Sermons:
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Putting a Hand to the Plow
based on Luke 9:51-62
by Rev. Randy Quinn
I don't know about you, but it is hard for me to
read that last line without thinking about the story of Lot and his wife. You
remember them, don't you? Lot and his wife were all but begged to leave Sodom
before the city was destroyed by God. They continued to drag their feet when the
angel of God finally took them by the hand and led them out of the city. On
their way out of town, the angel warns them not to turn back.
No reason is given, no punishment is named. And
when Lot's wife turns back, she turns into a pillar of salt. The common
explanation is that she looked back with a longing to be there and it was her
attitude that was punished.
"Don't Look Back!" seems to be the message in our
gospel lesson, too. Like Lot's wife, we are warned that once we start to follow
Christ we can never turn back.
There are some times and places when I know that
it is wisest not to look. Often times we get the wrong ideas or seeds are
planted in our minds that are difficult to keep from growing. And while I know
there are things I wish I had never seen, for the most part, I am too curious to
not look around. And I have a hard time not looking back, too. Maybe you do,
too.
Have you ever found yourself in a conversation
talking about the way things used to be? How often have we heard someone recount
the story of how they got here or there? Do you ever find yourself wondering
what life would be like if you had made a different decision?
Then there are the times I am in prayer and I give
God thanks for the way I have been directed in the past, the way God has worked
in my life and in the life of others over the course of time. Can this be all
bad? God's warning in the story of Lot's wife, is that God is a God of all time
and all places. We cannot afford to look back or we will deny the power of God
in the present and in the future.
Is this passage really telling me —— and you —— to
not look back? Is it really suggesting that we can never cherish our times
together? Is it really suggesting that l get on with my life and you get on with
yours and to end all communications with one another.
If this passage in Luke is about Lot's wife, l
think so. But I am grateful this morning that we also read the story about
Elijah and Elisha. Reading these two passages side—by side this week helped me
realize that Jesus is not talking in the terms that God used with Lot but is
referring to the image of Elisha.
When Jesus warns us that no one who puts a hand to
the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God, he is recalling the image
of Elisha, not the image of Lot's wife. Elijah was a well-known person in his
day. Out of the blue, he came up to Elisha and summoned him with symbolic
actions. He went out of his way, into the field where Elisha was working and put
his mantle on Elisha's shoulders.
Elisha's response is remarkable. If Elijah were to
come to you in the field while you were running
the combine this summer, I suspect that you would
at least finish the field, or perhaps empty the load in the bin first. If you
were to respond as [continue]
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