As we enter into this story, let’s recap what’s been going on so far . . .
Jesus is this “rockstar” Rabbi . . . very popular, lots of friends on facebook, packs out the house every time he speaks . . . He’s been preaching and teaching, and healing and casting out demons . . . and everywhere He went, thousands of people followed him.
And up until this point, his ministry has been taking place in the region of Galilee which is the northern part of Israel; small towns and villages with farmers, peasants, fishermen, and simple rural folk.
But today we see a transition in the life and ministry of Jesus . . . and it hinges on what we see verse 51. “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, He set his face to go toward Jerusalem”
This is that day. That day when you stake your claim and you determine your future . . . “This is who I am, this is where I’m going, and this is what I’m doing.”
This is Jesus, with a furrowed brow and a steely gaze, setting his eyes toward the cross, where he would go in our place for our sins as our Savior and God . . . and that place is Jerusalem, which is in the southern part of Israel.
Now Jerusalem is a big city, somewhere around one hundred thousand people. It’s a city literally set on a hill and it’s called, the city of God. And it goes back nearly 3,000 years ago. So there’s a long rich history to this city.
In the days of Abraham, it was just a common, simple area with very few people but it was the place where he nearly sacrificed his only son, Isaac. And it was said that in that region, God, himself, would provide. It was all a moment that was pregnant with meaning.
- that ultimately Jesus would come, the Son of God,
- And as Abraham had Isaac carry his wood for the sacrifice, so the Father would have God the Son carry his own wood to his place of bloodshed and death.
- And Jesus laid down his life, and died in that same area of Jerusalem . . . Everything climaxes in Jerusalem.
So, Jesus is making this multi-month walk toward Jerusalem, toward the cross, toward his place of death, burial, resurrection, ascension. And he passes through an area called Samaria.
Now let me explain to you Samaria. These people were kind of Jews. They had intermarried with pagans, and they established their own temple, their own Bible, their own religion, their own theology, and their own pastors. And the Jews didn’t know what to do with these people, because they were just completely cuckoo and so they just simply avoided them.
So what would happen is, when God’s people journeyed from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem in the south, they would just walk around this area called Samaria. It makes for a much longer trip but that’s better than getting their cuckoo germs on you because that stuff makes you unclean.
But Jesus doesn’t walk around Samaria, he walks through Samaria and he sends messengers ahead of him and here’s why . . . . Jesus is rolling with quite a large entourage.
It’s him plus the twelve plus the seventy plus however many other people have come along for the ride.
So you’re looking at over one hundred people. And if you’re a village of forty or sixty people, you don’t have a Ramada Inn. You don’t have a Sam’s Club to buy food and coffee in bulk. You’re just not set up to receive this many visitors at one time.
So messengers would be sent in advance to say, “Hey, Jesus is coming. There are a lot of us. Do you guys have any food to eat or place to sleep, or is there a way we could purchase supplies and take care of the ministry team around Jesus.”
And if they say, “No, we can’t accommodate that many.” Then they would roll into the next town, to figure out where they’re gonna lodge, and how they’re gonna feed the people.
So they roll into Samaria to let them know that “Jesus is coming”
And the Samaritans say, “you know what . . . we really don’t want Jesus here because he’s headed to Jerusalem . . . which means that he’s not going to validate who we are . . .
But if Jesus is willing to validate our theology or go to our temple. If he supports our leaders in order to reinforce our theology then we’re willing to have him. But he can’t go to Jerusalem because that would show the world that Jerusalem, not Samaria, is where God wants to begin his redemptive work.”
They’re willing to have Jesus, providing that he will support them, but he won’t.
And the truth is this is how a lot of people work. They’re fine with Jesus as long as he doesn’t start acting like God. As long as he reinforces what we believe and how we behave then we’ll tolerate him. But if he calls us to repent or shows us how we might actually be wrong about something, then he’s out.
They want Jesus on their team as long as it’s on their terms, and he comes and says, “No, I’m God. You don’t tell me to follow you, I tell you to follow me. I don’t join your team, you join mine.”
And Jesus’ team is very diverse, different races and languages, nations and cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. And he invites all to follow him, but he does not follow anyone else . . . He’s God.
When this message got to the Samaritans, they’re like, “he’s going to Jerusalem and he wants us to follow him? We have a totally different agenda and ideology. Jesus can either submit to us or leave.
God came to earth, walked through Samaria, the place where nobody else wanted to go. He extended a hand of friendship, and they rejected it.
So two of his disciples, James and John decide, “Let’s call fire down from heaven”
These are those guys with the “turn or burn” signs. “You want to receive Jesus?” “No”. “Then you’re gonna burn in hell! Next.”
Now let me tell you what’s interesting about this: they think that they can call down fire from heaven which is a pretty big assumption, don’t you think?
They’re like, “hey Jesus, these guys aren’t gonna follow you and if you’re cool with this, we’re gonna call down fire from heaven and torch these guys” as if they have the power or even the authority to do that.
I wonder if Jesus was thinking, “If I was gonna call down fire from heaven, I would start with a few of my own guys who are driving me crazy”
What Jesus says, essentially is this . . . “It’s not time.” There is a season and a time for condemnation, but this is a season and time for salvation.
Jesus is saying, “Look, I’m going to Jerusalem. I’m gonna die on a cross. I’m gonna suffer. I’m gonna atone for sin. And then you guys can come back to Samaria and give the Samaritans another opportunity to receive grace, and mercy, and forgiveness, and salvation.”
Yeah, the Samaritans blew their chance this time but Jesus is gonna be patient with them as he’s patient with you, and he’s patient with me, and he’s patient with his own disciples, James and John.
