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Would you still be a disciple of Christ even if following Jesus
didn’t actually make life any easier - in fact, even if it made things
more difficult? CS Lewis declared, “I didn’t go to religion to make me
happy.I always knew a bottle of Port would do that.If you want a
religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t
recommend Christianity.”
Discipleship has its cost; as Jesus presents it, the
rewards are not as commonly hoped for in this life. But following Him
is still worth it in the end – it just depends on having eternal
expectations.
In a competition on St.Joseph Island, I once won a beautiful
watercolour painting by a local artist, Helen Coulter. [GRAPHIC] The
watery theme with loons didn’t quite fit the competition, though: it
was a plowing match! Yes, thanks to some good coaching by my Dad when I
was young, I did manage to win a prize for my furrows, albeit (I must
confess) in a rather small class! One of the key rules in plowing is
“Don’t look back when you’re moving ahead!” If you want a good straight
furrow across the field, you’ve got to pick a far distant point, like a
fencepost on the far side of the field, or a house on the horizon - the
further the better.
In Luke 9:62 Jesus points out, “No one who puts his
hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of
God.” You’ve got to have discipline in your attention to be a disciple;
you need to FOCUS ON FOLLOWING. Do we want to end up with a life that’s
like a crooked furrow, “crooked as a dog’s hind leg” as they say – or
do you want your life in retrospect to be straight and true, honouring
God?
V51 “As the time approached for him to be taken up
to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” Literally, He “set
His face” to go to Jerusalem (NRSV). Resolutely. He’s an example of
focussing, setting His attention on a distant goal. And what awaits Him
in Jerusalem? Death - being killed, very painfully! Luke refers to it
as “the time...for Him to be taken up to heaven”, but we all know (as
Jesus did) that Jerusalem means arrest, trial, and crucifixion. But He
was looking beyond just that - He was yearning for the occasion when He
would “be taken up to heaven,” return to His Father.
Jesus had focus that could re-frame into eternal
context. Luke re-framed it as “taken up into heaven”. In Luke 12(23)
Jesus put it this way: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be
glorified.” Not “killed” (though He could have quite accurately said
that instead) - “glorified”. Does our focus on eternity allow us to
re-frame how humans commonly view things?
Taking a long view helps us get reconciled to the
fact of our coming death. Christians ought to be the most well-adjusted
of mortals because we approach each day as a gift of grace. We have but
1 life to live, like a breath, the width of a hand as the Psalmist puts
it in Psalm 39(4-6): “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of
my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.You have made my days a
mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.Each
man’s life is but a breath.Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro:
He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who
will get it.” Morbid? No, matter-of-fact; the longer you live, the
truer it seems!
We have just one short life. What’s your focus?
What’s it going to be used for / devoted to? This passage in Luke 9 is
all about following Jesus - vv57, 59, 61; is your focus the “Kingdom of
God”? Jesus explained earlier in 9:23 what following Him is really
about: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up
his cross daily and follow me.” Christians should be, of all people,
the most ready / best prepared / least surpised of anyone when the end
of their life comes. But you need the right focus. Alastair Sterne, a
Vancouver pastor, observes of the Apostle Paul and his difficulties:
“When Paul’s life and circumstances were destitute, and when he could
have been reasonably despondent, he experienced joy.How? He practiced
an objective, God-focused Christianity rather than a subjective,
me-focused Christianity.He was marked by a spirituality that takes the
focus off oneself.”
In v52 Jesus sends messengers on ahead “into a Samaritan village to
get things ready for Him...” Who were the Samaritans? The Jews looked
down on them as racially impure half-breeds; the Assyrian empire had
exiled many of the northern Israelites and transplanted people from
other nations who then intermarried with the Israelites who were left
behind. They practised a sort of DIY religion (do it yourself)
combining pagan with Jewish practices. They used only the first 5 books
of the Old Testament – kind of like Thomas Jefferson creating his own
“cut-and-paste” version of the Bible that he deemed reasonable. The
Samaritans worshipped on local Mount Gerizim rather than recognizing
Jerusalem. So they didn’t take kindly to Jewish travellers from Galilee
taking a shortcut through their territory because it seemed as though
they were spurning the Samaritans’ own sacred things.
