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 Elisha did, you would not. You would empty the remaining diesel fuel on the ground and roast marshmallows on the fire that it began.

l imagine your neighbors would be surprised. I know the Fire Department would be more than a little upset about an intentionally set fire. But Elisha was symbolically saying that he could no longer live the

life he had lived before. He burned the instruments of his labor and had a feast. Then he left them there.

Jesus calls people to follow him and asks them to put their hand to their plow, too. l suspect he is suggesting that they destroy it so that they are no longer encumbered with their obligations —— either of family, finances, personal comfort.

When Jesus called his first Disciples, he asked them to leave their fishing nets and boats behind. He called them to serve in a different sea, to fish in a metaphorical sense. But throughout his ministry, and even after his resurrection, they are still found in boats, along the sea—shore, and even casting their nets. This suggests to me that Jesus is talking about priorities, and not a literal destruction of the boats and nets. What must come first is the willingness and availability to serve God.

In the summer of 1987, I found myself looking for work. I was no longer the pastor of three churches in Kansas and was waiting until school began again in the fall. During that time I looked for work and learned some rather important lessons.

I found that I was no longer qualified for other kinds of employment. My Navy experience should have opened all kinds of doors, and I think it would have —~ even after three years.

But my seminary training was not desired, and was in fact looked at with suspicion as I looked around

for jobs. I was either seen as a religious fanatic or a loser who had ventured from one career into another and was now entering yet another field. I could no longer go back to what I had done before I answered the calling to the ordained ministry.

So I tried to do funerals and weddings. But after the first funeral, I realized that this would not work. It felt dishonest. I realized that my role as pastor was to represent the church as much as it was to meet

the needs of a family. Without a church, I was only representing myself.

So I learned that it is important for me to keep my focus on the congregation I am serving and the needs they bring before me and their community. I cannot represent them somewhere else, nor would they expect me to do so.

I realized that my calling was to the pastoral ministry - serving churches wherever I was assigned.

But that illustration is not told so that you all can feel as though the story does not apply to you. Jesus was calling everyone to a sense of Discipleship. He was suggesting that we all need to keep our priorities in mind, and that God must always come first.

Always.

At times that is difficult.

Jesus reminds his would be followers that it means trusting God to provide for your own personal comforts. It means not being with your own family at times. It means a willingness to leave our livelihood behind.

We must continue to wrestle with the priorities in your own lives and in the life of this community so that God's grace can be seen and felt in the lives of our neighbors, in the lives of our own families, and in your own lives.

Put your hands to the plow. Celebrate what has taken place over the past few years, but leave the past in the past. Allow God to continue to work in your present as the future unfolds. And God will continue to be active in our lives and in the work of our church. Thanks be to God.

Amen.