Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord. But first let me say goodbye to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and then looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God.’

So, here’s a man who wants to follow Jesus. That’s great! ‘I want to follow Jesus,’ he is saying, but first of all he wants to go back and say goodbye to his family. Now that doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. On the contrary, if one of my family, or even a close friend, just wandered off with a bunch of people without saying goodbye or telling me where they were going I’d be disappointed and very worried about where they had gone. To me, it would be as if they had just disappeared.

At first glance, Jesus’ answer doesn’t look very encouraging. ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and then looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God.’

What, we wonder, might that have to do with this man who has just told us that he wants to follow Jesus, but just wants to let his family know where he has gone?

Have you ever seen a bunch of soldiers marching? I don’t mean a sort of High School marching band where most people are in step most of the time, but a really smartly turned out group of soldiers, boots shining, perfectly pressed uniforms, in perfect step, arms swaying exactly together. It’s an awesome sight. The weird thing is, they aren’t looking at each other to make sure they’re getting it right. They’re all staring straight ahead, and just somehow keeping in perfect time with one another.

You could say the same about a group of dancers on stage. If they’re looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes we know about it. They look unprofessional and just not quite as good as the dancers who keep their eyes fixed on the back of the auditorium.

I live in the countryside. As I write this, my neighbour is cutting long grass using a tractor. His grass will be stored as hay to feed the cattle during the winter months. I’m definitely not a farmer, but my team do use a small tractor to cut the grass at the centre where I live and work. There’s nothing complicated about cutting the grass, but there’s no doubt that it does look best if you cut it in a straight line. My farmer friend next door explained to me once that whether you’re cutting the grass or ploughing a field you need to fix your eyes on a point in front of you and drive towards it. If you keep your eyes on the one point, you will have a straight line. Take your eyes off that point, you will go off line. If you look behind you, you are lost. Your hands will move slightly on the steering wheel and your line will definitely not be straight.

Nazareth, where Jesus was brought up, was a small village surrounded by countryside. Lots of his work as he was growing up in his fathers business would have been to support farmers – making and mending equipment, most of which would have been made of wood. We know that when he was teaching he walked through fields with his disciples, and he travelled between villages. So Jesus, and the people he met and talked to, even those who lived in towns, knew about the countryside.

I don’t know whether you’ve ever noticed that Jesus was really good at taking something very ordinary, and making a serious point from it. If he wanted to make a comment about the beauty of God’s creation and his care for it, he would use the example of a flower in the field or hedgerow, or a sparrow. The field lilies were all over the place, and sparrows were everywhere. These were things people saw every day, and Jesus even said look how beautiful they are, how well cared for they are. If God cares this much for the flowers and sparrows, how much more does he care for you!

So, Jesus would take the simple things, and use them to show us something important.

In Jesus time, a plough was something which was pulled behind an animal, usually an oxen. This is a great technique which is still used in much of the world. But whilst the oxen might be pulling the plough, it is steered by the farmer. Everyone listening to Jesus would have seen this kind of ploughing going on around them, and they would know that to get a straight plough line, the farmer needs to be facing forward. If he looks back, the plough would lose direction, and it would also become ineffective. To get it right, the farmer needs to face forward. Concentrate. Fix your eyes on the final goal. Don’t turn back.

Nowdays, if we live in a City or even in a large village, we are less conscious of the agriculture going on around us, which is why it can be helpful to think of the marching soldiers, or the dancers on the stage. The idea is similar. If you don’t face forward and focus, you will be less effective in what you are doing.

So, Jesus uses a simple demonstration from an everyday agricultural scene to show the importance of not looking back, or even taking your eyes off the target. But what has all this got to do with a man who wants to follow Jesus, but just wants to pop back and let his family know where he is going.

It’s quite simple really, but hugely important.

If you’re following Jesus, then you should expect to move forward (that’s sort of implied by the word ‘following’). I don’t think Jesus is saying ‘If you go back and say goodbye to your family you can’t be in my gang!’, rather he’s saying that if you follow me, expect to move forwards. Actually, I think he’s saying that’s what I expect of you. And if you want to move forwards most effectively, fix your eyes on the goal and keep moving towards it. Don’t allow your gaze to be drawn back to your former life, or any other alternative attractions which might present themselves to you, because if you take your eyes off the prize, you will lose direction. You will go astray.  Don’t be deflected by the attractions of the world, which can sometimes, in the earthly moment, seem more attractive that the goal of our eternal life with Jesus.

