As I had mentioned at the end of a recent post my plans of sharing some thoughts on the following passage. Sense then I had the privilege of sharing these thoughts with our local Church so I have taken those and summarized them for our blog. I hope that in my chopping and reworking my notes that it is readable without to many grammar and spelling errors.
Luke
9:57-62 (NKJV)
57
Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him,
"Lord, 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 Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."
60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."
61 And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."
62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
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 Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."
60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."
61 And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."
62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
This passages has been
challenging me personally these past couple weeks. And where this all stemmed from was we have the
privilege of reading a portion of scripture before our afternoon class each day
and we have been reading through the book of Luke. And as we read Luke chapter 9 a couple weeks
ago I was struck with some pretty strong conviction as I realized that I have
looked back as it talks about in verse 61 and 62
61 And
another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my
house."
62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
A physical example
of why one must keep their focus in the right spot is a pilot that is landing and
taking off from these runways that MAF utilizes to serve remote people around the
world. If those pilots look away from
that runway at any time during a critical point during his approach to land,
guaranty bad things will happen. And the
take offs from these runways as well demand that once the pilot pours on the
coals and the airplane is accelerating down the runway there is no turning
back. It's all or nothing, somewhere in
between that, and these take offs will end in disaster. Here is an example of what happens when you
let your eyes wonder off the marker or enter in half hearted.
So what was it about these verses that
brought conviction. Well being missionaries
we find ourselves moving and traveling meeting people then moving on to the
next place and again only there for a short time. And through this I start to long for days of
old as it were. Even as I look ahead to our
next move it won't be any easier than our previous moves as we leave behind our
new family here in Michigan. Christ is not
saying here that we can't or shouldn't have fond memories of the past but we are
not to live in the past. I also believe
we are not to live in the future either, but rather live in the present. As a favorite saying of mine goes, "yesterday
is history, tomorrow's a mystery, but today is a present which is why it's
called the present." It seems that
I can never remind myself of this enough.
Getting back to this passage in Luke. In this passage we see three different dialogues here. This is also the second time in this chapter that the cost of discipleship is brought up. Back in verse 23 we see Christ lay out the cost as well in slightly different context. But for sake of length I want to just focus on the dialogue we find here at the end of this chapter. In each of these dialogues we see a few differences that indicate to me, that being a disciple is not a singular task. It involves more than just following him. Lets first look at Verses 57,58
57 Now
it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, 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."
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."
This first
conversation we see the inquirer initiate the conversation which Jesus replies
with a statement that says to me "looks maybe deceiving". And what I mean by that is to follow a rabbi
during Christ's time was relatively a simple task in a way. And so Jesus wants to clear the air that
following Him is not like following the common rabbi but rather more like
following a prophet that lives an uncertain existence. Christ is placing the
reality before His disciples of what it is going to be like. And by doing so He wants those that are
considering following Him, to know what is ahead so that we are not ill-fitted
and likely to fail. As they would surely
do if they were to jump head long in ignorance of the hardships ahead. How
can this be applied to us? Well it seems
as this idea really hasn't changed and can be applied in our day and age as is. The NA Church seems to all too often to look
at, and promote the warm and fuzzy or cushy side of being a Christian but we
tend to over look or forget about being a disciple and the hardships one will
face as a disciple. I don't what to
think about hardship and I'm sure I'm not the only one. We are however promised in a number of
different places that we will suffer and we are to count it joy to suffer as a
disciple for Christ. This is part of counting the cost of discipleship and that
is what I believe Christ is referring to that we need consider when counting
the cost as to whether we are willing to suffer before we commit. Let's
take a look now at the second dialogue.
verse 59,60
59 Then
He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me
first go and bury my father."
60 Jesus said to him, "Let the
dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."
This request seems reasonable
for their culture as well for ours. In
fact Jesus' replay here would have turned heads, as this was totally against
the Jewish custom. Funeral rites had a
very high priority in Jewish culture of the day. Even for us this would seem harsh and I'm
sure some would say what Jesus said was harsh and insensitive. But on the contrary, he again is making a
point. And placing another block in the
road to becoming a disciple. Because
what He is saying, is that discipleship needs to have a higher priority than
family. Another place we see a similar
idea is in Luke 14:26 this passage is about hating you're father and mother. Now
we are not to laterally hate our parents or our families here but what He is
saying in Luke 14:26 and here again in Luke 9 is our love for Him must be so
great it makes our love for our family look like hatred in comparison. Christ is also making a statement that
offering life giving Good News to the living is more valuable than taking care
of the dead. It's also a statement of
moving forward and not memorializing the past.
Which ties well into the next two verses. Let's take a look at them verses 61,62.
