1 July 2007

Luke 9:51-62

It’s like Jesus didn’t want disciples. This passage from Luke is one of those occasions where Jesus comes across as petulant; even nasty. We read passages such as this one and think to ourselves, “is this the Lord that I follow?” Jesus, I admit does not come across all that well today.

Jesus has already set his face to Jerusalem, we’re told at the beginning of this passage, and we all know where that will lead. He is resolute in his journey. He knows how this trip to Jerusalem will end up too, I’m sure.

First they enter a village of the Samaritans. There’s no surprise that they don’t get a good reception there; the Samaritans and the Jews were hated enemies of each other. So they move on to another village.

On the way, Jesus talks to three people; three potential followers. And this is where we get into trouble. Jesus’ responses to these three would-be disciples are not what we expect. We expect Jesus to be chipper and say, “Sure, c’mon, join in. There’s room for all who want to follow me.” We want Jesus to be a Lord of politeness, making room for all.

But that’s not what we get. We get these somewhat cryptic, somewhat outright answers that put limits and conditions on being a follower. But let’s take a closer look at each of the three potential followers of Jesus and Jesus’ reply to each of them and think about what the consequences for us today are.

First, we have one follower say, “I will follow you wherever you go.” That sounds pretty straight forward, doesn’t it? Anywhere you go in your wanderings, any place, I shall be there with you. Sounds like a good follower to me, doesn’t it to you?

What is Jesus’ response? “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Okay, at first this sounds like a warning to the would-be follower that things may not be easy. We’re not talking about staying at Marriots and sending out for meals. We’re talking about a hard life.

But there’s more to it than that, it appears. You know how we associate certain animals with certain countries? Like the eagle with the US and the bear with Russia? Well, it was no different in the first century. “Birds of the air” was evidently how the Jews referred to Gentiles, including the hated Romans who ruled the land. And remember at one point Jesus refers to Herod, the puppet king of Israel, as a fox? Well, Jesus is making the point to this potential follower that outsiders have places to rest in Israel but the one who is truly Israel, the Son of God, the Human One, really has no where in the land that is his. He’s not a ruler like these other rulers and anyone who is going to follow him had just better get used to that idea.

The second conversation is harder for us to grasp because it goes against our grain so much. Jesus says “follow me” to someone. The would-be follower says, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” This sounds like a reasonable request, especially when you consider that Jews had strict laws about burial of the dead. Jesus’ reply, about letting the dead bury their own and telling him to go and proclaim the kingdom of God instead seems downright abrupt and even cruel to someone who is in mourning.

But there’s something going on that we don’t realize in this passage; something we miss in our cross-cultural misunderstanding. At this point in history, in the Jewish culture, a son was expected to stay at home with his father until the father died. This is likely what the would-be follower was referring to; not that his father had died, but that he had to wait until the father had died before he could follow Jesus. That could be years or decades, of course. And Jesus was saying he can’t wait that long. The follower must make a choice between family obligations and his obligation to God. He must make a choice between cultural expectations and a new way of doing things. Jesus expected this follower to begin proclaiming the good news of God’s commonwealth here and now; not in some distant future time.

The final would-be follower simply wants to say goodbye to his loved ones before taking off with this itinerant preacher. This sounds like a reasonable request, doesn’t it? The words we heard this morning were, “let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Actually, it should read something more like, “let me take my leave of those at home.” There’s a slight difference between the two. In the first case, saying farewell, the leave-taker is in charge and goes off on his or her own. In the second case, that of taking one’s leave, there is an implied consent from those who are being left behind. Taking one’s leave entails asking for permission and receiving a blessing to go.

Now what family is going to give permission for a young person to go off with this hare-brained, itinerant teacher who just goes around stirring things up and making the religious authorities angry at him? No, Jesus knows that he doesn’t fit in with the status quo and knows also that no parent in his/her right mind is going to give leave to an offspring to go with Jesus. Now, Jesus’ response is cryptic…to us. But to someone in an agricultural society it makes perfect sense. “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

When you’re plowing a field, you put a marker at the opposite end of the field as a place to aim for as you plow. Looking back or taking your eyes off that goal will end up with crooked furrows and an embarrassing field. No, following Jesus means keeping your eyes straight ahead and not varying from the goal of bringing in God’s commonwealth.


We are followers of Jesus, or so we claim to be. These verses, as difficult as they are to comprehend and take into our system, are as valid today as they were when Jesus first spoke them. We simply have to keep them in mind as we go about our business each and every day of our life.

The message is clear once this passage is cleared up. Following Jesus is neither popular nor easy and Jesus is not going to be the ruler that we assume him to be. Jesus expects you to make God your number one priority, over and against all other obligations including your family and the society in which you live. And it requires concentration and an unswerving allegiance to God and God’s commonwealth.

We’ve lost some of these concepts in our culture. With Christianity the majority culture in our society, we may not realize the radicalness of following Jesus and what it requires. But if we are to be true followers, we must remember the lessons of these three would-be disciples of Jesus.