The Apostle Paul, who lived around the same time as Jesus, talks about living our lives as if we are in a race. He tells us that to run the race most effectively, to fix our eyes on the prize.

Again and again, Scripture emphasises the importance of our relationship with Jesus.

Set your hand to the plough. Face forward. Fix your eyes one where you are going with Jesus. Owning the best phone or tablet, the best shoes, the best car. Being with the most attractive girl or boy, living in the best apartment, taking the greatest risks with alcohol or drugs. These things can seem attractive, and can sometimes seem more attractive than following Jesus.

If you are doing it right, following Jesus is incredible. It can be exciting. It can be fun. It can be a white knuckle roller coaster ride. That’s if you’re being really committed, and doing all that you can to really follow Jesus in every corner of your life. Jesus says, don’t be deflected from your purpose. Don’t turn aside. Don’t look back. Because that is how to be effective in the Kingdom of God.

I don’t think for one moment that Jesus was refusing to let the man follow him, and I don’t think he would want the man to lose touch with his family. I think this is about saying to him, and to me, and to you – ‘If you’re following me, do it whole heartedly. Fix your eyes on me, and don’t let the short term joys and thrills of the world draw you away and spoil your relationship with me.’

Never forget that the real joy in life, is not in the things of this world. It is in Jesus.

Luke 9: ’ ⁵⁹ He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But he replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ ⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’

This is one of those small cameo scenes which shows Jesus interacting with individual people as he walked through the countryside of Judea, going from village to village, preaching the Good News that the Kingdom of God is here. As he travelled, he was talking to people, sometimes large crowds, sometimes small groups, often just his close friends. He was healing people, he was casting out evil spirits, he was performing great miracles. We use these words sort of lightly, but Scripture says that Jesus spoke, for example, to a man who was paralysed. It’s the kind of condition that we might think of as someone who has been in a serious accident, perhaps a motorcycle accident, and their injuries leave them paralysed. It means that parts of their body don’t work properly any more. I don’t know how badly paralysed the man Jesus healed was, but I know he couldn’t walk – his legs didn’t work at all – his friends had to carry him on a mat to bring him to Jesus. After a few minutes with Jesus he was healed. The paralysis was gone. He rolled up the mat his friends had used to carry him and walked (or danced) home with it tucked away under his arm.

On another occasion, a young man who was having serious fits was brought to Jesus. He was foaming at the mouth and screaming. It sounds like epilepsy. Because of the sudden onset of an attack people thought of it as possession by an evil Spirit. In an instant, Jesus healed the boy and gave him back, healed, to his father. This are huge events. I haven’t even mentioned the moment when Jesus, in the middle of nowhere, managed to feed five thousand men, and probably as many women and children aswell. It’s easy to forget just how massive these moments are. So it’s not so surprising that people wanted to be around Jesus. To see what was going to happen next. To be seen with Him. To experience His presence. To be part of the action.

So as he’s walking along, Jesus comes face to face with a man, and He sees something special in this guy. ‘Follow me.’ Says Jesus. Everyone wants to be with Jesus, and here’s Jesus saying ‘Follow me.’ Sounds like an incredible moment. We don’t know anything about this man, but I’d expect him to be off like a shot.

We read that when Jesus called the disciples they just immediately obeyed his command and followed Him. My personal favourite is when he called James and John, who were fishermen. ‘Follow me.’ Says Jesus. They could have said, ‘Alright Jesus, we’ll catch up with you later, when we’ve finished fishing..’ But no, ‘Without delay’, we read, ‘they left their father in the boat with the hired men and followed Jesus.’ It’s as if they were in the middle of fishing with their Dad, and they literally jumped out of the boat, ran, splashing through the shallows, leaving their Dad to do the fishing, because they had decided to follow Jesus.

But this man on the road is different. ‘First,’ he says, ‘let me go and bury my father.’ At first look, Jesus reply sounds harsh. Very harsh. ‘Let the dead bury their own dead,’ he says.

