Luke 9:57-62 The cost of discipleship

Luke 9:57-62 Parallel passage in Matthew 8:19-22. In this section, we have three specific responses of Jesus to people who said they wanted to follow Him. First, He pointed out that He did not have a home on earth. Second, He said that proclaiming the kingdom of God is more important than tending to family matters such as burying one's father. Third, He said that anyone who looks back to his family, even to say goodbye, after he has put his hand to the plow, is not fit for the kingdom of God. This is a hard passage.

         The reference to not having a house was foreshadowed in Jeremiah 35:7-9 when the Rechabites vowed to live in tents all of their lives. Similarly, the statement about saying goodbye to one's family refers back to I Kings 19:19-21 in which Elijah called Elisha to follow him. Elisha wanted to kiss his parents goodbye and Elijah said he would have nothing to do with him. So Elisha sacrificed the oxen he was plowing with and immediately went to follow Elijah. The statement about burying one's father seems contrary to Old Testament precedent, which set high value on filial piety and respect.

         The point of all this is that Jesus was saying that while family duties may be important, obeying the Father is more important. This may require having no fixed dwelling, perhaps even sleeping in tents. However, the Rechabites lived in tents because their father had commanded them - it wasn't even a direct command of God. If they would do that, we should be prepared to do so in order to serve The Lord in the way He commands, if that is what He commands. The spiritually dead can bury their dead, without hope perhaps, but the important thing is to proclaim that in the kingdom of God, there is eternal life. It is verse 62 that is the most challenging. The reference to Elisha suggests again that God's kingdom has such a high priority that saying goodbye to parents suggests that we really are stalling or that we value them over God. Not that parenthood is unimportant, but that for adults, there comes a time to cut the cord. If we value an inheritance we may get from our parents when they die, we have an unhealthy value on the things of the world. Since Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, we can infer his family was wealthy. Elijah offered him the hope for his soul - to let go of his family inheritance, probably very hard to do by worldly values, and embrace the kingdom of God.

         Worldly values are very deceptive and hard to keep from overtaking us. Wealth in itself is neither good nor bad, but when our hearts are captured by it, they are no longer in tune with God's kingdom. This is the bottom line on what Jesus is saying.