In the blog post “Am I Radical?” we thought about how each of us might be more like a first responder to an emergency, where the emergency is the eternal status of a friend or acquaintance.  We marvel at the willingness of everyday heroes like police, fire, and Coast Guard to risk it all for strangers, while we stay safe at home.  Why are we staying safe at home?  Why aren’t we risking it all for Christ?  Let’s remind ourselves of selected verses in Luke Chapter 9, verse 23 and verses 57 through 62.

23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 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, first let me go and bury my father.”  60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim 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.”  62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

These verses speak of people who are risking it all, walking towards an uncertain future with Christ.  Today, we might look at people in our church, people who are on fire for the Lord, people who are witnessing to perfect strangers and seeing salvations and think “why not me?”  We might cast a glance at someone with passion, energy, commitment, and  think “boy, I wish I was serving the Lord like he is!”  If we received Christ as a youngster, or if we found Christ as an adult, time passes and our early fervor for Christ may have cooled.  What makes one person a stalwart soldier for Christ and another person a silent sage?

 
I think the answer is found in two words – “follow me.”  It is so simply stated, yet so incredibly described that it merits our attention.  Christ’s clear call to follow Him has at its heart the desire to be Christ’s disciple.  Re-read Luke 9:23…the desire to be a disciple comes first!  It could almost be expressed as a logic statement in a computer program – IF you want to be Christ’s disciple THEN deny yourself AND follow me.  This oft-repeated verse is quoted to emphasize the denial of self.  I think it better if we focus on the desire to be a disciple!  Do we truly want to be Christ’s disciple?

 
Imagine what it must have been like to be in the group of disciples on the way through Samaria to Jerusalem.  Go ahead, put verse 57 in modern terms…wouldn’t it be like running into some incredibly famous pastor like Rick Warren or Tim Keller or David Jeremiah after a visit to their church?  We’d be so tempted to say just what we think the pastor needs to hear.  We’d be likely to stumble and stammer as we try to remember the sermon and say “I agree with you—you made so much sense when you said…”  Here, a disciple must feel some sense of excitement as he finds Christ along the road.  I know I would!  How does Christ respond?  He doesn’t say “Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed my sermon and found it applies to your life.”

Christ says so much more!  In His response, he affirms one fact that we might fail to see if we don’t pause to listen…in following Christ, we are to GO!  The disciple says “wherever You go” and Christ doesn’t say “hey, friend, I’m glad you are planted at a great church where you can hang out and enjoy fellowship with other believers.”  Christ says “I’m going—are you with Me?” simply by describing His journey.  Read verse 58 again.  Is it a pleasant trip?  Is it a night at the Courtyard with WiFi?  Road warrior or occasional traveler, this journey will have us calling the front desk clerk to complain…we are NOT going to get what we reserved!  Our going with Christ, our following Him, is likely to be the toughest journey we’ve experienced.  Will we GO?

In His conversations with the many taking the trip to Jerusalem, Christ challenges someone to follow Him.  To me, this challenge describes most of us clearly.  Let’s look at just the words used by the individual in response to Christ in verse 59:

Lord – a clear indication that the man knows Christ’s position, His authority, His identity
First—a time word, a word that conveys the order of things, and a word that shows the man has not completely subjected himself to Christ’s Lordship
Let me – a plea for permission, perhaps a polite way of addressing Christ as Lord, but in this conversation more evidence that the man has not relinquished control
Bury my father – clearly an important task, one falling to sons, and one that is not dishonorable in the culture, or to the man’s friends.  It is an expected duty, and a duty not to be forgotten.

Do we resemble this man at all?  Do we know who Christ is, but do we have our own vital task for which we cannot immediately follow Christ?  Do we have our own agenda (a sense of timing and order) for which Christ must wait?  Surely we are all like this man in some way, at some time.

 
Two things are clear from Christ’s response in verse 60.  First, the task that is so important to us now must indeed be done.  Second, we are not the ones to accomplish that task!  Christ never says “Look, honoring your father, providing a proper burial, dealing with the legal issues, doesn’t matter.”  Christ instead says “I release you from this task!”  What is so amazing is the task with which He charges us “GO (there’s that word again!) and proclaim the Kingdom of God!”  Will we GO and proclaim His Kingdom?

 

Now, Christ finds yet another disciple who initiates a conversation as one desiring to follow Him, yet expresses some feelings with the same telling words, seen in verse 61:  “But…” “first” “Let me…” “family…” Only natural.  We’d all feel the same way!  Wouldn’t we?  Christ’s response in verse 62 has troubled so many people over the centuries – but should it?  Is Christ linking our faith in Him and our service to Him to an abandonment of our family?

 
I think not.  Christ, in His response sees deep into the nature of man.  It is difficult to say for certain, but I believe Christ is speaking to the challenges of serving Him, and what happens when we look back at the way things were.  I have never attempted to plow a straight line behind a strong-willed mule, but I have tried to aerate my yard with a rented machine that weighed about half-a-ton and had a mind of its own.  Just controlling the general direction of the aerator was hard enough.

When my wife graciously came out to offer a glass of iced tea, and I looked back…well, you get the idea.  I think Christ is not asking us to abandon our family, but is admonishing us that our focus from this moment on needs to be on serving Him!  Will we GO and never look back?

Am I following?