Luke 9:51-62

Luke. You thought I was going to say 2 Samuel, didn't you? The Gospel of Luke, chapter 9. We're

Luke 9 · chapter mention

starting a new sermon series tonight in Luke's Gospel. We're going to start in chapter 9,

verse 51. If you're looking in the Pew Bible, that's page 868.

868, we're going to read Luke 59 through 61. These two paragraphs at the end of Luke chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

Let me read these for us.

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.

And he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make

preparations for him. But the people did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem.

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? But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go.

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. To another, he said, follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father.

Jesus said to him, leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom

of God. Yet another said, I will follow you, Lord. But let me first say farewell to those at my home.

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

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, we ask that you would bless the reading of your word, the hearing of your word,

Lord, the preaching of your word tonight. As we turn our attention towards this narrative about you

from the gospel of Luke, we pray that we would see you in fresh ways and that your spirit would do

his work in our hearts. God, help us and shape us more and more into your image, we pray. Amen.

Well, so starting this spring and going through the summer, actually, what we're doing here in the

evening service is focusing, we're going to be focusing on the topic of discipleship. What does it

mean? What does it look like to be a follower of Jesus? You know, it's interesting if you're in the

working world or even if you're in a school setting too, you can find lots and lots of resources or

classes or seminars about how to grow in your leadership skills, about how to be a good leader.

And in fact, in the last five to 10 years, you can even find lots of literature and lots of help and

lots of online stuff about how to grow as a good team member, how to be an effective member of a

team and work well with others. But Christianity makes this incredibly counter-cultural claim

that the path to real flourishing, not just spiritually, but really in the full dimension

of what it means to be human, is found first and foremost, not necessarily in being a good leader,

not necessarily in being a good team member, how all those things have their place,

but it's found most fundamentally in being a follower, a disciple.

Now that sounds kind of strange to us. After all, who wants to be a follower, right?

Trendsetter, yes. Entrepreneur, sure. Cutting edge, always. But follower, that doesn't sound very attractive.

But the call of Christianity is the call to come follow Jesus. We see it in the second paragraph of our text

tonight. Again and again and again, we find this language of following. Follow me, Jesus says.

But then again, who wants to be a mere follower?

And yet think about, I think, think about a craft like woodworking or furniture design or architecture,

even music. Think about one of these sort of robust human skills, human traditions, human crafts.

How do you go about becoming really great in that area of expertise, whatever it is?

Well, the best way is to find someone who does it really, really well.

To find a master of the art, of the craft, and spend as much time with them as possible, right?

To apprentice yourself to them, to become a learner in their school, to let them mentor you.

Because so much of what it means to become proficient and expert in a robust human skill or craft or art form

can't be learned from books or from YouTube videos.

You need to learn it in a relationship from someone who's mastered the craft.

As many of you know, my wife and I bought our first home last summer.

So we now have to take up all sorts of crafts in our home, fixing things, repairing things.

So I've tried to learn a lot of things from YouTube.

I've learned that YouTube cannot teach you everything about how to fix your house.

But friends, this is what it meant to be a disciple in the ancient world.

To be a student of a teacher.

To be better an apprentice of a craftsman.

In fact, to enter into a relationship where you would begin,

not just to learn how to do this or that skill, to learn a certain competency,

but you would actually learn how to become the sort of person who really could master that art,

that way of seeing and expressing yourself in the world.

Now imagine that there were someone to whom you could attach yourself

that wasn't just a master at this or that particular technique or profession or skill.

Imagine you could attach yourself to someone who was truly the master at the art of being human.

Of living human life as it was meant to be lived in all of its dimensions.

Imagine you could attach yourself to that person,

to be a learner at his feet,

to be an apprentice to his craft.

Imagine you could enter into a relationship with someone who through that relationship

could actually cause you to become more fully human.

Who could cause you to come alive to who you were created to be.

Well, when we talk about discipleship in Christianity,

that's what we're talking about.

We're talking about entering into a vital relationship with Jesus Christ

in the fellowship of his church

and becoming in and through that relationship alive

to who God created us to be.

Discipleship just isn't about learning how to do Bible studies

and going to prayer meetings

and doing one-on-one coffee dates every once in a while

with your pastor who keeps pestering you.