By contrast, Jesus seems to have had a fairly warm
attitude toward the Samaritans, sharing the gospel with them in John 4
through the “woman at the well”. But the warmth wasn’t reciprocated.
V53 “the people there did not welcome Him, because He was heading for
Jerusalem.” What about us: are we ready for opposition, persecution,
rejection for doing what’s right? Psalm 37 says, “The wicked draw the
sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those
whose ways are upright.” (14; cf 12, 31f) Cain attacked righteous Abel;
Joseph was nearly murdered by his brothers, though he had not wronged
them.
How should we respond when people reject us because
of our Kingdom-focus? What had Jesus said to do earlier in the chapter
(v5)? “If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when
you leave their town, as a testimony against them.” Shake the dust off
and move on. But what did James and John want to do? V54 “Lord, do you
want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” They DID have
precedent from Elijah calling down fire upon the forces of a wicked
ruler in 2Kings 1(10,12) – but that’s not Jesus’ style! He’d said He’d
come to seek and to SAVE the lost, not sauté them (Lk 19:10). He
rebuked James and John and they went on to another village (v56).
Ironically, this same John accompanied by Peter would later preach the
gospel in many Samaritan villages after Pentecost, calling down fire of
another sort perhaps (the Holy Spirit; Acts 8:25).
People will reject and oppose us in life for being
“in Christ”. How are we going to react? Will we retaliate (like James
and John wanted to do) - or re-group and move on? Jesus calls us to
turn the other cheek, absorb the offence, forgive as we have been
forgiven. Paul writes to the Ephesians (4:32, 5:2), “Be kind and
compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ
God forgave you...Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave
himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Who is blocking or frustrating YOU that you need to
alter your attitude toward? Instead of calling down thunderbolts, can
you “suck it up” gracefully?
In v57 we meet a man characterized by what commentator FF Bruce
calls “inconsiderate impulse”; he enthusiastically announces to Jesus,
“I will follow you wherever you go.” “Sign me up!” Every rock star
attracts groupies, “roadies” – hangers-on attracted by the individual’s
fame and charisma. Remember “Beatlemania”? Some people may respond to a
distortion of the gospel that promises only good things through faith.
Such lines as, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” –
He does, but that doesn’t mean everything will be rosy. Some churches
and popular ministries today preach a “prosperity gospel” based on
carefully selected Old Testament passages, such as Psalm 37:9, 17f -
“For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will
inherit the land...The power of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD
upholds the righteous.The days of the blameless are known to the LORD,
and their inheritance will endure forever.” V19 adds, “In times of
disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy
plenty.” PLENTY! That’s what we want to hear. But prosperity-preachers
skip over v16 - “Better the little that the righteous have than the
wealth of many wicked...” Wait a minute, WHO has the wealth? The
wicked! What do the righteous have? LITTLE.
So Jesus warned our would-be roadie in v58, “Foxes
have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no
place to lay his head.” Foxes have holes - burrows - lairs - dens:
there’s a popular term in today’s comfier homes, a “den” or “man-cave”.
Birds have roosts, places to hang out for the night; BUT the Son of Man
has NO PLACE to lay His head. Less shelter and earthly security than
even the wild animals. One commentator likens Jesus’ self-adopted title
“Son of Man” to “the underprivileged Man”: would Jesus identify with
those 200 Asian migrant workers held captive to make clothing in an
underground town beneath the streets of Moscow? Does He understand
those 119 workers in China who died when their chicken-processing plant
burned down and the exits were locked? “Son of Man” is a title fit for
the Messiah, but one who shares our humanity, who is able to sympathize
with our weaknesses (Heb 2:14; 4:15). The King of the Universe accepted
life as a transient, without material attachments or earthly
“security”. He did not yield to temptation or desires for earthly
prosperity, and that’s not what He offers His followers - He offers
spiritual riches, the Holy Spirit is the seal of our inheritance.
