No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God

 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face.  And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.  But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.  And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?"  But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.  For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them."  And they went to another village.

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go."  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."  Then He said to another, "Follow Me."  But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."  And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."  But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

- Luke 9:51-62

On Saturday we read that it happened on the next day (after the Transfiguration), when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him.  Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, "Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child.  And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.  So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."  Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you?  Bring your son here."  And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him.  Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.  And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.  But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, "Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men."  But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.  Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.  And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.  For he who is least among you all will be great." Now John answered and said, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us."  But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side."

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face.  And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.  But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.   The time has come for Jesus to be received up; that is to be received into heaven -- the time has come for His Passion, death, and Resurrection.  Jesus has steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem:  His Person is now totally identified with what is to happen at Jerusalem, His entrance as Messiah and the Passion to come.  It is Jerusalem where the Messiah will be received, and make His departure.  This Samaritan village refuses to receive Him, most likely, according to many commentaries, precisely because He is going to Jerusalem.  Many note the traditional conflict between Jews and Samaritans about the proper location of the temple (see the story of the Samaritan woman in John 4:1-23, especially her question to him in verse 19).

And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?"  But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.  For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them."  And they went to another village.  Second to Peter, the characters of James and John Zebedee are pretty clearly marked out in the Gospels.  It is John who has just told Jesus that they forbade another from casting out demons in His name (see Saturday's reading, above).  We know that Jesus has given His own name to these brothers, Boanerges, meaning "Sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:17).  John, who will go on to teach us that God is love in His first Epistle (1 John 4:8), will clearly learn this lesson of discipleship.

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go."  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."  Then He said to another, "Follow Me."  But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."  And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."  But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."   My study bible comments that there is a cost to discipleship.   Here, Jesus reveals three of them.  First, a disciple relinquishes personal or earthly security.  At this point, Christ has nowhere to lay His head, nowhere He can call His "home" (and keep in mind He is on His way to Jerusalem, where He will be rejected).   If this is true for Him, it is also true for the disciple.  Second, there is nothing that can be an obstacle to serving God, not even (as in the example here) the honor due to parents.  Finally, no disciple can delay in accomplishing the good that has been asked by Christ.

Discipleship is a long road, which is meant to pull on each and every thing we have and are, and teach us what to do with it, how to change, what to discard, and how our lives can serve God even in the details.  We note above the characters of James and John Zebedee, and the name that Jesus gave to them, "Sons of Thunder."  Their characters seem fiery, quick to answer and flash a response or command, as they are revealed through the Gospels (particularly that of John, whom we also know that Jesus loved; see John 13:23-25).  John is so beloved a friend and disciple that he's the one to whom Jesus entrusted the care of His mother (John 19:26-27).  Through the fiery, whiplash-quick temper, Jesus sees and knows a man capable of great love and thereby knowledge of God, who would go on to give us so much in the form of the Scripture that we have.  But what of John's capacity for anger?  Jesus rebukes him by saying, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.  For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them."   In the lives of the desert saints, the men and women who went to the deserts of Sinai to be the first Christian monastics, we have a strong tradition of what is called in Greek "apatheia," which sounds like the English word "apathy."  But it doesn't have the same meaning.  It means to be dispassionate, not to be ruled or controlled by our passions.  And this is an important and essential part of discipleship.  We must be able to put Christ first, before our anger, or disappointment, or envy, or desires of all kinds.  We must be able to do this to serve God.  And so, apparently, do John and James Zebedee, as we learn from Jesus' correction.  In a book I've previously mentioned in a recent reading (In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers), the author, John Chryssavgis, mentions one "way" of dispassion of the desert monastics, and that is to see each passion as a kind of wound.   It is meant for us to understand that it is our Creator who has endowed us with our passions, but they are meant for particular kinds of uses in our lives, in order to serve the highest good, to be true disciples.  When our passions run away with us and dominate us, our lives are not in order -- they can work to separate us from God.  But under discipleship, our passions may take on beneficial roles meant to serve God.  Anger, which can be used in ways that are harsh and outside the role Christ has for us -- precisely as witnessed in today's Gospel reading in Jesus' rebuke, can instead serve Creator, as when Jesus is grieved at the sight of an injustice or callousness or hypocrisy of the religious leadership.  See, for example, Jesus grieving at the hardness of heart of the Pharisees who would deny someone the healing of a withered hand in Mark 3:1-6.  In this point of view, we understand that our creation is basically "good" -- as it must be by creation of God.  But that we need to understand who we are within a depth of return to love of God, in communion with Christ.   Our own impulses and emotions, and all of our passions and desires, are given over to Christ in discipleship, and we change and are transformed through that discipleship.  This is the image of Transfiguration for all of us, as our true identity may be revealed through the work of our Creator within us (indeed, even the Trinity is at work within us).  What we seek in discipleship is precisely this kind of depth of change from within.  It is not something we call upon with our own desired image of ourselves in mind; that is not Christ's purview.  But we submit ourselves to the "manner of spirit we are of," and we learn within that discipleship.  Witness the examples given above of the people who delay to follow Him when commanded.  None of the impulses that the would-be disciples have are "bad" -- one must consider that he will have no home, another must not go first even to bury his father, and yet another must not even return to say good-bye.  These are not nominally bad things, but they are hindrances to the necessary discipleship for the followers Christ asks for; and discipleship comes through putting the Lord first, and learning what the Lord would ask of us in the moment of choice.  This is our road, how our own passions become transformed, transfigured, put to better use, and serve a world that is hungry for the love of God.  Where are you on that road?  Have you put your hand to the plow?  Are you ready to follow Him?   Christ Himself becomes "home" -- and where He is, there we follow.  And do we not all want our homes to reflect His love?