61 And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."
62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
61 And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."
62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
Here again we see what seems to
be a uncalled for response from Christ.
Saying farewell again was an important part of their culture. While I was looking over different reference
source I stumble upon a connection to a similar story in the OT 1 Kings
19:19-21 (NASB). Before I go on with the
discussion on Luke let's take a quick look at these few verses in 1 Kings.
19 So he
departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing
with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah
passed over to him and threw his mantle on him.
20 He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, "Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you." And he said to him, "Go back again, for what have I done to you?"
21 So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him.
20 He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, "Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you." And he said to him, "Go back again, for what have I done to you?"
21 So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him.
In
this passage it seems okay to return and say goodbye so why is it not okay for
this disciple in Luke? Well let's first look
at Elisha for a moment. Where was his
heart? One could probably say that he
was distracted at first. But we see an
act through his farewell that speaks of a commitment that will last. Elisha essentially burns his past as he sacrifices
his oxen. Which became the main course
of his farewell meal and not only that, he uses his plowing equipment for the
fire's fuel. There is no turning back for
Elisha he has burn his bridge as we would say today. This is in contrast to Jesus' response in
verse 62 which tends to carry a similar precedence as with Lot's wife in the
Old Testament. We also get to see what
looking back did for the Israelites. As
they looked back to Egypt it seems that they fell into all sorts of sin when
they took their eyes off of God's deliverance.
So again Jesus is illustrating here for us, that a disciple cannot hang
onto the old life and expect to be able to handle the challenges of
discipleship. Jesus is making it clear
from the start that discipleship is difficult and it takes focus and
determination to finish the task. So how
do these two conversations transit the gap of the past 2000 years? Really as in the first discussion things
haven't changed too much. Christ is
still calling for His disciples, to place our walk with Him first, above all
else. Above our family, yes that means
our wife or husband, our children, parents.
Discipleship is not a hobby or even a part-time job. It's even more than a fulltime job for that
matter. It is to encompass our lives completely. Being a disciple means that you are still a
disciple when you go off to work in the morning or prepare dinner in the
evening it should be a part of who you
are continually.
I've
kind of deviated from my original thoughts here in that as we move forward as
disciples we need to keep our eyes a head on the mark. As I look ahead I see change for the Dole
family as we continue to move forward. It
is okay for us to miss our family and friends but let us not long for what has
been. I also mentioned earlier that one
must not live in the future as well. This is something that I need to be a bit
careful with. It is good and even
necessarily to have an aiming point or goal to point your plow or airplane
towards. As that will keep you moving
forward on the path Christ has laid out for you. But don't let the future overshadow the
present, when I start living for the future I forget to live for today. I know I have done this particularly during
hard times. Rather than looking to
Christ to sustain and strength me I look to the future and just grin and bare
it hoping the future will come quickly.
So
what do we do with this it seems so simple and easy to say that being a
disciple of Christ must be of our utmost importance? What does this look like in reality? As I look at these questions I think why did
I put these here now I need to answer them and what is the answer? Well I going to answer these questions with
more questions sorry?
1. Will I (you) still follow Christ if
he takes my health?
2. Will I still follow Christ if I
have to sell my prize possession?
3. Will I still love and follow Christ if my neighbor rejects me? or closer to home what about if my family rejects me?
4. Will I still love, adore and follow Christ if I lose a loved one to cancer?
5. Will I still love, adore and follow Christ if I lose my parents when I'm are overseas and can't return home for the funeral?
6. Will I still count it joy and continue to love Christ if I'm forced to deny Christ or watch my son die?
I
can go on and on with question of this sort.
If we honestly answer these question we can get a glimpse into our
heart. And see where being a disciple of
Christ falls in line with our other treasures. In
life discipleship needs to come first.
I'm
sorry if I got to heavy on this blog but I really wanted to grab on to the
magnitude of what being a disciple of Christ looks like as I see it in this
passage. As well we need to know what we
are up against as we choose to become a disciple of Christ first and foremost
in our lives. As many are saying and the
signs of the times seem to indicate trying times are ahead for us. And satan has done a good job at putting Christ's
Church to sleep here in NA making most of us ineffective. There are a lot of Christians around us but
how many are disciples? As we go forward
let me challenge you to go forth as disciples in the business of making more
disciples.
I
should also mention that keeping our eyes on the marker as we develop into
Christ's disciples is a learning process.
As a pilot I had to learn where the focus my eyes need to be during
those critical phases of flight and it didn't come naturally. And nor will keeping our focus where it needs
to remain as we grow as disciples come naturally. It will be a learning process as well. After
all discipleship is
not a causal affair, it takes focused commitment and is a life time calling
with no retirement, just a crown of glory that we get to offer our Redeemer at the end
of time.