It's about becoming alive in relationship with Jesus.

Now, perhaps all this sounds a bit far-fetched to you.

Of course, maybe you're hungry to become more authentically you,

more fully human and alive.

Who isn't after all, right?

But maybe you're not so sure that becoming a follower of Jesus

is really the road to get there.

Well, let me say, if that's you,

why not at least come and listen?

Why not at least in the coming weeks

explore what Jesus has to offer?

Try it on.

Give it a shot.

What do you have to lose?

And as we kind of embark on this exploration together,

it makes sense for us to go to the Gospels.

Of course, in a sense,

the whole of Scripture was actually given to us

to shape us into disciples of Jesus.

So I suppose we could have preached

just about any part of the Bible in this series

and said,

we're doing a series on discipleship

from the second half of Jeremiah

or something like that.

But, you know,

if we want to focus with laser-like intensity

on what it means to follow Christ,

it makes sense, doesn't it,

to go to the Gospel accounts in the New Testament

where we are shown face-to-face

the person of Jesus

and shown firsthand

what it was like

for those first disciples

to actually follow Him.

And the reason why we're sort of jumping

into the middle of Luke's Gospel

this spring and summer

is because in Luke's Gospel,

starting in chapter 9, verse 51,

and going all the way to chapter 19, really,

Luke uses almost a third

of his Gospel account

to take us on a journey

of following Jesus.

In this part of Luke's narrative,

the disciples are literally

following Jesus on the way.

Now, a bit of context in Luke.

At this part of the story,

the disciples have already confessed

their belief in Jesus as the Messiah.

And now, as Jesus makes His way to Jerusalem,

where He's going to complete His mission,

He's going to, along the way,

teach His disciples all about

what it means to be His follower.

Roughly speaking, in Luke's Gospel,

if you think of chapters 1 through 9

as a unit,

they really kind of talk about

who Jesus is in a broad way,

the nature of His identity and mission.

And then if you go ahead

to chapters 20 through 24

in Luke's Gospel,

that's kind of all about

what Jesus has come to do,

the climax of His death and resurrection.

And in the middle,

from chapter 9 to 19,

we're not so much shown who He is

or what He's come to do,

but what it means to follow Him.

What does a life shaped by His person

and work by faith in Him

really look like?

That's one of the major concerns

that Luke takes up

in this middle section of his Gospel

as he takes us on this journey

with Jesus to Jerusalem.

So it's a good place for us to be

for the next few months

as we think about what it means for us

to follow Jesus today.

And in the two paragraphs

of our text tonight,

real basically tonight,

I just want us to see

two lessons about discipleship.

First, a lesson in mercy.

And second, a lesson in priority.

So let's look first

at this lesson in mercy.

In verses 51 through 56,

Jesus begins His journey to Jerusalem.

And this is a real turning point

in Luke's Gospel.

As we said, up till now,

most of the action has been

in the north, in Galilee.

But in Jerusalem,

Jesus' ministry is going to reach

its climax in Luke's Gospel.

There, He will accomplish

the work He's come to do.

Which, if you look a little earlier

in chapter 9,

in the account of Jesus' transfiguration,

it's described as His departure.

Or literally, His exodus.

That is, in Jesus' climactic event,

what He's going to go

and accomplish in Jerusalem,

God is going to accomplish

a new event of liberation

and redemption for His people.

So here Jesus sets out

and begins.

But,

just as,

back in chapter 4,

where Jesus' ministry

in Galilee begins,

how do you remember

how it begins in chapter 4?

Jesus being rejected

in Nazareth.

Jesus' public ministry

in Luke's Gospel

begins with a scene of rejection.

And so it is here.

At this turning point

in Luke's Gospel,

the journey to Jerusalem

begins also

with a story of rejection.

And this time,

not in Nazareth,

but in Samaria.

Now, many of you

are students of the Bible

and you know

that Samaria

was this region

sort of sandwiched

in between Jerusalem

in the south

and Galilee in the north.

And historically,

for all sorts of cultural

and ethnic reasons,

Jews and Samaritans

utterly despised each other.

But here,

in Luke 9,

notice what Jesus is doing.

