CWC- Gospel Lesson - Pentecost 6 - Kieth Bernard Kuschel
Luke 9:51-62
51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56 Then he and his disciples went to another village. 57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
IA1 A man came up to Jesus and said, {57}“I will follow you wherever you go.” Let’s assume that he had been led by Jesus’ teaching to believe that he was a sinner who deserved God’s punishment and that Jesus was his Savior who gave him forgiveness, holiness and eternal life.” That’s what led him to want to follow Jesus.
2 Jesus’ response wasn’t, “Good. Follow me,” or “No. You can’t do that.” Instead he said, {58}“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Jesus was saying, “If you want to follow me, you need to know what it will be like. I don’t own a home. I don’t have a regular place to stay. I travel a lot. Many of the places I go to reject me. Following me won’t mean success and wealth. In fact following me might mean the loss of your source of income and thus your ability to have a place to live.”
B1 We know from history that people lost everything because they were Christians. In the Roman Empire before Christianity was legalized, Christians were shunned. If you ran a business, nobody bought anything from you or used your services. You lost your job and you lost your home.
2 We know that happens today all around the world. If you are a native of an Islamic country and you become a Christian, you are shunned. You are driven out of business, or not given the opportunity to have a job, or not allowed to purchase a home, or sometimes even to own a home. That is why all the Christians are leaving places like Iran and Iraq and Pakistan and Afghanistan.
C1 Isn’t it nice that we in the United States are not subjected to loss of livelihood because we are Christians? Please consider three different situations. A young man was at a major United States University in its PhD program. He had reached the point in the program where he had to be interviewed and be linked with his mentor who would shepherd him through the master’s and PhD process. The mentor found out that the young man was a Christian who believed the Bible is the source of absolute truth. The young man was dropped from the PhD program because Christians who believe in absolute truth are too close-minded to be leaders in a world of academic freedom. Following Jesus cost that young man his ability to get the kind of job that he wanted and was qualified for. Following Jesus might cost us our jobs. How would you handle that if it happened to you? Lord Jesus, please don’t let that happen to me.
2 A couple had a bed and breakfast. Very small. Just two bedrooms. It was very nice. They always had their rooms full. They made a decent living. They were Christians. They never let any couples who weren’t married rent their bedrooms. One pair of people who were refused the right to rent their bedroom sued them for discrimination. They lost. They lost their business. Following Jesus might cost us our jobs. How would you handle that if it happened to you? Lord Jesus, please don’t let that happen to me.
3 In the spring of 2013, US Army Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Dooley was condemned by the Joints Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and relieved of teaching duties at Joint Forces Staff College for teaching a course entitled, Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism, which indicated that radical Islam and jihad were dangerous to the United States. Following Jesus might cost us our jobs. How would you handle that if it happened to you? Lord Jesus, please don’t let that happen to me.
IIA1 The second contact is the opposite of the first. The first man went up to Jesus and said, “I want to follow you.” In the second instance Jesus went up to different man and said, “Follow me.” He wanted to follow Jesus, so we can conclude that he also believed that Jesus was the One who had come into the world to live and die and rise to give him forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life.
2 This man had the opposite problem from the first man. The first man wanted to jump into something without realizing what he was getting into. The second man had some relational issues that he felt had to be taken care of before he could follow Jesus.
B1 Jesus’ answer sounds harsh and extreme. But notice that Jesus didn’t say, “Go ahead and bury your father and then later come and follow me.” He also didn’t say, “Don’t go bury your Father.”
2 Jesus said, {60}“Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Dead people can’t bury their own dead. They can’t do anything. What was Jesus’ point? His point was: Relational expectations shouldn’t take over our lives so much that we can’t do our job: Proclaiming the kingdom of God, sharing Jesus’ gifts of forgiveness, holiness and eternal which He won by His life, death and resurrection.
