Year C
Luke 9:51-62
The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn
No Turning Back
It seems to me that if everyone decided to take literally this story where Jesus rebukes the man who wished to bury his father before following him, the church’s prime task would be to take care of all the seniors, spouses, and children abandoned by those who dropped everything, family and their jobs, in order to take off after the Lord. Thankfully, that not exactly what’s meant here. The thread of the texts today is that we are called, literally or figuratively, to make a decision and stick with it. For example, Elisha seems to turn back, almost in contradiction to the gospel text, but that is so he can thoroughly burn his bridges before he sets out with Elijah.
The apostle Paul makes it clear that a saying of Jesus about the greatest law means that we cannot go back to our old way of life if that way contradicts the way of God. And Jesus, having set his face towards Jerusalem, offers one challenge after another to those who would follow him. Years ago when I was much more involved in Cursillo, we would sing a hymn that is said to be based on the words of an Indian martyr who was executed by the elders of his village because of his decision to become a Christian. Some of you have may have either heard or sung this hymn. “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.” These passages today tell us that when it comes to following Jesus, there’s no turning back. We still have to take care of our obligations. But when it comes to the old way of living, there’s no looking or turning back.
Try this some time, turn your radio on. Now dial it to your favorite station, 97.7 Fm. Next, turn the dial just a wee bit more, so that you’re still getting the signal, but a lot of static is coming through also. What’s the point? Just as a radio dial must be committed 100% to do its job, so must we commit ourselves 100% to Christ and his work. Yet, we want to have it both ways. It’s our human nature to want to tune into God, yet move the dial a bit and also tune into the world so we get both music and static. Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew, “No one can serve two masters, for either they will hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other.” The point is that it’s all about commitment, putting our hand to the plow and no turning back.
Jesus knew this. Luke tells us that Christ knew what awaited him in Jerusalem, the cross, and he “sets his face to go.” And along the way he passed through a Samaritan village where the people refused to hear him. Because of that, James and John want Jesus to model Elijah, where Elijah calls down fire which consumes two lots of fifty soldiers who have been sent to bring Elijah to King Ahaziah. Jesus refuses. There was bad blood between Jews and Samaritans going back a long time, but despite having been rejected by the Samaritans, Jesus shows his commitment to mercy, refusing to be harsh. And as it goes, this Samaritan village is a kind of model of how Jesus is going to be treated in Jerusalem. So he moves on to the next village.
“As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Great! Here the commitment of Jesus elicits a commitment. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, in The Cost of Discipleship “When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die.” That is we die to our plans, our dreams, our lives that we might live to his. Yet, how difficult this is for us to do and in the next few verses, Jesus speaks to those things that can hold us back in our commitment to God like comforts, worldly commitments, and home. To the one who expresses his intent to follow Jesus, the Lord replies that there is a real cost to following, in Jesus’ case, a traveling form of homelessness, one that must be walked to the cross.
Perhaps the most disturbing saying to those who first heard these sayings and still disturbing to us today as well, is when Jesus tells a potential disciple who wishes to bury his father, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Most likely Jesus meant by this harsh statement that the spiritually dead who are not willing to commit to the love and justice of God’s reign, should bury the dead. Jesus wants to make it clear to any further followers that they need to commit to God everything and be ready to give everything. It almost seems as if Jesus is bending over backwards to scare any potential disciples because by now, potential disciples two and three are not I’m sure appreciating the demands of following the Lord.
One thing we must remember is that Jesus often used what is known as hyperbole, or exaggeration, to make a point. For example: A camel can’t get through the eye of a needle. Of course, we are to bury our dead and take care of our families. What Jesus offers is the opportunity to follow on a journey of faith and to see those needs or obstacles, like comforts, worldly commitments, and home in the light of our faith and through the lens of our ever growing commitment to Christ. We’re working with God, plowing the fields, sowing seed. And we can’t be looking back over our shoulders at those things that would bid us to set the work aside.
As Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem,” committed to die for our sins, those who wish to follow him, we must respond in kind, and set our hearts in faithfulness to do his will. The journey to Jerusalem that we will take with Jesus in the weeks and months ahead will show us how to travel as followers in the way of Christ. It’s like the hymn says, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.”