Hard sayings. Luke 9. (Updated below.)

In 1983, F. F. Bruce published a book titled, The Hard Sayings of Jesus. This proved to be such a popular book, that it was republished twice, and several other books with similar titles, covering other parts of the Bible, were written by others to form a series. They are now compiled into one volume, The Hard Sayings of the Bible. I like F. F. Bruce a lot, and own the original book, although I rarely consult it these days, doing so much of my study on the computer. (Thinking about that, maybe I should pull it off the shelf, and make it some of my light summer reading.) But the phrase, "hard saying," is a memorable one, and it came to mind reading Luke 9. Here's some of what the Publisher's Preface says about hard sayings.

"What F. F. Bruce wrote in his introduction to The Hard Sayings of Jesus can likely be said of nearly all the difficult texts in this collection: they may be hard for two different reasons. First are those that, because of differences in culture and time, are hard to understand without having their social and historical backgrounds explained. Second are those that are all too easily understood but that challenge the ways we think and act."

It is the latter sense, of Jesus' challenge to the ways we think and act, that I had in mind, although Jesus' phrasing in this instance, also presents some linguistic and cultural challenges to us as well. Here's the text.

"As they were walking along the road, someone said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.' Jesus said to another, 'Follow me.' But he replied, 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' But Jesus said to him, 'Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' Yet another said, 'I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to my family.' Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'" (Luke 9:57-62 NET)

Before digging in, I do want to point out that this is a passage where we can easily see Luke's organizational hand at work in compiling the events of Jesus' life into his "orderly account." Here, he's grouped three separate incidents together, because they contain different sayings of Jesus about the meaning of following Him. The cumulative effect is to see the commitment required of a disciple. The larger context, too, is all about discipleship. At the beginning of the chapter the twelve are sent out to replicate Jesus' ministry under His authority -- without support of any kind. In verses 23 and 24, Jesus lays it on the line. Following Him means denying yourself and picking up your cross every day. That's a hard enough saying for all of us and I could end there. But I won't.

Jesus' statement of the cost of discipleship is very hard. He also says that the reward is very great -- our very lives, and the sharing of the glory of the Son and the Father. (Another time, we should take a look at precisely what this means so that it's not just a Christian phrase without real impact. Or, one of you readers could comment on this right now.) We don't want to lose sight of that fact -- discipleship is worth whatever it costs and more. With that in mind, let's examine Jesus challenge to some of His "followers."

There are three followers who are challenged by Jesus in Luke 9:57-62. Perfect for a sermon, eh? My reaction to a first reading through these verses was, "man, Jesus was really harsh on these guys. He's trying to wash them out." How about you? Upon reflection, I realized that my understanding was correct, but my reaction, an underlying thought that maybe Jesus was too harsh, was incorrect. Better to prepare them for what may lie ahead. One lesson from these incidents, then, is what they have in common -- Jesus tells a follower that being a follower is hard.

After a little more reflection, and I realized that the fact that there are three followers, three responses from Jesus, and they're not the same, is a sure sign that I should dig deeper. What can I, what can we, learn from the differences in these three incidents?

Follower #1. "I'll follow you wherever you go." This guy was eager. Maybe naive, too. Maybe even boastful. Jesus response is to pour some cold water of reality on that follower. 'You'll be homeless.' Here some cultural knowledge can be helpful. Homelessness was very rare in 1st century Palestine. One might be very poor, but would still have a place to stay. As today, this is really the bottom of the barrel in terms of status and security. In essence, Jesus is saying that "wherever I go" is an unknown all the time, with no security, no promise of anything, and I want you to understand that. Be prepared.

Follower #2. If the first follower was eager, the second one was somewhat reluctant. Or confused in his priorities. A son's responsibility for burying his father was a very important one, an implied duty of the commandment to honor father and mother. But Jesus said that the call to preach the Kingdom of God was higher. There is no higher responsibility than answering Jesus' call to discipleship.

Follower #3. At first glance, there doesn't seem to be much difference between this follower and the previous one. But the man who wanted to bury his father was, at least, delaying for what would seem to be an important reason. This follower, though, wants to delay his following until a few goodbyes are given. More than reluctant, we might say this person is a "maybe someday" follower. Or, a distracted follower. Or, a "discipleship is low priority" follower. Jesus' response indicates, again, that discipleship is the highest priority. It requires the same kind of one-minded attention that plowing requires. (If that picture doesn't make sense, think about what you learned in driver's ed -- where your head goes, the car goes.)

All of these sayings are simple enough to understand. But they are as hard as diamonds when it comes to obeying them. I'd like to add, however, that if you understand the consequences (no nest, no den), and make the commitment (as highest, maybe even, only, priority) and stick to it with single minded purpose, the obeying gets easier, at least some of the time. After all, we get to walk the paths of our life with Jesus.

Update.
I meant to point out, but posted too quickly, the deeper ideas contained in the latter two incidents where we see a response to a call by Jesus to follow. In the case of follower #2, he asked Jesus for time to complete his responsibilities under the law (the 5th commandment). In essence, Jesus was saying that the Kingdom of God is now here, a fulfillment of the Law, and so, of course, its announcement takes precedence. In the case of follower #3, the reference to plowing reminds us of the incident where Elijah called Elisha (1 Kings 19:19-21) to the office of prophet while Elisha was plowing. There, too, Elisha asked to be able to say goodbye to family, which Elijah permitted, while still noting the importance of the call. Elisha cleaned up his affairs and then reported to Elijah. Jesus response indicates that the call to follow Him is more radical, more important, and more immediate than was the call to succeed Elijah.