You see, as long as you are alive God is extending to you the hand of Grace through his Son Jesus. It doesn’t mean that we should be lazy or not have a sense of urgency but it does mean that as long as we are breathing, there’s still an invitation to salvation by followership of Jesus Christ.
Well, as he’s continuing his journey . . . we see three people come up and have very interesting conversations with Jesus, and like the Samaritans, each has this error of putting someone or something ahead of Jesus, and they’re happy to have Jesus provided he’s in second place.
As long as he’s not first priority, as long as he’s not first treasure . . . he’s welcome to be somewhere in the list of priorities, but not in front.
First, we see this man come up to Jesus and say, “I want to follow you. I’m gonna go wherever you go”
Jesus says, are you sure about that? . . . Before you sign up to follow me, let’s be very clear that it’s not going to be easy: I’m a homeless guy, who is flat broke. I don’t know what I’m gonna eat tonight or where I’m gonna sleep and I’m on my way to be crucified.
Are you really ready to sign up to follow me wherever I go? Are you OK with that?
What happens in Churches all the time in an effort to build up numbers is that we sometimes don’t people the truth about the cost of following Jesus. We tell people,
- You’re sick, come to Jesus and he’ll make you healthy.
- You’re poor, come to Jesus and he’ll make you rich.
- You’re sad, come to Jesus and he’ll make you happy
People come to Jesus and say, you know what . . . it didn’t work.
- I’m still sick
- Now that I’m giving a tithe to the church, I’m poorer than I was
- And I’m even sadder because my awareness of my shortcomings has increased.
- This just isn’t working and I’m completely disappointed in God.
Let me tell you this right up front, following Jesus is the best life but it’s certainly not the easiest. To follow Jesus could mean a very hard path but I promise you that it’s a life filled with joy if you treasure Jesus above all. And that’s essentially what Jesus is telling this man . . . “yeah, I want you on my team but you need to know it is gonna be a rough road ahead . . . are you sure you’re up for it?”
Well another man comes to him and Jesus says, “Come follow me” and the man replies, “Let me first go and bury my father” and Jesus replies, “Let the dead bury their own dead”
Now admittedly, Jesus’ response to this man is one of the most difficult sayings of Jesus in the whole Bible because it looks like Jesus is being mean to this man.
If I went to Jesus and was like “Hey Jesus, I’m totally up for this following you thing but I really love my dad and I need to go bury him first” and he tells me, “let him bury himself”. I’d be like, “I read this book that I’m pretty sure that you’re the author of and it said honor your father and mother and I’m trying to do that but you won’t let me . . . I’m a little confused.”
So what’s going on? Let me give you my presumption; I don’t think his dad is anywhere near dead. I think what he’s telling Jesus is, “I’m willing to follow you but I’m not too sure my parents will be in agreement with this because they’re pretty devout Jews. So let me go back home, take care of my parents and someday after my dad dies, I’ll be back but this time with a big fat inheritance check . . . and then I’m gonna follow you, and I’m gonna preach and go into ministry, and it’s gonna be great.
Someday . . . but not today! . . . This man wants security more than he wants Jesus.
And what Jesus is saying to him is, “how many years of your life do you want to blow? Right now, you could be serving the living”
Go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Go preach, go teach, go lead a community group, go plant a church, go do evangelism. Don’t blow another day, week, year, or decade. Go do something now because if you wait, you’ll never do anything. There are people who are alive right now who need to hear about the grace of God.
Then another guy comes up to Jesus and say’s, “I will follow you . . . but”. There it is again
This guy says to Jesus, “I totally want to follow you but first, I have something more important to do. I need to go home, and I need to tell my friends and family that I’m gonna become a Christ follower and that I’m gonna give my life to ministry.”
Now, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything wrong with this but Jesus knows this man’s heart . . . as he does our hearts. And he knows that if that if this guy goes back, he’s never gonna move forward.
That’s just how some people are, if they look back they’re never ever gonna move forward because when they look to their past they will either want to relive it or even try to revise it. There’s nothing wrong with looking to your past and thinking, “Boy that was a wreck. Wish I hadn’t done that” but it’s something completely different to look back with longing.
That’s what the Israelites did. They were in bondage and slavery in Egypt for four hundred years; tormented, beaten and even killed. God liberated them. They’re walking around in the desert and they’re tired and their hungry because the journey of liberation is a hard one and what do they do? They look back and they complain.
“Ah, you remember the good old days in Egypt?” “Yeah, Egypt rocked. I miss Egypt.”
Really? . . . You were a slave
You see, we tend to romanticize our past, “Oh that was awesome” and Jesus is saying, “Don’t look back because what will happen . . . even if you have the greatest of intentions . . . you might ruin your life”
I’m calling you to follow me to something great and if you go back, you’ll never go forward.
And then he uses this analogy of plowing . . . “Your life is like a field, and God has apportioned to you a row to plow. And if you want to have any harvest in your life then you need to put your hand on the plow, and you need to set your eyes forward and keep your feet moving, working hard and doing our best. And just like Jesus plowed a straight line right into Jerusalem, we need to plow a straight line right into the New Jerusalem, and not be looking back.
Eyes forward, hands on the plow, feet always moving, working hard, doing our best till we see him face-to-face.
And what he says is, “If you don’t do that, you’ll take your hand off the plow and you’ll look back.” and “You can’t plow a straight row looking back, and you just can’t.”
It’s a great analogy
So in this story, Jesus crosses paths with four different people
What’s interesting is that we don’t know what any of these guys did. Did they choose their tribe, their comfort, their security, their past . . . or did they choose Jesus to be first, to be their greatest treasure. It’s almost as if the text leaves the question hanging . . . and that we have to answer it for ourselves.
I wonder how you’ll answer Jesus’ call?