As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”
Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” - Luke 9:57-62
Inspiring leaders have too many followers. When someone speaks the truth in a compelling way, it is like a doorway is opened in your mind. So you want to be near that leader, to always be able to drink in the transforming words or, if nothing else, to repay him in some way. In these verses, Jesus encounters three men who wanted to transition from the crowd to the closer knit group of disciples who stayed with Jesus and went with him everywhere. But he turns away each of them because he knew they were not ready.
For the first, there was a cost of discipleship that the man was not ready to pay: the sense of home-of rootedness in a place. Jesus was an itinerant teacher and he expected the same from his followers. In fact, in Luke 10, he sends a larger group of disciples from village to village, never being truly home again. There was a necessary change where home became wherever Christ sent them. The word apostle literally means 'sent one'. For us, it means that Jesus could decide to uproot my life for is purposes, and I should prepare for that.
For the second, there was a cost of discipleship that the man was not ready to pay: the sense of responsibility to family-a commitment. Jesus was building a community based on a relationship with him and his disciples were made up of those with a shared commitment to him. For us, it means that Jesus could decide there are other relationships that are necessary, and I should prepare for that.
For the third, there was a similar cost of discipleship that the man was not ready to pay: the sense of approval from those whose opinion he valued. He wanted Jesus' good opinion and the good opinion of those he was leaving. He was a man whose heart was divided. For us, it means that Jesus could decide to make me choose between others' opinion and his opinion and I should be prepared to lose their good opinion.
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