Luke 9:51-62 Pentecost 3 C
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ
June 26, 2022
In the name of our Savior Jesus, dear friends, For many people, leading is a lot harder than following. Leading requires a lot, doesn’t it? You have to know things—even be an expert sometimes! You have to have a vision of where you’re going or have been there and know the way. You have to know what should be done at all times and especially when things don’t go as expected. And it’s not enough to know, you must be able to do! Maybe you get this because you’re the mom or the dad—you are the leader of the kids! You may have experience leading hiking or backpacking groups. Perhaps there’s a business or community leader here this morning who knows this well. You may even be a leader in church. It sure seems easier to be a follower though and let someone else do the heavy lifting of leading. Leading is hard; following is easy. You might think that things are like that in the kingdom of God—that following is easy. After all, Jesus did all the tough stuff, right? Living a life without sin even though he was tempted. Dying on the cross instead of using angels to take out all of his opponents. Defeating death. “Jesus did everything that was needed. He’s the leader; I’m the follower. “Disciple” means “follower”—that’s what I am! SO MUCH EASIER!” But is it actually easy to be a follower of Jesus? The example of Jesus’ first disciples makes this following look very hard. It also seems pretty hard from the way Jesus responded to three different people who were potential followers of his. He insisted that if they were going to follow him, they had to be fully committed. Nothing has changed— we are also expected to BE FULLY COMMITTED TO JESUS 1. Even When the Way is Rough (51-58) 2. Even When the Time is Inconvenient (59-60) 3. Even When Tempted to Look Back (61-62) Even when the way is rough I’d like you to think of walking from here to Casa Grande, a four-day journey through the desert (not on roads), stopping and staying at towns along the way: Day 1—to the south end of Marana, Day 2—to Red Rock, Day 3—to Eloy, Day 4 to your destination. Imagine how you would feel at the end of each day after walking about 20 miles. Now imagine living in a culture where people are not as wary and suspicious of everyone else, but a culture that practiced hospitality, where they might offer you food and a place to curl up for the night so you can rest from your travel. That’s the kind of four-day trip Jesus had to make to get to Jerusalem.
To do so, he and his disciples travelled through Samaria, which you might remember was an area populated with non-Jews and half-Jews—not the kind of people that regular Jewish people associated with. And the feeling was mutual. Jewish travelers would normally take a longer trip just to avoid going through Samaria! Yet, Jesus had decided to travel through that land as he had his sights set squarely on Jerusalem to face opposition there that would lead to his death. Well, he met opposition on the way too. Jesus was looking to stay in a certain village, but the people didn’t want him and his friends there. They got kicked out of town and all they could hope for was that people in the next village would be more hospitable. But James and John wanted to give the people in that village a parting gift for not welcoming Jesus. They actually asked Jesus if they could call down fire from heaven to destroy the village! They wanted to annihilate the opposition! This may be why Jesus nicknamed them the “Sons of Thunder!” (Mark 3:17) Jesus was leading the way, but the Sons of Thunder were having a hard time following! They were trying to defend their leader, their Savior, but their eagerness to take charge didn’t go so well! Their sinful and Satan-influenced attitude was not the same as Jesus’ love for souls! His mission was to save souls, not destroy them! That’s the volunteer mission that would take him to the cross and to his death for sinful people. On the way to the next village, Jesus began the day’s lesson on what it means to follow him as he addressed three men. The first man offered to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Talk about rough! No place to lay your head at night. No place to call home. Living with less than animals do? Jesus was being open with the man—the way would be rough. Earthly possessions, a house and home were not the priority. Following Jesus and serving in his kingdom would force everything else aside. The Apostle Paul’s life gives us a good example of this. In our second lesson today, we heard him describe the rough life he had while living for Christ and proclaiming the gospel. Paul was willing to live a rough life if it meant following Jesus and sharing him with people who desperately needed their Savior. Jesus’ response to the first man here causes us to think about our lives. Don’t think of how hard life just is sometimes. The thing to consider is what sacrifices and difficult times do you experience for the sake of the gospel and following Christ? Are you persecuted for faithfulness to God, ignored, turned away—all of which we see happened to Jesus? Would you be willing to give up house and home to follow Jesus if you had to? Are you willing to give up some of the nice things in life in order to follow Jesus and participate in sharing the gospel?