Actually, this isn’t as harsh as it might seem. If you were reading this in the 1^st or 2^nd Century after Jesus died, or indeed throughout most of history, you would have grown up in a society where it was your responsibility to look after your parents. You would work in their business. You would provide for them in their old age. You would feed them, if they were sick you would nurse them. And when the time came, of course, you would bury them.

So, in that culture, which incidentally still exists in most of the non-Western world, if you had the opportunity to do something, or go somewhere, you might really want to do so but you knew that your family responsibility was to your parents, so you’d say something like, ‘I’d love to do that, but only after I’ve buried my parents.’ You see, it doesn’t actually mean that your parents are dead, or even unwell, it just means something like, ‘I’ve actually got to deal with this lot first.’

A great Bible teacher called William Barclay tells a story of a young Arab man from a poor background who was offered a scholarship to Oxford or Cambridge, which from his humble beginnings was an enormous and exciting opportunity. ‘I will take it,’ he said, ‘but only after I have buried my father.’ At the time, his father was only 40 years old and fighting fit.

So what was Jesus point? I think he was saying that there are some things in life for which time is critical. So many things, if we put them off, never get done. If we are moved by an advertisement encouraging us to donate to starving children we might intend to do it. But if we don’t do it straight away, in reality most of us forget to follow through with our good intentions. If we know that a neighbour is unwell and really needs a bit of help with the laundry or the shopping, we might intend to do it, but it’s so easy to put it off, and it never gets done.

So Jesus has looked at this person, and seen his potential. He has called him to follow him. The man is spiritually dead, but the Jesus who can heal the paralytic, and the epileptic, and feed five thousand people with a couple of loaves and two fishes knows that this man is capable of much more.

And so he is saying to him, ‘this isn’t one of those moments when you put it off.’ Following Jesus isn’t about disrespecting your family (the Bible tells us how important it is to love our families, especially our parents). But it is about trusting Him for today and for the future. It is about taking a risk and stepping away from our comfort zone.

So just imagine yourself as that man. The whole of Scripture is telling you that Jesus is interested in you and me. It’s telling you that he wants to offer you and me freedom from lot’s of the stuff which makes us feel uncomfortable in this world, and he wants to put things right between you and God. You have huge potential. Jesus sees your potential, and He wants you to achieve that potential. You are special to Him. He wants you to experience His love, which is like no other love you ever felt. He wants you to have good relationships, and to be successful in life, and he wants you to do all that while you are following Him

I don’t know whether this guy ended up following Jesus, but I rather think he probably did.

In his situation, we would be unlikely to respond, let me bury my parents first, but we could easily say , well maybe after I’ve finished my A levels, or after I’ve finished at Uni, or after I’ve got a job, or after I’ve got married. Or whatever….

Jesus is the Son of God, and He calls you to follow him. The point is he wants us to follow him while we’re doing all that stuff. He has a future plan for you which lasts your whole life and then on into eternity. He wants you, and me, like that man, to follow Him and to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

His message is simple. Follow Jesus. Don’t put it off. Do it now.

Keep on praying.

So I was reading this passage from Luke’s Gospel. Jesus was walking along the road. I love that detail. Jesus was a kind of itinerant rabbi. He travelled from place to place, and travel meant walking. There are plenty of examples of Jesus walking in the countryside, between villages and towns. You might remember the moment when he’s in a field of corn, and his disciples are picking the corn, rolling it in their hands to get rid of the chaff, and eating the good bit in the middle.

But he also spent time in and around bigger cities like Capernaum and Jerusalem, teaching in synagogues and the temple.  So, you can picture Jesus walking with a bunch of people crowding around, keeping as close as possible, trying to hear every word he says. We don’t know where he was walking, but he was walking, and a bunch of people would have been walking with him.
This man comes up to him. We’re not told who he is. Maybe he had been walking with Jesus for a while – maybe Jesus had just been speaking and he had just responded to some kind of altar call – maybe it was just a random encounter on the road, or in one of the villages.

