Distracted from Discipleship
It’s the first Sunday of the New Year and most of us are in the midst of making and trying to keep resolutions for a healthier lifestyle. Perhaps you’ve resolved to eat healthy, or exercise more, get more sleep, or even cultivate stronger friendships. And how many of us are a few days into a plan to read the Bible this year?
In 2019, Strava, an app that tracks the workouts of subscribers, coined a term called “Quitters Day,” because 80% of those who made resolutions to exercise had “quit” by the second Friday of January. The Apple Watch is running a campaign to “quit quitting” and specifically addresses the reality that it is difficult to stay committed to the things that we believe are healthy and are best for us.
When it comes to our health, whether physical or spiritual, it’s understandable that it’s difficult to remain steadfast. We face countless distractions, and not all of them are rooted in a hatred for goodness and beauty. So what are some of the things in the past that have distracted you from keeping your resolutions?
The story for study today is in Luke’s Gospel and it says,
51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village.
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.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 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.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:51-62
Luke tells us that Jesus “set his face,” portraying Jesus as being resolved to travel to Jerusalem and endure the rejection, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension that He has been predicting throughout the early chapters of the gospel account. I like the way it is describe in the Message, “He gathered up his courage and steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem.” The New Testament declares that this was no accident (i.e. Acts 2:23, Gal. 4:4-5) and we see here that Jesus faithfully embraced the purpose set before Him.
As He began His journey toward Jerusalem, Luke portrays three distractions from the way of Jesus that are common to many of us. Jesus sent messengers into Samaria to make preparations for Him. The Samaritans are unwilling to receive Jesus, specifically because “his face was set toward Jerusalem.” While Jesus continually offered grace to the Samaritans, this nationalistic elitism distracted them from receiving the One who promised renewal and life. This notably angered two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John, who wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume them. But Jesus’ response was patient and gracious. What are some ways you have been distracted from discipleship because Jesus doesn’t accommodate your cultural assumptions?
As the story continues, Luke shares with us the second distraction. Someone along the way, likely with good intentions tells Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” I’m curious if this person has a habit of over-promising because Jesus responds in a way that should temper his naive expectations, a second and common distraction for many of us. He reminds the man that following Jesus is not a guarantee of creature comforts. It should be kept in mind that the man is not forbidden from following and we don’t know if he was deterred. What are some ways you have been distracted from discipleship because you’ve discovered that Jesus doesn’t meet all of your expectations?
The last part of the story involves two men who are invited to follow Jesus but are distracted by non-essential excuses that show their differing priorities. Both men respond to the call with the phrase “let me first…” declaring certain affairs to take precedence over a kingdom of God focus. The men do not desire bad things, but prioritizing them over following Jesus presents a problem. The first man wants to first bury his father. We don’t know if the father has yet passed away, but if he has, there’s likely a fear of losing his inheritance if he doesn’t participate in the burial. Whatever the case, Jesus challenges this man to prioritize his focus on the proclamation of life in Him. The second man wants to say goodbye to his household, making a clean break with his past. I appreciate the honest confession of where this man is. He’s not dismissive of those who were instrumental in forming him and neither is Jesus. He’s not correcting a glance toward the past, but rather eyes that are fixed on it. It is the active and ongoing solitary attention on the past that Jesus is addressing. This is not a summons to ignore the past, but to till up new ground in light of it. What are some ways you have been distracted from discipleship because your priorities are not kingdom priorities?
All of these, nationalistic elitism, naive expectations, and non-essential excuses, can be distractions from following the way of Jesus even when they are well intentioned. Following the way of Jesus requires more than good intentions. Luke recognizes and holds before us the tension in which we live. On the one hand we say to Christ, “I will follow you wherever you go.” On the other hand we say to him, “But first let me go and ….” What we need is One who is committed to us even when we are distracted by natural things. The good news for us is that Jesus was committed to losing everything that He might redeem everything.
Jesus is undistractedly committed to the way of God’s Kingdom. His rejection by men is God’s reception of Him. It is Jesus' commitment to God’s purposes, plans, and people that empower us to prioritize the Kingdom of God and produce eternal love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The door of hope is not closed to anyone in the story. Instead, he offers two directives.
The first is “follow me.” Doing so means that we prioritize His words and His ways and be careful that we are not insisting on our own. This is easier to do in principle than in reality. It’s easy to declare that we’ll follow Jesus until we encounter difficult circumstances or difficult people. When this happens, we usually respond with, “let me first…” Believing that Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected offers freedom to confess our distractions and to ask the Holy Spirit to fill us to faithfully follow Him wherever He calls us to go. How does this impact the way that you are praying this week?
The second is “proclaim the kingdom of God.” The distractions we experience are often those of temporal rather than eternal consequence. This is not to say we should be aloof or uncaring about things happening, but that we should consider them in light of eternal purposes. Denial of the pain and loss people have experienced with shallow comments about the afterlife is not Jesus’ goal. Considering it with depth of thought, laboring prayer, and compassionate action is. In what ways will you actively proclaim the kingdom of God in your life (home, work, play)?
It’s painfully easy to be distracted from following the way of Jesus. Thankfully, there is One who “gathered up his courage and steeled himself for the journey.” That man is our Lord Christ and the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead indwells and can fill believers to be faithful followers who are fit for the kingdom of God.
Pastor Kurt Hannah