Luke 9:57-62
(NIV) 57 As they were walking
along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man
has no place to lay his head.”
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied,
“Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the
dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the
kingdom of God.”
61 Still another said, “I will follow
you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus
replied, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit
for service in the kingdom of God.”
On the surface, these scriptures look rather harsh to us. Here these folks are telling Jesus they want to follow Him and work with Him but they just need a little time to get ready, get their lives in order and say good-bye to friends and family. Yet He rebukes them. Seems like simple requests, why then would Jesus respond the way He did?
First, His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts; we are reading this with human eyes and mentality. It would be enough if He fell back on the familiar parental answer, “Because I said so.” But there is more, so much more we can glean from this. Jesus knew the ‘cost’ involved for these folks in following Him. He also knew that only the truly committed would be fit for the difficulties ahead. Going back to see family, they would face temptations with those trying to talk them out of it. The emotional pull to not leave would be great.
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If they had other ‘priorities’ to take care of before actually
following Him, they were not putting Him first. Following Jesus is not
something to put on the ‘back burner’ of your life which you
squeeze in when there is nothing else needing your time
and attention. It is a lifestyle of seeking Him first. He knows you have
things to do. Matthew 6:33 says,
"But seek first His kingdom
and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” No
mention is made of laundry, or careers, or even raising kids. There is an
exacting cost to following the Lord and our earthly priorities cannot be more
important.
Let’s look at our lives and see what we have in line
before our Savior. Whatever it is, it will not be more important in the big
picture of eternity with Christ.
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