Do you know John Landy? You probably don't. Do you know Roger Bannister? You might not either. But regardless of whether or not you know either of these two men, they have a lot to do with the readings from Sunday. In a particular race, Landy was ahead, and Bannister was behind, and at a crucial moment, Landy looked behind him to see where Bannister was. Apparently, you never do this. You never do this because you change your focus, you spend time looking at what you've already passed. And then it's too late. You've been passed, you've been overtaken. So taken up were you in what had already passed that your focus was elsewhere. You see, the readings for Sunday are all about not looking back, and coming from Jesus Christ, they seem a bit harsh. Jesus' words, in particular, are grating to our modern ears, who feel as though Jesus exists to make us happy, and to butter us up. But then he drops stuff on us that we find to be frankly offensive.
'As they were walking along the road, a man said to him
"I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
He said to another man "Follow me."
But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go bury my father."
Jesus said to him "Let he dead bury their own dead, but you go
and proclaim the Kingdom of God."
Still another said "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me
go back and say goodbye to my family."
Jesus replied "No one who puts his hand to the plow
and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God."
Luke 20:57-62
Wow, Jesus, thanks a lot. Thanks for that bit of kindness and compassion. There are people talking to him saying 'Jesus, I'm on my way to follow you, but first let me get my affairs in order,' and Jesus tells them to get lost. He is essentially actively discouraging them from following him. He is telling them to take a powder, to get lost. That they're not up to it.
But they aren't unreasonable requests, are they? Jesus, I'd like to follow you, but I need to bury my father, and say goodbye to my family. And Jesus says, with no mistake possible 'absolutely not.'
It's borderline unbelievable, isn't it? That Jesus would be so cruel and heartless. People have reasonable requests, and Jesus flat out denies them. But it's stuff like this that brings to mind all the other difficult, dangerous stuff that Jesus says. You remember when he says stuff like 'Do not think that I have come to bring peace. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.' Stuff like 'Unless you hate your father and mother, your wife and children, and even your own life, you cannot be my disciple." I'm paraphrasing from Luke 14, but not much. And this is all stuff that gets conveniently forgotten, doesn't it? It gets forgotten, lost in the shuffle, and disappears, beneath a cloud of grace alone, doing the right thing, and so on. But there is Jesus, large as life, on a couple of occasions, telling people that they have to prize him above everything that exists. They have to hate their family and themselves if they're planning on being disciples today.
Do you hate your family? No? then forget being a disciple of Christ. Oh, and while I'm at it, don't assume that if you haven't spoken to your brother Jerry for twelve years that you're doing some kind of holy work, because you're not.
But why oh why would Jesus Christ ask you to hate everyone you know? I thought Jesus was all about love, man! So why the command to hate? Well, it's quite simple, and it's locked into the story from 1 Kings 19.
The story there is of Elijah calling Elisha to service, and Elisha asks to be allowed to kiss his father and his mother goodbye, which he does. But he also has to leave his oxen that he was working with behind. And he does, in spectacular fashion:
So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of
oxen, and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook
the meat, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he set out to follow
Elijah, and became his attendant.
1 Kings 19:21
Do you see what's happening? Elisha is leaving it all behind, absolutely all of it. He's killing his oxen, he's burning the plows, he's putting it all behind him, and he's leaving his family. Why? To follow Elijah, and to take on his mantle. And why is this theme of leaving and hating your life so important? Because God is a clever God, and he understands who you are. He understands something about the human condition, and understands something about who we are and how we operate. Here's the juice: as you know, there are far more Christians in this country than Christians. That is, a majority of people in this great nation of our identify themselves as Christians, and yet are never in church. At all. Well, perhaps once a year, at best. And this is the issue: God is wise enough to understand how your brain works, and how your relationship with him works: As soon as something becomes more important to you than the Lord your God, then everything will. As soon as something works its way into your life, everything else will as well. It could be as simple as work, or family outings, or brunch, or whatever, but when that happens (and it does happen), then something peculiar happens. You realize that nothing happened. You didn't burst into flames, the ground didn't swallow you up, life just continued. And you kept on being a Christian, right?
Sure you did. And as the years go on, you start to tell yourself that you don't need to go to church to be a Christian, and that you can keep on quite happily with how things are, and nothing will change. You love your family, you love your house, you love your car, you love your home, all that. But then the unthinkable happens. Your parents die. Your child loses a leg, the house burns down or washes away, things go badly for you. And then what happens? You end up cursing God, you end up forgetting about him completely, or getting mired in despair. Because something very strange happens if you manage to forsake everything for the sake of God.
You get everything else thrown in, too.
God is the only permanent in this universe. He's the only sure and certain thing that we've got. All other ground is shifting sand. This entire universe is grinding down, it's running out. There will come a time at which the universe will cool, and all the heat will be gone. There will be essentially nothing left. If it's just us, then nothing we have achieved will ever matter in the slightest. And if this fills you with despair, as well it might, then there is only really one choice - to throw your hat in with Christ our Lord, who offers one big important thing - permanence. He is forever. And if we worship him in Spirit and in Truth, then that permanence is ours, too. If we love something more than Jesus, we will lose both, no question. We will lose Christ, and we will lose the object of our affection, because it isn't permanent at all. That's the funny thing about the Christian faith: if we love something more than Christ, we lose everything. If we love Christ above all else, we keep it all.
That's why Jesus is so keen on you not looking back. He knows you. He knows what you're all about. He knows that if you start by saying 'Jesus, I'll follow you, but first let me....' you're lost. If there is one higher priority, then there will always be a higher priority. As soon as something becomes more important than God, then any and everything else will be as well. And there will never be an end to it. But if you seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, then all these things will be added unto you. It's a matter of priority.
Instead of looking back, instead of looking over your shoulder always, instead of saying 'yes, I'll follow you but first...,' instead of any of that, keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith. He is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, and has promised unto us life everlasting. If we prize his truth and his love above all things, then we will receive all things - our family forever, our friends forever, love and peace and justice and truth and righteousness forever. But if we love any of those things more than Christ, we lose it all, and lose it for all time. Jesus is the permanence, if we love him for his own sake, then we will be given all things. Salvation, truth, justice, family, companionship, joy and peace.
This is most certainly true.
PJ.
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