, as we look at our situation in the church today, we should take heart from the encounter with Jesus that we have in our gospel reading today. A reading that perhaps at once challenges us about how comfortable our Christianity has become; How we are perhaps just a little too like the people of Jesus’ home town who thought they were familiar with him, but their very familiarity made them unable to hear his confronting gospel of vulnerability and selflessness. Then, this same reading perhaps tells us of the simplicity and vulnerability of Discipleship. All it takes is one cloak, some sandals and a stick, and the willingness to depend upon the hospitality and grace of the stranger.