Whoever he is, this man wants to follow Jesus. ‘I will follow you wherever you go..’ I suppose that you would expect Jesus to be pleased. Another follower. Another soul with lots to learn, but aware of the closeness of the Kingdom of God. His reaction is interesting. ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests’, says Jesus. Now the thing is, foxes don’t travel across continents or even wander between villages – they generally have their own territory and they stay in their own territory. They are secure in the territory and they have their Den there. The life of a fox is not easy, but they know where they are supposed to be. They have their place to hide away. Their place to rest. They have their home. It is theirs. No-one else’s. Birds are similar. Many birds have territories, and some, even the little robin, will fight to the death over them. In their territory is their home. For much of the year there may be somewhere they roost, but in the breeding season there will be a nest. Like the foxes, they know their own territory and they stay in their own place.

For those who follow Jesus, life isn’t like that. Well I kind of know where I live, and you probably do too. I do move about a bit, but I suppose I know where my own place is. For tonight, and the next little while at least!

‘But the Son of Man,’ a sort of controversial name which Jesus uses to refer to himself, ‘has no-where to lay his head.’ That was probably literally true for Jesus at times. As he travelled he was not living permanently in one place, so he may have sometimes spent nights in unexpected places, even in the open. His real home, the place where he intends to live and rest, is in the Kingdom of Heaven.

I think Jesus is saying that is how it needs to be for us.  We have to be prepared to set aside that sense of worldly belonging. Following Jesus involves a readiness to give stuff up. Our lifestyle, our ambitions, even out identity are up for change. We are to set aside the security of our own territory. Following Jesus involves risk. For some people in this world, the risk is huge and includes a serious threat to their personal safety. For me, at this moment, that’s not the case. I’m humbled every time I read about people who risk their very lives to follow Jesus.

For most of us, the challenge isn’t so huge. We may express our desire to follow Jesus, but unless that includes a willingness to step outside of our comfort zone, with a willingness to set aside the things we hold most dear, then whatever words may subsequently leave our lips, our hearts will never truly follow Jesus.

Did the man who walked up to Jesus pay the price and follow Jesus? No idea! Scripture doesn’t tell us. I think that this little cameo makes us look not at the man but at ourselves. So, what about you? Are you going to hold on firmly to everything you have? Or are you ready to trust Jesus for that first step?

Anything of value has it’s price. The invitation to follow Jesus is the most valuable thing you will ever receive. Be ready to give up stuff.

It’s time to follow Jesus.

This morning I was at a Men’s Breakfast which meets every few months at Shoreham Airport. The speaker was Graham Locking, a local Methodist Minister who for many years was National Chaplain to Horseracing. As you would imagine, it turns out that horseracing is a very competetive industry. It’s an industry fuelled by money, gambling, drinking and immorality. Frankly, it’s not the sort of place you’d expect to find a Methodist Chaplain. Graham is a great storyteller, and he has some great stories. Funny stories. Tragic stories. Moving stories. Stories about people.

As Graham described the world of horseracing, it seemed to me that it’s not so disimilar from every other area of life. It is full of people. Some of them are nice. Lot’s of them aren’t. It’s difficult to show love to people who are not nice. Graham’s stories were about doing just that. Showing love to people. All of them. Even those whose lifestyle and attitude is different from us. Even those we find it hard to like. He was reminding us to do it not just because love makes for a better world, but because Jesus tells us to love other people. Graham’s stories were about getting stuck in, and learning to love people. Even the unlovable ones.

A couple of weeks ago I was in Pinar del Rio, a City in western Cuba, meeting with the pastor and leaders of the San Pablo Methodist Church. There was a lot of talking, and the conversation turned to how we serve our communities. In the local community, they told us, there are lots of wonderful people. For many of them life is hard. So the teaching of the Church is to get out there, into the community, and show His love. But in their community there are also a lot of people who are not nice. Get out there, says the pastor. Walk with people. Listen to their stories. Be interested. Show His love. Even to those who are not nice. Like Graham, the leaders of Pinar del Rioe told us stories. Funny stories. Tragic stories. Moving stories. Stories about people.

Theproblem is that there is that the temptation is always to gravitate towards the nice people. We do it in Churches all the time. It’s human nature. But as Graham pointed out, that’s not the teaching of Jesus. Of course the nice people matter. But so do the unkind, difficult, insensitive, broken, noisy, rude, violent, unkempt, smelly and intransigent. It’s hard to love them. We need God’s grace to do it. But as Christians we need to do it. Never forget that Jesus died and rose again for every one of them. He loves every one of them as much as he loves you, even if they don’t realise it yet.

