Scripture: Luke 9:57-62 (ESV)
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “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.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
For Reflection:
Jesus has these three exchanges with three different would-be followers. Each of the exchanges involves a challenge from Jesus, which are challenges for us to wrestle with as we consider what it means to follow Jesus.
In this first encounter, someone initiates a conversation with Jesus, and this person is really eager to follow after Jesus. He’s stoked. He’s pumped up. He’s ready to go all in. “I’ll follow you wherever, no matter what.” And Jesus throws a wet blanket on the fire of this would-be follower’s enthusiasm. He responds with a warning: count the cost. It’s like Jesus is saying, "Your enthusiasm is great, but make sure you know who it is that you’re so eager to follow. Make sure you consider what following me will mean." The Son of Man, Jesus, is going to experience rejection and suffering, and everyone who follows him should expect to share in the rejection and suffering.
Now, in the ultimate, deepest way, following Jesus is the only way to lead an abundant, satisfying, joy-filled life. This abundant life begins as soon as you say yes to following Jesus. And at the exact same time, there are no promises that following Jesus will make your life easier, or more comfortable, or more satisfying at the level of your circumstances. In fact, Jesus guarantees the opposite. Following him will mean sharing in his rejection and suffering. It will mean hurting with the hurt of the world. It will mean the possibility of being rejected by friends and family. In many places all over the world today, it means life-threatening persecution.
And so Jesus is saying, “Get real about your expectations. What is it that you expect following me will bring into your life? If it’s comfort and safety and acceptance at the level of your circumstances, think gain. If it’s things going well for you in this world, think again.” Count the cost.
The second challenge is this: don’t delay. Jesus issues the call to another would-be disciple, but instead of responding with immediate obedience, the man replies, “First let me go bury my father.” Which sounds like an extremely reasonable request. Scripture says alot about the need to honor parents, including giving them proper burial. But Jesus sees in this man’s request an attempt to delay obedience. One way or another, it looks like this guy’s trying to put off the call to discipleship, perhaps indefinitely. "I want to follow you, Jesus, just not yet. I plan to follow you, Jesus, just not now."
Maybe you’ve never responded to the call to follow Jesus. You haven’t embraced him by faith. You haven’t committed to him. Well, count the cost, but then don’t delay. What are you waiting for? Is it for all your doubts to disappear? Are you waiting because you think at a later season of life following Jesus will make more sense? Does it just feel inconvenient right now, and you think it might feel less inconvenient later? Following Jesus will always involve some measure of doubt, will never fully make sense, and is anything but convenient. But still Jesus is calling you to follow. Why are you delaying?
And for those of you who have been following Jesus for years, maybe decades, how are you doing with the day in and day our hearing and obeying the voice of Jesus? I don’t know who first said this, but I think it rings true: delayed obedience is disobedience. Pay attention to the voice of Jesus. Pay attention to the promptings of the Spirit. Pay attention to the opportunities that the Father is putting in your path. How is Jesus calling you to follow him in this moment, right here, right now? Don’t delay.
Finally, don't look back. The image Jesus gives is of a farmer who is plowing the land. If he doesn’t keep his eyes facing forward, looking at where he’s headed, it won’t be long before he’s veering off track. He’ll plow crooked lines. The challenge is about our attention. We are to follow Jesus in such a way that we keep our eyes fixed on him. If we’re constantly looking back or looking to the side, it won’t be long before we’ve gone off track.
Discipleship means attending to Jesus as he gives himself to us in the present moment. And so there are subtle ways we can be distracted from him. Rather than attending to Jesus as he is giving himself to you here and now, you can spend your time pining for Jesus as he gave himself to you in past experiences. You can always be looking back to your past experiences with God instead of being attentive to what he’s wanting to do with you and for you right here and right now. Or, rather than attending to Jesus as he’s giving himself to you here and now, you can be looking aside to the Jesus you wish you had. You have a notion of what you need and how you need to see God show up in your life, and that distracts you from the ways God is actually showing up in your life. Maybe the Jesus you wish for is Jesus as he’s making himself present to the person next to you. But you see, that can also be a distraction. The call is to attend to how he’s making himself present to you, right here, right now. Don’t look back, Jesus says.
