Meditationen am Gnadenstuhl: Tuesday, Easter IV - Luke 9:57-62
Tuesday Easter IV
Daily Lectionary Readings: Leviticus 10:1-20; Luke 9:37-62; (Leviticus 11:1-15:33)
Luke 9:57-62:
[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, let me first go and bury my father.” [60] And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” [61] Yet 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 his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (ESV)
Have you ever tried to drive forward while looking in the rear-view mirror? Not glancing through all the mirrors like you are supposed to be doing. No, staring into that rear-view mirror. If the road is straight, you probably did well continuing on a straight path. What happened when the way started to curve a little? Again, with a gentle curve, you may have been able to think backward and keep in the middle of your lane. Now imagine you are going up (or down) Girdled Road trying to drive forward while looking in the rear-view mirror. Not such a good idea, is it? Now do it in the snow. That would just be insanity. Even the best drivers would not expect to make it very far without, shall we say a very impressive and breathtaking failure.
Yet we Christians do this nearly every day. So much, in fact, that it goes without notice. When some of us were learning to drive, we wondered how we ever got the car to go in a straight line without constantly over-correcting one way or the other. With time it became second nature, so smooth you might have begun to think you have become the most excellent driver in the world. At the very least, you wondered what in the world your problem was. This is the simplest thing ever!
If only the rest of life came so naturally. If only we did not come to so often discover that what we thought was a simple course was, in reality, a way fraught with peril. Even without trying to navigate it by looking backward! If our past life had a report like Google could send for our monthly driving, we would be alarmed at all the near-misses and shoulder excursions we had been on. Not to mention the moments where you thought, "Just where in the world did I think I was going?” Or, “I never remember being in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico?!
In the first century, they didn't have mega-tractors like the Challenger 18.1L turbo diesel. From ancient Egypt to the Palestine of Jesus' time, they had a thing called the Ard, or scratch-plow, drawn by a team of oxen. It was challenging to make it go in a straight line on a good day. The hardscrabble land made it even worse. Plowing was hard work, and you had to set your back to it and give it your full attention. No one who looks back plowing makes a straight row. No person is ever on as straight a course as he could be. The average driver will not make it one lap in a NASCAR event. The average Christian does not have perfect knowledge. We go in fits and starts, and we frequently look back to see if we're "doing it right."
The one who looks back while plowing plows an inconsistent field. The field under his care never becomes mature and more manageable because the attention it receives is of intermittent quality. Rather than well-plowed terrain, the map of our lives is more like the surf crashing on the shore. Sometimes it has the clockwork pattern of a metronome. Other times it roars and crashes. Others it is so still that one wonders if it has ever moved before or will again. Our faith and our hunger for the Word ebbs and flows. The things of God consume all our attention almost to the point of idolatry sometimes, and others, it cools so much that we barely notice it.
The one who plows "in spirit" but not in person like a student, the day before the last day of school lacks total commitment. At any moment, he may check out altogether, leaving the job unfinished. We begin a Bible reading plan but peter out after a week or two. A prayer journal seems like a good idea for a few days. Now, don't get the wrong idea – those are good things, but doing them or not does not make you a good or bad Christian. The motivation behind them? The lack or not of something in your life that compelled you to do them? That's more what we're looking at. You don't talk to your spouse or children a week out of the month and then ignore them the other three, do you? Jesus is concerned with His bride every minute of every day.
The one who plows but looks back allows disruption and distraction to subvert his work in the field. The plowman is unaffected, but what of the crops? How much attention will the plants get if the rows they are planted in are plowed without care? We need to see the result of distracted driving only once for Jesus' point to be made. But that has all been law and nothing but. That is Jesus' whole intent. It's not about plowing or being a good driver, a diligent student of the Bible, or a steadfast prayer warrior. Those are all fine things! Can we do all of them, all the time, perfectly? Of course not. The Good News is that Jesus is there when you don't.
Martin Luther wrote a little book called “The Freedom of a Christian.” Search for it online, you can read it for free. The short version is that true Christian freedom comes when we are slaves to the Word of God. The prophetic nature of Luther is that the problems he saw in his day are our problems today. This is not because of his prescience but because of the universality of humanity's fallen brokenness, which he understood masterfully, and also very personally.
We have an unprecedented opportunity to spread the truth in love, the Gospel comfort of faith and forgiveness. It is also a time to be steadfast and firm on those things which cannot be compromised. At times, we will have to swallow some pride, temper our tongues, and know when listening is preferred to speaking. Back to basics. Nothing new - nothing radical - all those things we are to daily do in our walk together. Extraordinary times have a way of re-centering and grounding. Sort of like waking up after a knock-out punch. That's what Christian freedom is - simple truths, simple elements, and the all-powerful Word we have been given to drive back the darkness.
We're being pulled in multiple directions to pick sides socially, politically, and morally. Rather than starving for lack of knowledge, our people are glutted with confusing and conflicting messages. Some we cannot help, but one we sure can. What does a God-pleasing life look like, and what do we do when we fail at it? Forgive me. Take eat, take drink. Your sins are forgiven. There are many issues, and we can help with some of the answers. We can point out the questions that need not be asked. But for the most important things we have been given all the words we need. When it gets difficult, and it will - "do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour"1 That is true Christian freedom.
Jesus exaggerated at times to make a rhetorical point, often with humor. This time He did not. Not about letting the dead bury their own dead. Not about one who puts his hand to the plow and looking back. About the Son of Man having nowhere to rest His head. For the Son of Man came to rest His head only once His work was finished upon a pillow of olive wood. When the time for His Sabbath rest was at hand, he declared, "It is finished," and gave up His spirit so that the only looking back you ever need to do is to look back to the day Your sins were drowned in the waters of baptism and your soul cleansed in the blood that flowed from His Holy wounds. There is never a need to dwell in the past from that fixed point in time. You have been set on a course straight as an arrow's flight toward eternal life and peace. We go off course along the way, we trip and fall to the left or to the right, for sure. At times, we look back. We are not fit for the kingdom of God. But Jesus Christ was, and is, for you. And His worthiness makes you worthy to be kings and queens in His Name. Amen.