Or does your life look like the opposite of that? Do you cling tightly to your possessions and kind of live for them? Are you and your desires the priority? Do your house and your entertainment and vacation and the things you buy take the lead while Jesus is forced to follow behind them and you? I would be shocked if you claimed that you never do this. I would be shocked if you have never sinned this way. We don’t know how that first man reacted to Jesus or what he did, but I know what we need to do. We need to repent for sins like these and find forgiveness in the One who loved and served us to the point that he had no place of his own and no possessions that would distract him from leading the way as he brought salvation to us. Even when the time is inconvenient Jesus picked out a second man. “Follow me!” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” What a difficult thing for us to think about just a week after Father’s Day. And an equally difficult thing for us to hear: Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” As Jesus taught his disciples and the others there about unwavering commitment to him, he did not permit the man to do what he wanted to do. Jesus’ response seems to be that the spiritually dead could take care of the physically dead. The top priority for spiritually alive followers of Jesus is to proclaim the kingdom of God. What happens when you want to do something, but Jesus is looking for something different from you? What happens when you feel you need to do something, but Jesus requires something different? Do we change our plans for the sake of Christ? How have you responded when you wanted to plan for family and home and anything else you set as a priority—but God was calling for your attention in that moment. Jesus wants you to serve him and be busy sharing the good news that he is the Savior—even when it is inconvenient for you. We don’t know how that man responded to Jesus, but how have you responded when called on to sacrifice family things for your Savior and for his kingdom? I’m thinking that we’ve all made bad choices in God’s eyes at some point, choices that showed a lack of commitment to Jesus, times when we put family and even friends ahead of Jesus and made him the follower. Repentant hearts receive forgiveness though from the One who did not find the cross inconvenient, but the way to be lovingly, fully committed to sinners like us. Even When Tempted to Look Back The third man volunteered to follow Jesus. He was willing, but he wanted to say good-bye to his family. Elijah had permitted Elisha to do that very thing, as we heard this morning. However, Jesus made it clear that he wants no one looking back! The hand on the plow while tilling the field is the example he gave. The one plowing looks only ahead, not back. Looking back results in a lack of attention to what is in front. No one is fit for service in the kingdom of God if they continue to look back.
What is it that is behind you? What’s in your past that tempts you to return to it. What could draw your attention away from plowing ahead with God’s work in his kingdom? What might prevent you from following immediately behind Jesus as he leads you? It’s a person who is not good for your faith. It’s something you used to do, but it conflicted with God’s will, so you left it behind. It might even be a good thing—like mom and dad were for this man. I don’t know what it is for you, but you do. We want to be fully committed to Jesus, but sometimes we longingly look backward, distracted, and veer off the path that follows Jesus and advances his kingdom. Even as Jesus was calling this man and explaining that he was to carry on for God and not look back, this is exactly what he himself was doing! Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem to suffer, die, and rise again to save the world. He was filled with conviction and determination. He would not turn back; he would not look back—all to bring forgiveness to sinners who have trouble following him and moving forward in service to God and his kingdom. These are difficult things for us to hear, aren’t they?! Rough times…inconvenience…no looking back. Jesus impresses upon us that being fulling committed to him means sacrifices for us—more than giving up an hour or two a week for him…or giving offerings that are actual sacrifices and not little tokens or leftovers from all that he gives to us…or volunteering to serve at church every once in a while. Full commitment to following Jesus is a way of life that requires us to reorder our lives and set proper priorities. It includes following and serving Jesus even though it makes things hard, like doing with less in order to serve God more. It includes following and serving even though it costs us family time or them not understanding what we are doing. It means not living in the past and being more concerned about things that are behind us, but instead looking at how we can follow Jesus and proclaim his salvation to the world. Why would we do all this? Because Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem and he did. He was fully committed to us when he earned our forgiveness and salvation. And in doing so, he earned our love. Love. That’s why we do all of this. We love our Savior who first loved us. The Holy Spirit who gave us faith to trust in Jesus is the one who lives in us and is active through the Words of Scripture as we hear them. He gives us the willingness and the strength to BE FULLY COMMITTED TO JESUS Even When the Way is Rough Even When the Time is Inconvenient and Even When Tempted to Look Back Amen Now the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.