Stop worrying about the message of Christ’s love. Show Christ’s love. Let it speak for itself. When we have developed that relationship of love, even with the worst of people, Christ will create the opportunities to share His message. Just get out there. Into your community. Neighbours, colleagues, friends, family, classmates.  Even into the sorts of places you wouldn’t expect to find a Methodist Chaplain.

That’s the message from a man who spent a chunk of his life being Jesus to the world of horseracing. That’s the message from a bunch of people trying to be Jesus in the back streets of Pinar del Rio. Perhaps more importantly, that’s the message of Jesus.

I’m challenged. I hope you are too.

Just do it.

Keep on Praying.

I’ve just returned from my third mission trip to Cuba in eighteen months, visiting small Churches, mostly in rural areas, to encourage pastors and their families, leaders and congregations. Those who know me have heard me say many times that a Mission trip must always be about offering something of God’s love to those you visit, but it must also involve an open-ness to learn from other Christian’s who live and worship in a culture which is different from your own.

On a warm February evening in the newly built Methodist Church in the small town of Isabel Rubio in the Pinar del Rio area of eastern Cuba I learned something very special about the expression of joy in worship.

The noise was intense and the rhythm of the music was intoxicating. These people were celebrating the presence of God in a pure, honest and very Latin American way. They were expressing sheer joy at being together, celebrating the love of God, in His presence.

Pastor Norberto, the amazing young man who leads this growing community, said to me, ‘Life for these people can be hard. They don’t have many possessions. But they have the presence of God . And that gives them real joy. That joys is expressed in their music, their dancing and their love for each other. It is this joy which makes people curious, and attracts people to Jesus.’

Max Lucado recently wrote, ‘Simply put: God wants his children to be joy-filled. Just like a father wants his baby to laugh with glee, God longs for us to experience a deep-seated, deeply rooted joy.’

I’m the first to admit that your heart can be full of that inexpressable joy without needing to sing and dance in Latino style. But these wonderful people express the love of God in their own way. And it’s contagious.

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (I Peter 1:8-9 ).

Several months ago, I was walking along a beach near Apollo Bay in Victoria, Australia. It was early morning and the sun was getting warm. Lots of people were walking or jogging along the beach. I had my Bible with me. I was praying. This was my quiet time. I had a feeling that this was a day when God was going to show me something. Something important.

I was quite a distance from the town when I noticed a man walking dog several hundred yards in front of me. He stopped and stared out to sea. He was watching something splashing around in the surf. He stood there for a few moments before passing on by on the other side of the beach.

When I got to where the man had been standing, I noticed that a young sea bird, obviously injured, fighting a losing battle with the tide, and with life. I have no idea how it came to be there. Maybe it was injured in a fight with another seabird. Maybe it was injured by a seal. Maybe it was injured by a dog. Maybe it had simply had some kind of seagull accident.It wasn’t a huge bird, and each wave moved it a little closer to the sand. Probably, I could have helped. But like the man before me, I walked past.

About half an hour later, I was walking back along the same bit of beach, heading towards the apartment where I was staying. The bird was still there, flapping about in the shallows, fighting for its life. Then something extraordinary happened.

There was a young woman jogging towards me along the beach. Like me, she noticed a sea bird, obviously injured, fighting a losing battle with the tide, and with life. She had no idea how it came to be in the situation. Maybe it was injured in a fight with another seabird, a seal, a dog or whether it was the victim of some kind of seagull accident. She noticed it. She didn’t walk past.

She stepped out into the shallow surf, reached down, picked up the bird and cradled it in her arms. She walked up the beach, and carefully placed the bird in the shade of a rock, on dry land on the edge of the sand dunes. As she stepped back, the bird shook itself, then settled in the shade, and became calm.

The young woman walked off along the beach.

I never saw the young woman or the seabird again. I have absolutely no idea how the story ends. I have no idea whether the woman returned to check on the bird, or whether it simply had a rest, recovered its strength and flew away. There are one or two other outcomes which would be less satisfactory for the bird. However it ended, I felt that I had witnessed something special. Something extraordinary.

I walked on. After all, I had my Bible with me. I was praying. This was my quiet time. I had a feeling that this was a day when God was going to show me something. Something important. Now, several months later, I look back at that moment and wonder what it was?