Luke 9:57-60 (NIV) As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
These words seem (to me anyway) to fly in the face of what we’re often told, and what we’ve come to know concerning what it means to be in the service of our Lord. In fact I think these words fly in the face of all human civility and sensibility. These words seem so cold and callous, even heartless, especially coming from someone we know to be so loving...so merciful.
“Let me bury my father.” No. “Let me say bye to my family before I make this choice to come follow.” No. “Let me first do this or that.” “Let me raise these funds, or get these credentials, have this meeting, or work out a plan.” “Let me prepare personally and professionally so that we can do this thing responsibly.” And the answer is still the same… NO. Come follow Me.
And when we receive such a calling, may we not follow the lead of Lot’s wife, but instead follow the lead of Elisha who did request to say goodbye to his family, but ultimately returned to slaughter his oxen and burn his plowing equipment – essentially burning his bridges, making sure that he would not have anything to return to.
Such a calling, like the one we receive when Jesus calls us to go, demands that we with both word and deed declare our intent with ultimate finality. “At once they left their nets and followed Him.” (Mt. 4:20 NIV). I believe it is only then that we become fit to serve in the kingdom. Not because we’ve reached some great spiritual mark, but because we’ve become absolutely nothing. We have no credentials. We have no personal ambition. We’ve been humbled… even made a fool in the eyes of the world… in the eyes of our culture… in the eyes of our friends… in the eyes of our family. We have nowhere to go, nothing to do, other than that which the Father has asked of us. And it is from Him that we shall receive our manna. Not by our own hands.
To what degree are we (am I) willing to pay that price? Will we hang onto that which we should not hang on to? Will we trust in what we should never trust in? Will we fear what we should not fear? Will we continue to make Ishmaels for ourselves? Will we accept something “good” because the “perfect” thing He’s asked of us is just too hard?
“No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
No comments:
Post a Comment