Alastair Sterne writes, “Jesus does make your life
better. Jesus certainly is the ultimate problem-solver, and it is true
that we will find our deepest purpose satisfied only in the life He
offered on two crooked beams. But Jesus by no means promises a better
life in the sense of all your circumstances. In other words, following
Jesus doesn’t mean that everything will go smoothly, that every
aspiration of your heart will be achieved, and that all your loved ones
will live to see 100...Somehow people get the notion that when God
blesses, it means that He will give us great things and perfect
circumstances—and right now...Conversely, sometimes people believe that
extended discomfort means there is something they have done wrong, or a
lack of faith which inhibits God’s blessing. But what if this is a
misconstrued concept of blessing? Can’t the blessing of God involve
pain, suffering, waiting and holding on to a truth in spite of our
circumstances? Isn’t it a blessing to be disciplined by our loving
Father even if it causes discomfort?” Prosperity is NOT promised.
Focus on following – not necessarily the family. Our family grew up
listening to “Focus on the Family” broadcasts; Dr James Dobson is
practically a patron saint amongst evangelicals. But Jesus reminds us
there are higher priorities for the Christian even than family. The
last two cases introduced to us in this chapter FF Bruce calls
“conflicting duties” and “a divided mind” - but they both involve
family in a way.
V59 “He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But the
man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’” Presumably
the man’s father wasn’t already dead, or he would have been engrossed
in the funeral preparations already, not standing there talking to
Jesus. The man’s father might not die for years. What he says can be an
Eastern way of saying, “Let me wait until I receive my inheritance.”
“Ah,” the person in the ‘sandwich generation’ with
kids in college and parents in the nursing home says to themself, “Just
wait until I get my inheritance!” “Imagine when my forebears pass on
and all that money will be MINE!” In Canada we’re in the midst of a
huge transfer of wealth from the “Builder” or “GI Generation” - those
who built our economy after WWII - to the “Boomer” generation. The
Builders tended to be savers; not the Boomers – so they’re looking
forward to what they can do with that inherited wealth. What about us?
Is part of us waiting eagerly for our parents’ demise so we can finally
lay hold of their estate? This can be IDOLATRY! A cloak for greed.
“Lord, I can’t do very much for Your Kingdom right now because money’s
so tight – but when I get my inheritance, things will be different.”
Don’t count on it. What are you holding as of most worth, most value,
in your life? Is it God or mammon? Ps 37:4 “Delight yourself in the
LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” What are your
priorities? Jesus counselled in Mt 6:33, “But seek first [God’s]
kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things [food, clothing,
the necessities of life] will be given to you as well.”
How does Christ answer the hesitater in v60? “Let
the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of
God.” Those who are spiritually dead can look after the physically
dead; God’s Kingdom takes priority.
Likewise, another person in v61 wavers - “I will
follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my
family.” FIRST let me...What are the PRIORITIES? Jesus calls us into a
new “family”, a spiritual “family” intent on doing God’s will; as He
explained in Mk 3:35, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister
and mother.”
Don’t go back. V62 To be fit for service in the
Kingdom of God means putting your hand to the plow and NOT looking back
– that would give you an erratic furrow. You want a life that’s of
championship quality, honouring to God, not a furrow you’d be ashamed
of. That MAY sometimes mean doing what you perceive God’s calling you
to even when that conflicts with what your family would pressure you
into doing. If your family is caught in sinful patterns, generational
bondage or addictive behaviours, you may need to break the pattern even
if that goes against the grain. Ask the Lord to show you what’s right
in His eyes, where He wants you to focus, and follow Him! [TESTIMONY]
Let’s pray.