Instead of taking

the long route

that he could have taken

around Samaria

to avoid

all those Samaritans

like most Jews

of that day

would have done,

Jesus goes

straight in.

And he asks

to stay

in one of their villages.

He extends

an offer to them

to be received,

to be welcomed,

to be embraced,

yes,

even by Samaritans.

And that fact

in and of itself

is saying something.

Luke especially

wants us to see

that Jesus

has come

for all people,

insiders

and outsiders.

They are all

invited to receive him,

to enter into God's kingdom,

to follow him.

But as Jesus

makes this

surprising,

shocking

embrace,

the story

takes

a different turn

in verse 53.

Instead of

receiving Jesus,

what happens?

The Samaritan village

refuses him.

And why?

Because,

Luke says,

they knew

that Jesus

and his disciples

were headed to Jerusalem.

What does that mean?

Well,

you see,

this time of year,

every year,

Jews from Galilee

would journey south

to Jerusalem

for the Passover festival.

And where would

those Jews have to do?

They would have to

either go through Samaria

or go around.

And Samaritans

typically

did not like

helping

Jewish pilgrims

going to a feast

at a place

that they regarded

as the wrong

sanctuary.

For them,

the temple in Jerusalem

was a sham

and a parody

and they weren't going

to help anyone

get there,

especially not Jews.

You know,

it would be kind of like

showing up

at a Microsoft convention

proudly wearing

your Apple t-shirt.

Here I am.

Where can I find

the iPhone booth?

Yeah,

you can't find that here.

You've got to buy a Zoom

at the corner

or whatever.

Oh wait,

they don't make those anymore.

Yeah,

my bad.

You're not going to get

a warm reception,

right?

People don't think

you belong.

You're playing

for the wrong team.

Now imagine that feeling

times about one million

and you can imagine

how a typical Jew

on his way to Jerusalem

would have been received

in a typical Samaritan village.

You don't belong here

and we're certainly

not going to help you.

And what's the disciples'

response to all this?

Well,

there's certainly

no love lost,

right?

They want to call down

fire from heaven

to consume

the whole village.

James and John

were told in Mark's gospel

were known

as the sons of thunder.

father.

And here,

unfortunately,

it seems they are

living up to their nickname.

And actually,

in doing this,

the disciples are remembering

a story from the Old Testament.

A story where the prophet Elijah,

when confronted

by hostile armies,

was able to call down

fire from heaven

and be protected.

In verse 54,

the disciples are

actually practically

quoting that story

from 1 Kings 1,

1 Kings 1:10

verse 10.

And if you look at

the footnote of your Bible,

some later sort of

copyists of the New Testament

actually gave us

a little bit of an

explanatory gloss there

and said,

as Elijah did.

But you know,

more than just echoing

some Old Testament scripture,

don't you see that

the disciples here,

they're being kind of angry

and maybe a little protective.

Their master

has just been rejected,

the one that they believe

to be God's king

and rejected by Samaritans,

no less.

How dare they?

Would it not be right,

after all,

to bring swift judgment

down from heaven?

Isn't that what this village

deserves?

They're rejecting God's king.

Wouldn't that teach

all these Samaritans a lesson?

Wouldn't that actually

compel the other villages

to submit?

Hey, Jesus,

if we burn up this village,

you better believe

that the next one we go to,

they're probably going

to receive you, right?

And of course,

it's easy to see

that the disciples

are way off base

and wrongheaded.

It's funny how they can

quote a passage

from 1 Kings

on the spot

to justify their anger

and prejudice,

and yet they have

so quickly forgotten

what Jesus himself

has just taught them

in recent days,

to love their enemies

and to be merciful

as our Father in heaven

is merciful.

But it's easy

to point a finger

at the disciples,

isn't it?

Aren't we so often

the same way as them?

In our own anger,

in our own self-righteousness,

when we get offended,

when we get rejected,

we lash out,

don't we?

Maybe we don't literally

call down fire from heaven,

but in our hearts,

there's kind of a low-grade

sort of judgment

and retribution

that boils just the same.

And of course,

we can very easily

justify our anger

and justify our judgmental spirit.

Maybe even we can

quote a Bible verse or two

in support of our own position.

But what does Jesus do?

