No Turning Back
“Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’"—Luke 9:62
Following Christ means all-out, passionate, surrender with total abandon. There is nothing else. Either you jump into the water or you don’t. You either cut the cord or get on board—there is no other way. Following Christ means no turning back to one’s old life or what this world has to offer. Because this world is passing away, it has nothing of substance to offer the child of God, for whom nothing compares to the surpassing joy and satisfaction of following Christ.
In our passage for today, our Lord talks about the cost of following Him. Jesus is responding to a statement from someone in the crowd who had said, “I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus replies, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” His response reveals that the call to follow Christ is not easy or comfortable. He then described two different responses from those who had been given the opportunity to follow Him. The first one said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” It was a social custom to take up to a year to permanently bury a parent’s decomposed bones, but this man was making an excuse for not exercising immediate obedience. Jesus responds, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Jesus’ response is a play on words—a comparison between the physically dead who have no opportunity to respond to the Gospel and the spiritually dead who do. Our Lord wanted us to understand that all of our obligations, whether to family, work, or anything else, are secondary to our responsibility as Christ-followers in the kingdom of God.
The second person’s response to Jesus’ call to discipleship is: “I will follow You, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home,” which is a half-hearted attempt to placate our Savior by offering Him something rather than nothing. But he did not understand the calling of God or Him who called—He is the CHRIST, the Son of God, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. When He calls, there is no turning back. Jesus’ response is telling: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Jesus wants us—not just our attendance at church, not our checkbooks, not a confirmation certificate, or a baptism—He wants us and He wants all of us. He wants to be supreme in every single part of our life. Like a spouse, He doesn’t want feigned affection or divided loyalties—He wants our heart.
Christ wants our love, but all too often we have been adulterous lovers with impure and divided hearts. We have not given ourselves to Christ. Or we have given ourselves in the past, only to be seduced by this world by indulging the desires of our flesh in the present. Living for Christ is not a one-time thing, but a continuously yielded heart in love with the risen Christ day in and day out. We must not turn back from following Him, and we must submit ourselves to His unyielding and passionate love. Like a husband and a wife at the altar, we give our hearts to the Savior, but we do not live only for the wedding day. We live for the marriage—making sure that we cultivate our relationship with our spouse. We do not look back to our relationships before Christ. We live in the joy of knowing and loving Him, because only in His presence are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11). Amen.
Following Christ means all-out, passionate, surrender with total abandon. There is nothing else. Either you jump into the water or you don’t. You either cut the cord or get on board—there is no other way. Following Christ means no turning back to one’s old life or what this world has to offer. Because this world is passing away, it has nothing of substance to offer the child of God, for whom nothing compares to the surpassing joy and satisfaction of following Christ.
In our passage for today, our Lord talks about the cost of following Him. Jesus is responding to a statement from someone in the crowd who had said, “I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus replies, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” His response reveals that the call to follow Christ is not easy or comfortable. He then described two different responses from those who had been given the opportunity to follow Him. The first one said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” It was a social custom to take up to a year to permanently bury a parent’s decomposed bones, but this man was making an excuse for not exercising immediate obedience. Jesus responds, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Jesus’ response is a play on words—a comparison between the physically dead who have no opportunity to respond to the Gospel and the spiritually dead who do. Our Lord wanted us to understand that all of our obligations, whether to family, work, or anything else, are secondary to our responsibility as Christ-followers in the kingdom of God.
The second person’s response to Jesus’ call to discipleship is: “I will follow You, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home,” which is a half-hearted attempt to placate our Savior by offering Him something rather than nothing. But he did not understand the calling of God or Him who called—He is the CHRIST, the Son of God, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. When He calls, there is no turning back. Jesus’ response is telling: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Jesus wants us—not just our attendance at church, not our checkbooks, not a confirmation certificate, or a baptism—He wants us and He wants all of us. He wants to be supreme in every single part of our life. Like a spouse, He doesn’t want feigned affection or divided loyalties—He wants our heart.
Christ wants our love, but all too often we have been adulterous lovers with impure and divided hearts. We have not given ourselves to Christ. Or we have given ourselves in the past, only to be seduced by this world by indulging the desires of our flesh in the present. Living for Christ is not a one-time thing, but a continuously yielded heart in love with the risen Christ day in and day out. We must not turn back from following Him, and we must submit ourselves to His unyielding and passionate love. Like a husband and a wife at the altar, we give our hearts to the Savior, but we do not live only for the wedding day. We live for the marriage—making sure that we cultivate our relationship with our spouse. We do not look back to our relationships before Christ. We live in the joy of knowing and loving Him, because only in His presence are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11). Amen.
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