Goodbyes

The third man in Jesus' story wanted to go tell his family goodbye before he set off on this journey with Jesus. Sounds like a reasonable request. There is a lot we do not know about this fellow. How old was he? What family responsibilities did he have? How long would he be gone? Were his family believers, or enemies of Jesus? This could have been very important to know. They may have tried to talk him out of following Jesus. The opposition could have created much spiritual trauma for him. If we follow A.T. Robertson's Harmony of the Gospels, then the next place Jesus is headed is Jerusalem for the Feast of the Tabernacles, at least after initially telling his brothers He was not going at that time. But, He did go a little later (more on this). The point is that if the feast were coming up and Jesus knew that He was going to end up there, there could be a timing issue depending on where this fellow had to go to say goodbye to his family. Did they live 100 miles away? We do not know. My guess is that if we had been there and knew more of the circumstances Jesus answer would have made more sense to us. If we look at what Luke puts next we will see Jesus sending out the 70 on their limited commission. Perhaps Jesus had a couple of spots to fill, and he did not want to hold up the rest of these disciples by waiting on this one to go say goodbye to his family. You see we can find sense if we consider the possibilities of the circumstances.

I could not help but think of the children of Israel leaving Egypt when I read what Jesus said. Remember they left in a hurry and were rebuked when they did look back and long for the "good ole days" of slavery. Of course, how could we not think of Lot's wife who looked back? Here is what Jesus said to the man: "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Lk.9:62) Strong terms! How does one prove themselves fit for the kingdom of God? And what would it mean for a disciple to not be found fit for the kingdom? Would this man have felt the sting of Jesus; remarks? Jesus sounds a little like General Patton. This Jesus is a "get er done" kind of Teacher. I remember this trait in my father. When we had plowing to do, Dad wanted to get it done. If we started bottom plowing a field we often did not stop until it was completely finished no matter how late at night it was. Dad wanted no looking back. He wanted the job finished so he could start preparing the land to plant. But even in the plowing that involved "laying out the rows" Dad fixed his eyes on a point in front of him and plowed to it. He did not look back to see if the rows were straight. He knew that straight rows resulted from straight looking.

Jesus makes it clear that kingdom business is important and should not be taken lightly. But, as people we have our kingdoms to build and manage. The kingdoms of our families, businesses, and our recreations take a lot of attention. We have to devote a lot of time to them if we expect them to look good. I remember the Meskos, an old couple from Russia who lived a very merger existence in their old age, scrimping every penny to buy Russian Bibles to send to those behind the Iron Curtain who did not have one. There whole existence was focused on this. When they would get a letter from someone who got a Bible and became a Christian, they celebrated the spread of the kingdom of God. They understood the importance of kingdom business. They understood it is more important than goodbyes, dead folks, and reservations at the Holiday Inn. Jesus knew that too and He is teaching us to think like He does.