He turns

and rebukes them

and us.

Rebukes them

because that sort of violence

has no place in his kingdom.

This is not the kind of kingdom

that's going to compel people

to submit with fire from heaven.

Jesus rebukes our desire

to judge our enemies.

Instead,

Jesus tells us

to pray for our enemies,

to love them

and do good to them.

You can see Jesus

teaching this

for yourself

back in Luke chapter 6

Luke 6 · chapter mention

if you want to turn there later.

And there we find

and here we find

that it's mercy

that discipleship demands.

Jesus is patient

and long-suffering

with those

who would refuse him.

In his first coming,

Jesus didn't come

to judge his enemies

but to save them.

Jesus didn't come

to call down fire

upon them.

Why did he come?

He came to bear

the fire for them.

Remember that Jesus

is on his way

to Jerusalem after all.

And what awaits Jesus there?

Not what the disciples

are thinking.

Military conquest,

political victory,

none of those things.

Rather,

it's the cross.

Consider,

here are James and John

angry and judgmental

because the Samaritans

have refused

to welcome their king.

And yet,

in a few short weeks

when they get to Jerusalem,

are they going to end up

any better?

As the authorities

in Jerusalem

drag Jesus away

to be condemned

and crucified,

the disciples too

are going to deny him

and refuse him

and want nothing

to do with him.

Friends,

we are all

like this Samaritan village,

aren't we?

We see Jesus coming

and we push him away

and want nothing

to do with him.

But instead of calling down

rightful judgment upon us,

what does Christ do?

He undergoes

the just judgment

for us.

And when you see

what Jesus has done

for us,

that's what produces

mercy in us

as his disciples.

After Jesus'

death and resurrection,

the church is going

to take the gospel

not just to Jerusalem

and Judea,

but where?

To Samaria

and to the ends

of the earth.

It's as if the cross

and resurrection

of Jesus,

that great act

of mercy for them,

is going to utterly

break their self-righteousness

and their racial pride.

And James and John

will each,

in their own way,

lay down their lives

for the sake of Jesus

and the gospel.

No longer calling down

fire on their enemies,

but loving them

sacrificially,

just as Jesus

had done for them.

And friends,

today,

mercy is still

the shape

of true discipleship.

In light of this passage,

I think it's good

to ask ourselves,

how do we respond

when we hear of people

rejecting or refusing

Christ?

What emotions

run through our heart?

Is it anger?

Pride?

A desire for judgment?

Or do our hearts break

because they're refusing

the author of life?

And do we remind ourselves

that apart from God's grace,

we too

would still be rejecting

and refusing Him?

Following Jesus

means responding

with mercy,

even and especially

to those who reject

and despise us.

Responding with mercy

because we've received mercy.

That's the first lesson,

a lesson in mercy.

The second lesson

in our text tonight

is a lesson

about priorities.

In verses 57 through 62,

three would-be disciples

approach Jesus.

And to each one,

Jesus makes

this startling claim

that following Him

has to take priority

over every other commitment

and every other desire.

Look at this first

would-be disciple.

He says,

Jesus,

I'll follow you

wherever you go.

You can almost hear

His sort of overconfidence.

Wherever you go,

Jesus,

I'm there.

But Jesus

perhaps senses

how sure

this man is of himself

and challenges him.

The road ahead

isn't going to be

one of comfort and ease,

Jesus says,

but one of hardship

and rejection.

The Son of Man

has nowhere to lay His head.

Is this would-be follower

willing to put Jesus

ahead of His desire

for creature comforts?

Is He willing

to truly make Jesus first?

The second of these three guys

is also willing

to follow Jesus,

we learned,

but first He wants

to go bury His father.

Now,

in first century culture,

that was an incredibly

important duty.

It was almost unthinkable

to leave undone.

But Jesus says

that even this most important

filial duty,

burying your own father

must come second

to following Him.

And finally,

this third would-be

disciple promises

to follow Jesus.

If only first

He can say farewell

to His friends

and family at home.

Which seems like

a reasonable request.

And there's actually

another echo here

of the Old Testament

stories of Elijah.

When Elijah goes

and he calls Elisha

to be his follower,

to be his assistant,

Elisha turns and says,

okay, Elijah,

let me first go home

and say farewell first.

