No turning back

Lk.9:62, ‘But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”’

  In the previous message, we read about three important steps in discipleship : leaving, rising and following. In this message, the Lord is talking about yet another important aspect of discipleship i.e. never to look back. There are many who have turned back and returned to their old ways after putting their hand on the plow of discipleship. But the Lord says that such lives are not fit for the kingdom of God. In this passage we see a few lives who desired to follow Jesus but then, they did not. Yet other lives were there who were asked by Jesus to follow Him but they too did not follow Him. Each one had their own reasons, which has power to make a disciple turn back after laying his hands on the plow.

Lk.9:58, ‘And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Jesus said these words to a person who wanted to follow Him. But after hearing these words, he did not desire to follow Jesus. Nests of birds and holes of foxes represents rest and worldly security.  But for a person who follows Christ, both of these are deprived. Their lives are lived one day at a time. Their rest and security is in the presence of the Lord. Doing the will of the Father is their food . Their plans for future is as per the vision and the mission of their lives which they receive from the Lord. They live to serve the Lord all the days of their lives. This person refrained himself from following the Lord. Jesus, who is the creator of the whole universe refused to own a house while He was on this earth. He was kept in a manger at birth and was laid in another person’s tomb after death (Lk.23:50-53). He could have owned a house. But He always aspired to do His Father’s will and then  join Him in heaven. As a disciple, we ought to inherit this attitude of stewardship. Its an attitude where we strongly believe that nothing in this world belongs to us. All things have been given to us for a period of time with a definite purpose. This attitude enables us to handle every gift carefully and with the sense of accountability. Jesus lived on earth to finish the mission given to Him. Even the words of Christ were only those which were given to Him by the heavenly Father. Before dying on the cross, He gave His accountability by saying ‘it is finished.’ He finished the work of salvation for the whole mankind on the cross. Attitude of ownership binds us with the world and things of world while the attitude of stewardship binds us with heaven.

A house also represents our reputation. A person from a good house & well known house is respected by the society. Phil.2:7 says how Christ made himself of no reputation. He desired His testimony only from the Father. He took the form of a servant. No servant desires for any reputation from the world around. Instead, his  desire is only to please his master. Here, we ought to understand that the desire to have worldly security and rest, the attitude of ownership and the seek for reputation from this world can hinder the journey of true discipleship.

‘Lk.9:59-60, ‘Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”’  When Jesus asked the 2^nd person to follow Him, the reply came as ‘Lord, let me first go and…’.  This person did not say ‘no’ to Jesus. But instead he said that first he would bury his father before following Jesus. This shows his ‘priority’ towards his worldly responsibilities. If a person calls Jesus ‘Lord’, the Lordship and the priority of that person should be for Jesus alone over everything else in his life. Only such lives can be His disciples. When the disciples give priority to the divine responsibilities, God gives them the grace to do the family responsibilities too at the proper time.

The 2^nd aspect we see here is the time factor. The person said that he would follow Jesus after doing his other responsibilities. He could not give his ‘now’ to Jesus. If a person cannot follow Jesus at the time he or she is asked to, the person will then never be able to follow Jesus later in his life. ‘Now’ is the only time we have in our hand right now. ‘Now’ is the only time we have to work for the Lord. Unless a person  realizes the importance of ‘now’ to do the heavenly responsibilties, he or she cannot be a fruitful disciple. In fact, it can even hinder the call for disicpleship, as it did in this person’s life. All other responsibilities can ‘wait’, but as for the divine responsibilities, they  need to be done at the appointed time.

Jesus said, “ let the dead bury their own dead.” Those who cannot give first priority to Jesus will slowly move towards spiritual death. Those who cannot give their ‘now’ to Jesus can drift away from the path of discipleship.

Lk.9:61, ‘And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”’ This verse points out to the relations. The person wanted to bid farewell to those who were in his house. The literal meaning of this verse does not highlight anything wrong. But the phrase ‘let me first go’ again shows priority. Here its for the family relations. Today, innumerable believers have backslided because their family could not comprehend the call for discipleship.  Lk.8:21, ‘He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” This is the answer Jesus has for such lives. Our family comprises of the ones who hears and obeys the Word of God. This family will continue to be together throughout eternity, while the other earthly family members will bid us farewell with the last breath on this earth. The emotions for our family members and friends  has power to hold us back from disicpleship. God created man with emotions, but He never intended him to be ruled by the emotions. Its amazing to see many who have been wounded and have backslided due to the emotional hurts form the people within the church , whom they loved dearly. Emotions need to be controlled by the Lord. That’s possible if we love the Lord the most i.e above all other relations and emotional attachments. Relations and emotions have the power to push a disciple off the track. If the relation with Christ does not rule our lives, any other relation might turn us back from discipleship. The intimate relation with Christ and its priority in our lives can alone strengthen us to follow Him till the end.

‘But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”’ None of those could follow Christ. Discipleship has never been a bed of roses. Indeed its painful to be a disciple,  for disciplining has never been easy. But if we keep our eyes fixed on our eternal abode with Christ, we will receive the strength to overcome all that can make us fall. We have been called to be His disciples. Jesus is coming back to gather His disciples. He has given us the commission to make disciples in this world. Disciples has always been a minority in the Bible. Two out of lakhs of Israelites,  eight souls of Noah’s family out of the entire world population, twelve disciples  out of multitudes etc. all show that only a small remnant are willing to be disciplined to be His disciples. It takes a deep commitment to follow Him, in all cicumstances till our last breath. May the love for the Lord increase in us, which has the power to make us true disciples of Christ.

 God bless us all

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