C1 The young man had a wonderful girl friend all the way through high school. He went into the work force after high school. His girl friend went away to college. They maintained their relationship in spite of the distance. When she was within a year of graduating, they both started talking seriously about getting married, something that they had talked about often before, but not seriously. The young man was a Christian. The young lady was not. As they talked more and more in detail about what their vision was for their future together, it became obvious that Jesus would only be a part of the young man’s life. He wouldn’t be able to proclaim the kingdom of God inoffensively to his marriage partner. He backed out of the relationship as graciously as he could. Following Jesus might cost us our relationships. How would you handle that if it happened to you? Lord Jesus, please don’t let that happen to me.
2 The young man had a brilliant intellect. He excelled at everything logical. He was on top of his class all the way through college. He had been a Christian from childhood on. Somewhere along the line he decided that Christianity was not for him, since it contained so many logical failures. He told his parents that their faith was no longer his. They continued to openly express their relationship with Jesus, knowing that their son denigrated it. They were still his parents. But the relationship was never the same. Following Jesus might cost us our relationships. How would you handle that if it happened to you? Lord Jesus, please don’t let that happen to me.
3 You had been friends your whole life. Your friend lately got into another religion. The friend became very pushy with the new beliefs. An ultimatum was given that if you didn’t at least attend one of that religion’s gatherings, you could no longer be friends. In the nicest way possible, you indicated that you believed your Bible-believing Christianity was all you needed and that you would not participate with this other group. The friend carried through on the ultimatum and dropped you. Following Jesus might cost us our relationships. How would you handle that if it happened to you? Lord Jesus, please don’t let that happen to me.
IIIA1 The third man approached Jesus as the first man had. So again, this is a person who had been led by law and gospel to acknowledge that Jesus was His Savior. He wanted the unchangeable LORD of love and forgiveness to fill His life with His blessings.
2 This man, however, had an up-front qualification that he had to fulfill before he could carry out his desire to follow Jesus. It seemed ordinary and usual. {61} “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family.”
B1 Jesus did not respond by saying, “ Sure, go home and say good-bye. I will wait for you. Then come and follow me.” He also didn’t say, “No. You can’t go home and say good-bye to your family.” He said, {62}“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
2 This is really a humorous picture that Jesus paints with his words. Remember plows were one bottom hand held. They were pulled by oxen. The point of the plow was pushed into the ground and held in line by the man holding onto the plow. He kept it in a straight line by following the edge of the field in a parallel line and then lining up the next furrow with the first. Or, by looking straight ahead at a point and aiming straight for that point. If you looked back, the furrow was crooked, and started crisscrossing other ones.
3 What was Jesus’ point here? “You can’t be a believer and keep on hanging on to your old way of life or the people in your old way of life. You can’t be serving the LORD and be constantly thinking back maybe longingly to what you used to be. You can’t be a believer and be hanging on to things which are going to cause you to sin. It is necessary to cut your ties with your former life and its people.”
C1 The successful man had always totally indulged himself. He had lots of money. He just used it to do things and to get things as fast as he earned it. He ran with a crowd of people who took the same approach to life. He had always been someone who believed that Jesus lived and died and rose to give him forgiveness, holiness and eternal life. Lately he had been paying more attention to all of Jesus’ directives to love other people. He became convinced by reading the New Testament letters that God had blessed him with wealth to use to love other people. He started using his resources to do what God says: take care of people dependent on him, take care of needy people, preach the gospel, and provide protection for people by supporting the government with his taxes. He stopped doing many of the things he used to do. He didn’t spend as much time with the people with whom he used to spend a lot of time. Following Jesus might cost us our connection to our past.
2 The successful woman had always been very shrewd. She could always figure out the right angles to close a deal or to get the best deal. They weren’t always the best for others. Often other people were taken advantage of. Sometimes the activity was questionable, bordering on the illegal. She had always considered herself a child of God whose Savior is Jesus. Lately she had been paying more attention to all of Jesus’ directives to love other people. She became convinced by reading the New Testament letters that taking advantage of others is not appropriate. She didn’t always work the angles to get the best deals anymore. She wasn’t as successful as before. She lost some of her former status because of that. Following Jesus might cost us our connection to our past.
LORD JESUS, I want to follow You even if it means losing my job, losing some relationships, and losing some connections with my past. I need your help to do that.
Prayer