Then I'll come

and follow you.

And what does Elijah say?

Okay,

go ahead.

Sounds like a reasonable

thing to do.

But you see how different

Jesus' response is?

This time,

things have changed.

God's plan

at this point

is unfolding

with such importance

and with such urgency.

And Jesus Himself

is so much greater

than Elijah

that not even

the close bonds

of family affection

can override the call

to come follow Him

right now.

And of course,

the overarching point

in these three interactions

is clear.

Following Jesus' discipleship

means making Him

the uncontested priority

in your life.

And notice that

all these things

that Jesus says

must take second place

to Him

in these interactions

are in themselves

good things, right?

A safe and comfortable home

fulfilling your sort of

traditional filial duties,

family affection,

and bonds.

These are good things.

And even good things

cannot and must not

detract

from putting Christ's

uppermost

uncontested

in your allegiance.

Let me first,

the second and third

would-be disciples

say here,

let me first

go bury my father.

Let me first

go home

and say goodbye

to my family

and friends.

Friends,

I wonder how would you

finish that sentence?

Let me first.

Maybe for you

it's also a family

obligation or bond.

Maybe you're afraid

of offending your family

by becoming a Christian

or maybe there's

some duty that you feel

you have to fulfill

to them that keeps you

from serving Christ

as you ought to.

Maybe your spouse

isn't a believer

and you're not sure

how he or she would

respond if you started

genuinely following Jesus.

Let me first,

you might say.

Let me first

figure things out

with my family

and then I'll come

follow you,

Jesus.

But maybe you'd

fill in the blank

another way.

I'll follow you,

Jesus,

but let me first,

let me first get back

on my feet.

Let me get my life

together.

Let me get my act

together and then

I'll follow you.

Let me first

see where this

relationship is going

with my boyfriend

or girlfriend.

Let me first

get that into a good

place and then

I'll come follow you.

Let me first

finish up my degree

and get settled

into a career

and then I'll really

follow you,

Jesus.

Let me first

get some airtight

answers to all

my doubts

and questions

and really

make sure

that this thing

is certain

and then

I'll follow you.

And in this text

Jesus is saying

you can't do it

that way.

You can't have

a let me first

and truly be

his disciple.

He has to be

your first.

But why?

Why is Jesus

so demanding

at this point?

I mean when you

compare these two

episodes in this

text,

isn't it a wild

juxtaposition?

Didn't we just see

how Jesus is so

merciful and patient

and long-suffering

in verse 51

through 56?

Now he seems like

a complete

megalomaniac

demanding nothing

less than total

commitment right now.

Why is this a

legitimate claim

for him to make?

Why?

Three things.

First,

notice the urgency.

Isn't there an

overriding sense

of urgency

in this paragraph?

At this point

in Jesus' earthly

ministry,

things are headed

to their climax.

Now is the time

to decide.

The kingdom of God

is at hand,

Jesus kept telling

those who were

around him.

And friends,

the same is true

of us today.

There is urgency

in the call

of God's kingdom.

at a very simple

level,

none of us

knows how many

days that we

have left to live.

Preachers,

for some reason,

love to talk about

getting hit by buses

when you leave church.

I don't know why

that is.

You never know.

It could happen

to you.

But friends,

on a serious note,

you never know.

You don't know

how many days

you have left.

this could be

the moment

that God

is giving you

to come

and follow him.

The time

to decide

is now.

But notice

second

why Jesus

says this.

Notice

what we see

of Jesus'

identity

in this passage.

On the one hand,

he calls himself

the son of man,

which on the surface,

on the surface anyway,

seems like a title

of humility,

but maybe we'll get

a chance to come back

to that title

when we explore

this series

a little more.

But you know,

then,

even if he sort of

begins to present himself

as one of humility

without a place

to lay his head,

then look at his response

to the second

would-be disciple.

Let the dead

bury their own dead.

Which is to say,

let the spiritually dead,

all those people

back home,

bury the physically dead,

your father.

Okay,

now that's a harsh

thing to say,

but do you see

the claim that Jesus

is making there?

He's saying that

everyone who refuses

to come follow him

is still living

in the realm

of spiritual death.

