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 us 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 the next day after the Transfiguration, when Jesus, John, James, and Peter had come down from the mountain, 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.  And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us 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 that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem, He has steadfastly set His face to go toward His Passion.  From Galilee, He must pass through Samaria.  Let us understand that He is headed toward rejection by His own people, and so in a sense, this rejection by the Samaritans is a preparation for the disciples.  Clearly, as Jesus says, they must learn "what manner of spirit" they are of.  They will face an incredible amount of rejection, both in Jerusalem and in their missions and ministries afterward, in the Church.  But their mission will always be to follow their Master, who has come not to destroy men's lives, but to save them.  See John 3:17.  They must learn to move on, as did Jesus, to another village.  We know Jesus' instructions for encountering rejection among the Jews (Luke 9:4); here they are among the Samaritans.

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 on this passage that, as Jesus responds to those who would like to follow Him, He teaches that there is a cost to discipleship.  He reveals three of them.  First, the disciple relinquishes personal or earthly security; that is, if the Lord has nowhere to lay His head, then neither will the disciple.  Second, there is nothing, not even the honor due to parents, that can be an obstacle to serving the Lord.  Finally, a disciple cannot delay in accomplishing the good that Christ demands.

 

These notes on discipleship in our last passage sound very harsh at first reading.  Even Jesus' commands sound like they could be very harsh:  "Let the dead bury their own dead," speaking of one's father, and, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God," speaking of saying farewell to those at one's house.  But these are commands that reflect, first of all, the urgency of the time.  Jesus has "steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem."  It is the time for Him to act, His hour (John 12:27).  We must remember that God's timing is crucial to this picture.  We're told in Ecclesiastes, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven" (see Ecclesiastes 3).  This is the time for Christ's purpose, His hour of glory and glorification.  It is the time of the Cross.  But so it is in our own lives and with our own purposes set forth by God.  There are times when we're to act and to respond.  Everyone makes choices for how they are to serve God, and once that choice is made there is a hierarchy of necessities that one must face.  Do I go home now for a visit, or do I heed this call in my heart and during my prayer to act as it seems God is commanding me?  One cannot suggest that every single impulse is from God, but there are times when prayer and discernment, when speaking with pastors, and asking brothers and sisters in the Church to pray for oneself and one's choices, all add up to what seems like a powerful call, a decision to be made, even (and perhaps often) when we seem to have compelling reasons to delay, turn the other way, and put this off.  The story of Jonah is illustrative of this point.  Indeed, the first chapter of that story is all about Jonahs' disobedience, his refusal of the call from God (Jonah 1).  Similarly to Jonah, there are those of us who are aware we have put off a decision repeatedly put forward to us during prayer, and have experienced the bad outcome as another lesson from God, another pronouncement of Jesus' statement that we're not to look back once we've put our hand to the plow.  In terms of family obligations, it is often surprising how one will find that things work out, with family members much more obliging than we thought possible, or circumstances creating opportunities for us to know it was better that we responded to that call.  Oftentimes, it happens otherwise.  Our family obligation might disappoint ourselves and even those whom we sought to please, and God's call was the better priority in retrospect.  These are small examples from experience, but suffice to say that God calls us where love calls us.  We're not asked to treat family and loved ones poorly.  Nor are we asked sacrifices that will not in the long run benefit us and our lives overall -- especially in terms of values gained, character expanded, and the greatest love part of our internal experience.  While these words in today's Gospel reading sound harsh, in effect they are Christ's words of love, telling us about priorities and the values of the Kingdom.  There will be times -- and one may testify that this is so -- when it seems we are throwing away important relationships and norms in order to follow what seems like a fool's errand that is the product of our faith.  But those times have embedded within them a prescience we're not always in touch with, and that is truly where faith comes in, even how our faith grows.  God asks of us courage, even as Christ shows His courage.  Sometimes we are being asked for a greater humility than we knew.   Let us consider the help we have to make good decisions and find our way with faith.  Remember that the God we serve is love, whose kindness and mercy and grace is our guiding light.  For we, too, must know what manner of spirit we are of.  Ultimately our choices are about the values we wish to help to bear into the world, the greater love that might not make sense to the world, but which we nonetheless can know.