Anchor My Faith

Where Are You Looking When Plowing?

Scripture: Matthew 8:22; Luke 9:59-62

In the previous lesson it appears that Jesus greatly diminished the hopes the scribe had in following Jesus. It seems that he had in view his own benefits and not how he could enjoy God and as a result have God glorified in his life as he followed Jesus. In this lesson we will finish this section by looking at two more illustrations of would-be followers of Jesus.

^{Lk 9:59} “To another [Jesus] said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”’

This seems like a reasonable excuse because it was an important duty to go and bury a deceased parent. In Matthew 15:1 – 9, Jesus points out the importance of honoring one’s parents. This may be a reasonable excuse, but it is Jesus who is making the request and the first response this man makes to Jesus is to not obey him immediately. This was not the case with Levi the tax collector in Luke 5:27 – 28. When Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”, he rose and followed him.

In response to his excuse, ^{Mt 8:22} “[Jesus said], “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” ^{Lk 9:60} But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”’

As mentioned above, Jesus clearly upholds the biblical command to honor father and mother, but this request to follow him rises above all other commitments or loyalties. Anything that would prevent an unqualified commitment to Jesus and the new covenant family of faith must be set aside. This is emphasized with the command to “go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” However, this does not imply that followers of Jesus are not to take care of family obligations, but when they do, it must be out of obedience to Jesus, not instead of obedience to him.

In the third illustration, when Jesus asked another to follow him, he said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” ^{Lk 9:62} Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

As in the last illustration, this man said he would follow but not now as he has something else to do. Again, is the problem of putting the importance of obeying Jesus after one’s own desires. I remember once considering working for a person as a software developer and in the course of conversation the topic of priorities came up in relation to walking with Jesus. He claimed to be a believer, but he made it clear to me that for now it was more important for him to build his business and that a closer walk with Jesus would have to come later. As we spent time together that day, I saw indications that he desperately needed that closer walk now if he was going to build a quality life and business. This is what Jesus is pointing out in these illustrations.

The comment Jesus makes to the man who gives the excuse that he must go and say farewell to those at home is clearly understood by anyone who has a farm background. If you have a large field to plow it needs to be divided up into smaller sections that one can plow back and forth on. You start each section at one end at the midpoint and plow across the field to the opposite midpoint. That needs to be plowed as straight as possible. To do that you fix you line of sight on the top front center of your tractor and the midpoint at the other end of the field. If you maintain that line of sight you will plow a straight furrow. You can only take a quick glance back to the plow to see that it is working properly.

At the time of Jesus one or more animals would pull the plow and you would walk behind the plow with your hands on the plow to guide it as you and the animals walked along the furrow. To plow well you need to always be looking ahead or your plow would veer off course. To properly do kingdom work we need to stay focused, looking ahead to what God wants us to be doing, not looking around at other interest.

Conclusion

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10 ESV). What kind of excuses are you making that is hindering you in following Jesus in doing the assigned good works God has given you to do?