That apart from him,

they have not

and will not

come alive to God.

That he's the source

of real life.

And then the last

verse of our passage,

Jesus implies

that to follow him

is to pursue

God's kingdom.

To come after him

with wholehearted

devotion

is the same thing

as being a part

of God's healing,

righteous reign

in the world.

And when you

take a step back,

when Jesus says

all this about

following him,

you must have

given him

complete,

absolute priority

over everything else,

when Jesus says

you've got to make

me first

and nothing else,

he's making

a claim

that in the context

for a faithful

first century Jew

belonged to no one

else but God alone.

There was only one

who could claim

that sort of devotion

over all else

and it was

the Lord himself.

And Jesus is saying

you must put

me first.

Jesus is pointing us

to his identity here.

He's pointing us

to the fact

that a relationship

with him

is a relationship

with the God

who made us.

He must

take first place.

Otherwise,

you are out of joint

with the one

who made you

and sustains you

and the only one

who can save you.

But third,

why does Jesus

make such an

uncompromising demand?

Third,

consider

that what Jesus

is calling us

to do here

to make him

our complete

and utter priority

is actually

easier

in a sense

than what these

men are trying

to do.

No one puts

his hand

to the plow

and looks back

is fit

for the kingdom

of God.

What happens

if you're plowing

a field

and constantly

looking back?

I can only guess

because I've never

plowed a field.

But look,

if you've got

your hands

on that plow

and you're looking

over your shoulder,

you're not going

to be digging

nice straight rows

in the field.

They're going to be

going all over

the place.

and not only

are your rows

going to be

curved

and ugly,

you might even

strike a rock

destroying not

just your harvest

but the very

plow itself.

It's impractical

and it's maybe

even dangerous

to plow

when your attention

is divided.

C.S. Lewis

captures this

well toward the

end of mere

Christianity.

He says that how

so many of us

approach Christianity

is that on the

one hand,

we do what we

think is our

duty to God.

We keep our nose

out of trouble.

We show up for

church.

We do some good

deeds for our

neighbors.

We do all that

all the while

on the other hand,

really hoping that

there's some time

and some energy

and some money

sort of left over

that we can kind

of spend on

ourselves and our

own things.

We still want to

have a little bit

of time left over

for what he calls

our natural self,

the things that we

kind of want to do.

We're like an honest

man paying our taxes.

We'll give what is

due hoping that we've

got a little treasure

left to just kind

of enjoy on ourselves.

But that's not

going to work when

it comes to

following Jesus.

The demands of

discipleship are too

great.

Jesus' intention for

his followers is not

merely to improve

this or that aspect

of your personality,

to do a little tweak

here or a little

nudge there,

to just give you

kind of a little push.

His intention is to

remodel you from the

inside out,

to make you a new

creation,

to make us,

as Lewis will say

in another place,

not nice people,

but a new humanity.

And so if we

approach discipleship

like these three men

with one foot in

and one foot out,

it's never going to

work.

Either we're going to

end up miserable on

the road to discipleship

because we can never

keep up with the

demands and there's

never anything left

over, which is what

we really want.

We'll either be

totally miserable or

we'll just give up

altogether.

So you see what

Jesus is calling his

disciples to do

is on the one hand

harder.

Give me all of you.

Give me,

make me first

over everything else.

But what Jesus is

calling us to do

is easier.

Give me all of you

and stop trying

to live

with divided

attention

and divided

loyalties.

Give me your

whole self

and let me take

care of the rest.

This is what

discipleship means.

The Samaritans

who reject Jesus,

Jesus moves on.

But to those who

open the door to him,

like these three men,

Jesus wants to come

the whole way in.

He wants to push in,

take control,

and be first.

That's what it means

to be his disciple,

to let him displace

every other thing

that might compete

for priority in our

lives.

And of course,

that doesn't mean

that we all quit our

jobs and become

hermits or overseas

missionaries.

But it does mean

that whatever we do,

it's done through

the lens of making

Jesus first,

of following him

and obeying him,

even if it means

losing comfort and

security,

like this first one.

Even if it means

offending family

and tradition,

like the second one.

Even if it means

missing our loved

ones.

