CPent6 13, Lectionary 13, Proper 8
1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 Psalm 16 Galatians 5:1, 13-25 Luke 9:51-62
The Gospel according to St. Luke. [Glory to you O Lord]
51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53 but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 Then they went on to another village.
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58 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." 59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 60 But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." 61 Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." 62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
The Gospel of the Lord [Praise to you O Christ].
Grace, Peace and Expanding Love are yours from God the Father, through the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ.
I am not a farmer kid, but I do come from farm country. And therefore, I have seen people plowing. Anyone here ever plowed a field themselves? Do you mind if I put you on the spot?
[come up?]
1. Can you describe for us plowing a field?
2. Ok, so say we have the tractor (or oxen) set up with the plows and we are about to head out into the field. What is the most important thing to know if we were going to be given this job?
3. One thing I have noticed is that the fields are always so geometric looking… the plowing seems to go in straight lines… would that be key to the job? Why?
“Straight lines.”
Hm. Jesus says, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Now Jesus is a carpenter, but I wonder if he had noticed the same thing I had. A main skill in plowing seems to be heading off in a straight line. I mean, you need to be looking where you are going. Is that right? I bet that was especially true when the plow was pulled by oxen or horses rather than a tractor. In my experience with animals, if you aren’t clear about where they should be headed, you’re in trou-ah-ble.
So I wonder, if you were trying to lead the oxen and plow down the field while looking over your shoulder… just what would happen? Maybe just a messy job? Is it possible to ruin a field that way? Would we have to do the whole thing over again?
It’s probably helpful to look at the scripture again: Jesus says to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God,”… Jesus says this in response to a person who says, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” A guy who seems eager for Jesus’ invitation to “Follow me” but that invitation was actually addressed to someone else who wanted to go and bury his father. And Jesus response there was not particularly kind either: let the dead bury their own dead. Three times Jesus is in conversation with people who want to follow him and he responds by upping the ante. “You want to follow me? Well, let me tell you what this is really all about… “
Three times Jesus challenges the would-be followers. And each time the answers do not seem to be particularly encouraging. What is Jesus up to here?
Jesus has just come down from the mountain where he was transfigured, the text tells us that “his face is set towards Jerusalem.” The tone of the story of Luke changes here. Suddenly Jesus is a “man on a mission.” Even though his followers don’t get it yet, Jesus seems to know what Jerusalem has in store for him, his focus is incredible. Focus upon what he came to earth to do, which has been revealed to him on that mountaintop. Focus upon his dear Father, to whom he looks, longing to be back together again. The story tells us that the days drew near for him to be “Taken up”… does Luke mean taken up on the cross? Taken up to heaven? Taken up from the tomb? Maybe Jesus doesn’t even know what’s in store, precisely. But he clearly won’t be distracted from his mission.
“Follow me”… “follow me”
We are invited into the mission /as the three people/ who Jesus encounters on the road. These three have no name… no identity… we don’t even know how they react to Jesus statements to them! “Follow me,” Jesus says. ///We have to remember, that all we know about so far is that Jesus is a miracle worker who has taught us that these supernatural healings and signs all point towards the coming kingdom of God. And we know that we have glimpsed this kingdom, we have glimpsed the wholeness and beauty in these miracles we have seen. We are just beginning to discover who Jesus is, and are so excited about the change that is coming, that we are following the call. The call to bring people to Jesus… to hear the good news of the coming kingdom.
We are those followers on the road. We get to hear the difficult words of Jesus; maybe he’s saying a different thing to each of us… what we each need to hear to point us towards a new way of life. A life of letting go.
For that seems to be the bottom line. No matter what we bring to Jesus, his response is “Let that go.” Let go of our ideas, let go of our rules, let go of our past…fears, hang-ups, judgemental tendencies, fixation on money, narrow minded ness, piles of stuff and self-centeredness all have to go… not to mention, our entire lives[1]. Jesus invites us, “Come live!” Come live where God has already taken that thing that is holding you back…God has already made it let go of you.
What do you hear when I say that today Jesus says “let go”?
Do you hear Jesus saying the familiar adage…“Let Go and let God?” Is that freeing for you? Can you hear Jesus calmly easing off your burdens of excess responsibility?
Do you hear Jesus commanding voice prying your fingers from that to which you cling? Your children, your spouse, your credentials, your status?
What else might you hear?
Peter Marty, a Lutheran pastor and teacher wrote an article on this in the July Lutheran Magazine. I invite you to check it out online. www.thelutheran.org – search for “Letting Go.”
I’ll tell you what I hear from Jesus’ message to Let Go.
I hear Jesus siphoning off my worry about what I can’t control. I hear Jesus reminding me that my image is as a Child of God over and above any other image I might want to portray. I feel God clasping my face in his hands, looking me straight in the eyes “I love you, you are my creature, put your trust in me. For I have made you fit for the kingdom of God in the waters of baptism. I have made you fit to proclaim the kingdom. The joy, the peace, the heart-wrenching compassion of your God. I am your God, who refuses to burn you to a crisp with a lightening bolt even when you refuse me. I have chosen another way. I have chosen the way of loving you all the way to the cross… down to hell and back again. For you, my child, you can let go. But I will never let go of you.”
Can I get an Amen?
So back to that plow, before we’re done here: it’s hard to do a job unless I look ahead to where I am going.
Over and over again Jesus says, Let Go. Let go of the stuff that is holding you back. For you have a mission. You are called. You need to go the way a bird needs to fly. And you don’t need any extra junk weighing you down. No, you need to move forward. You need to move into the hungry and naked places of the world. You are my hands and feet! You bring in the kingdom that overturns the tables. You bring the light to dark places! Go, welcome all into me. Welcome all to faith. Welcome all to life. This new, free, life where we are able to let go of all that keeps us from following. By only God’s power, we let go and let God move us forward.
Amen.
[1] Peter Marty, The Lutheran, June