The call to follow Jesus is costly, and it's also grace, because we're called by the one who has counted the cost of loving us, who hasn't delayed in his love, and who never looks back.
Scripture: Luke 9:43b-56 (ESV)
And all were astonished at the majesty of God. But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”
John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.
For Reflection:
The disciples want to be great, and Jesus wants the disciples to be great. But what counts as greatness? It turns out that Jesus' plan for greatness isn't just different than the disciples' plan. It's the exact opposite. He says: "He who is least among you all is the one who is great." In Mark’s gospel, Jesus adds, "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." Greatness, in God's kingdom, is characterized by humility and loving service for others. This passage gives us three practices for greatness--practices that help us to become humble by taking us out of the center of our own lives.
First, receive a child. Jesus is talking about something that goes deeper than simply picking up a child and giving him a hug. He’s talking about receiving and welcoming and embracing the people around us who are the last and the least, who are usually overlooked, who don’t appear to be very useful, whose company won’t do much to increase our social status, who really don’t seem to have much to give. This is what great people do: they receive and welcome and embrace people who, according to the world’s measurements, aren’t great at all. Truly great people serve and love the last and the least. Who are the last and the least that God has put into your life? Who is Jesus calling you to welcome and embrace?
Second, accept an outsider. The disciples are upset because a rogue disciple is doing good things in Jesus' name, but is not following with them. Jesus doesn't seem to be bothered by the rogue disciple at all. He says, "Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.” What's our attitude toward people who aren’t part of our tribe—who aren’t in our immediate community. Can we find ways to accept them and affirm the good work they’re doing?
Finally, abandon the way of violence. James and John want to call down fire on a Samaritan village that doesn’t receive Jesus. The Samaritans and the Jews were bitter enemies of one another. They had different politics, and a different religion. They had very different visions of how the world ought to be. John and James are saying, "Lord, wouldn’t it be right for us to destroy them?" But Jesus rebukes them. It’s a harsh term. Why the rebuke? Because James and John want to accomplish their mission through force and violence. That’s how they expect God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done. Jesus’ plan, however, is to bring God’s kingdom through weakness, and even suffering, rejection, and death. Who do you perceive to be your enemy? In what ways are you tempted to wish them ill? In what ways would you want to call down fire from heaven against them? Can we hear the rebuke of Jesus? This is not the way of his kingdom.
Jesus brings the kingdom through death and resurrection. That's how we can expect it to come in our lives, too. Spend some time gazing at your savior. He is the one who has received you as a child. He has accepted you when you were an outsider. He died for you while you were still his enemy. He is the humble God, the Lord of glory, who is also the last and the least.
Scripture: Luke 9:28-37 (ESV)
Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.
For Reflection:
We love mountaintop experiences. They give us a taste of what we were made for--life embraced by the reality and revelation of God. We intuit that we were made for the mountain. But discipleship means following Jesus, when he leads us up the mountain but also when he leads us down. Usually, we love following him up, and we resist following him down. It's tempting to make getting up onto the mountain of glory the goal of our discipleship.
Are you trying to force your way up onto the mountain, instead of being attentive to the ways in which Jesus is leading you down into the valley, toward the cross? How might the Lord be inviting you to take up the cross in the valley: parenting, practicing hospitality with neighbors, finding a way to serve a coworker, befriending an awkward classmate, working on your marriage, apologizing to someone you’ve wronged, forgiving someone who has wronged you, maybe even finding a practical, concrete way to love an enemy?
In one sense, the Christian life is not a journey from mountaintop experience to mountaintop experience: Jesus leads us into the valley. But in another way, the Christian journey is all about the mountaintops: the mount of transfiguration, the mount of crucifixion, and the mount of the new creation. Stick with Jesus. Listen to him. Let him lead you up the mountain of revelation. Let him lead you off the mountain. Let him lead you to the cross. Let him lead you to glory.