But in order to

understand this call

to priority,

in order to really

put it in perspective,

I think we need to

see two final things.

First, we need to

see that what Jesus

is calling us into,

as we said in the

very beginning tonight,

is a life where we

become who we were

created to be.

In other words,

what we stand to

lose in following

Jesus is nothing

compared to what

we gain.

I remember years

ago visiting a

museum in Florence,

Italy,

the museum where

Michelangelo's sculpture

of David is on

display.

It's kind of a funny

little museum.

There's like a bunch

of junk there,

and then you turn

the corner and

there's this huge

statue.

It's like kind of

the only thing they

have, which isn't

true, but it feels

like it's the only

thing they have

there.

But flanking both

sides of this

gallery, as you

kind of turn the

corner and look,

and there's the

David, flanking

both sides of this

gallery are

sculptures by

Michelangelo that

aren't finished.

They were

sculptures in

process, and the

curators of the

museum, in a

brilliant move, put

them, and they

just placed them

along the sides of

the hall, and

there was the

David.

David.

And you could

still see the

chisel marks all

around each one of

those figures, and

it looked as if this

sort of beautiful

figure was emerging

from a block of

stone.

And that's often

what discipleship

feels like.

God progressively

just chiseling away

at our old life,

which no doubt can be

painful and

challenging.

Is this a

priority in your

life?

Chisel it away.

Is this competing

with me?

Chisel it away.

But the end that

he has in view in

all of that

rigorous work is

glorious.

I think they call

those statues the

prisoners or

something like that

because they look

like they're sort of

trapped in stone.

And yet another way

of looking at it is

that they're being

liberated.

they're coming

out.

And at the head of

that gallery stands

the David, one of

the most stunning

works of human

sculpture ever

created.

And through the

chisel marks, we're

being liberated from

stone, friends.

And we're being made

into the image of the

true and better

David.

The one who is

truly human.

The Lord Jesus

Christ.

What we stand to lose

in following Jesus

is nothing compared

to what we gain.

He's setting us

free with each

hit of the chisel.

people.

But lastly, consider

what Jesus is calling

us to do to make

him our utter

priority, to let

nothing distract us

from following him.

Friends, that's

exactly the road

that he's traveled

for us.

Luke opens this

whole section of

his gospel in

verse 51 by saying

that Jesus set

his face to go

to Jerusalem.

He set his face

with uncompromising

priority and

determination to go

to Jerusalem.

Why?

For you.

The phrase set his

face is actually an

echo of Isaiah.

It's a brilliant

little expression by

Luke there.

In Isaiah chapter

Isaiah 50:7

50 verse 7

describing the

redeeming work of

the suffering servant

Isaiah says that he

set his face like

flint.

To suffer and die

in the place of

God's people so

that God could bring

about a new

exodus and so that

God could take his

people into the new

creation.

And here Luke with

one little turn of

phrase is calling

forth all of that

Old Testament theology

and pouring it right

into Jesus just as

Jesus had taught his

disciples and saying

Jesus set his face.

Jesus put the saving

plan of the father

first.

Jesus made that his

priority no matter

the cost

for you.

And friends if he did

that for you

then you need not fear

to put him first in

your life.

He will liberate you

from the stone

and he will make you

fit for the kingdom

of God.

So this then is the

beginning of the

journey of discipleship.

To see, to receive,

and to live his

mercy and to

acknowledge, receive,

and embrace him as

your priority.

Friends where are you

at on this road of

discipleship?

The risen Jesus

continues to say to

us today follow me.

follow me.

Let's pray.

Lord, we confess that

when we hear your

challenge to put all

things in second place

to you, Lord, we

acknowledge that that's

often a move that we

can't make in our own

power.

Lord, we feel trapped

by these old

allegiances and these

old things that have

gripped our life.

So, Lord, we pray

that by your spirit you

would do a liberating

work.

Lord, we thank you

that you, in your

wisdom and inspiring

scripture, left these

stories open.

Lord, that you didn't

tell us how these men

responded so that we

would be set on the

cusp with them to

respond.

So help us, Lord, by

your spirit to receive

your mercy and to put

you first in our lives

and help us as a

community to encourage

one another on this

road of discipleship, we

pray.

Amen.