The Cost of Following Jesus

Luke 9:57-62

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

The premise behind the remark is that disciples will have to follow the same path as the Son of Man. Discipleship requires trusting God in the midst of rejection.

 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

The request also parallels Elisha's request to Elijah.

1 Kings 19:19-21 19 So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. 20 And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” 21 And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.

60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Jesus, however, represents the arrival of a new, more demanding era. So even carrying out such a burial is insignificant in the face of discipleship. The task must be left for others: "Let the dead bury their own dead."

It means either that the spiritually dead should be left to perform this task or that such concern is inconsequential in the face of the call to discipleship. As important as taking care of a family member's death is, it is a lower priority. Either way, Jesus makes it clear the request should not be honored. Even the "best excuse" possible should not get in the way of discipleship.

Mark 1:15

15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

To preach the kingdom is to preach the benefits that God has made available because Jesus the Messiah has come.

evangelion

·         The whole Nativity narrative borrows the language used to extol Caesar Augustus (e.g. "Son of God", "King", "Savior", "God with us", bringer of "peace on earth"). Jesus is being set up in opposition to false claims of divinity and authority by human rulers.

·         Terms like "gospel" (evangelion) and "church" (ekklesia) were politically loaded terms that were co-opted by the early Jesus movement as a direct challenge to the imperial vision. The original Roman evangelion was that "Caesar is Lord" and that his "kingdom" has arrived (declared to a city after it had been conquered by the Roman legions); and ekklesias was the term given to those cities and communities that had freely accepted this "good news" and had submitted to Caesar's lordship.

·         The earliest Christian confession of faith "Jesus is Lord" carries with it an implied "and Caesar is not", since the term "Lord" (kyrios) is the same term used for political rulers (and especially Caesar) at that time, and the confession "Caesar is Lord" was the expected statement of fealty to the emperor. (So saying "Jesus is Lord" back then is no different than us saying "Jesus is my President", maybe being more politically subversive.)

·         Likewise, the very word "messiah" is a political word. It literally means "anointed one", which in Jewish parlance explicitly means "king". This would not have been heard a "metaphor" in Jesus day. This would have been a very real world, politically subversive title. To call Jesus "Messiah" is to hail him as "king" - and you can be sure the existing kings (e.g. Herod and Augustus) would not have assumed that he was merely using the term in some non-threatening "religious" sense.

61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”

Jesus interprets the request as a desire to hang on to the old life.

62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

 Jesus' point is that discipleship takes focus.

Only Luke quotes this symbolism of the plow, a detail that stresses the disciple's commitment. Disciples cannot back off from the task. Discipleship is not a second job, a moonlighting task, an ice-cream social or a hobby. It is the product of God's calling and should be pursued.