Luke 9:57 - Meaning and Application

Here we have three people who offered to follow Christ, and the answers he gave each one. The first two also appear in Matthew 19:21. The first man was very eager to follow Jesus at once, but he seems to have been rash and careless. He had not stopped to think about the cost.

As they were walking on the way up to Jerusalem, where people expected Christ would soon show his glory, one man said to Jesus, “Lord, I will follow you wherever you go” (Luke 9:57). That must be the heart of everyone who will truly be Christ’s disciple. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes (Revelation 14:4), even through hardship, prison, and death.

Jesus answered with an important warning. He told the man not to expect worldly comfort or success from following him, but instead to expect poverty and hardship. “The Son of Man” is Jesus’ title for himself as one who truly shared our human nature. He said that he had nowhere to lay his head.

This shows how low Jesus was willing to become in this world. He did not have even the basic comforts that foxes and birds have. He who made all things did not have a home of his own. He depended on others for shelter. He took this poverty on himself for our sake, to show his love and to make the value of his saving work greater, so that through his poverty we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Jesus also speaks this way to those who want to be his disciples. If we mean to follow Christ, we must let go of dreams of great worldly success. We must not think of religion as a way to gain earthly advantage. Christ has separated those things, and we should not try to join them together. Instead, we should expect to enter the kingdom of heaven through many troubles. We must deny ourselves and take up our cross. Jesus told this man what he should count on if he followed him, cold nights, hard living, and being despised. If he could not accept that, he should not pretend to follow Christ.

The answer may have sent him away, as far as we know. But it will not discourage anyone who knows what is in Christ and in heaven, and who weighs that against earthly loss.

The second person seemed ready to follow Christ, but he asked for delay (Luke 9:59). Jesus had first called him and said, “Follow me.” The man who had offered himself on his own backed away when he heard about the hardship. This man, though slow at first, seems to have yielded in the end. So it was true in his case, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). It is not the eager will of man, but God’s mercy that gives the call and makes it effective.

The excuse he gave was, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” He meant, “I have an old father at home who cannot live much longer. I must stay and care for him until he dies, then I will come and do anything you ask.”

From this, we can see three temptations that may keep us from following Christ, and we should guard against them. First, we may settle for being only partly committed disciples, keeping some distance instead of giving ourselves fully to Christ. Second, we may delay obedience to duties we already know, putting them off to some later time. We may say we will begin religion after one more task, one more gain, or one more season of life, and so we lose the present time. Third, we may think our duty to family can excuse us from our duty to Christ. It sounds reasonable to say, “Let me take care of my family first, and then I will serve Christ,” but the kingdom of God and his righteousness must come first.

Jesus answered, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you go and preach the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60). He did not mean that his followers should be cold or cruel to their families. Our faith teaches us to be loving and faithful in every family duty, to show care at home, and to honor our parents. But we must not use those duties as a reason to put off God’s call.

If the closest family tie on earth stands in the way of Christ, then we must have a zeal strong enough to put even father and mother second, as Levi did (Deuteronomy 33:9). This disciple was being called to be a minister, so he must not get tied up in ordinary worldly matters (2 Timothy 2:4). And whenever Christ calls us to a duty, we must not stop to consult human judgment first (Galatians 1:15-16). No excuse should be accepted against immediate obedience to Christ.

The third man was willing to follow Christ, but he wanted a little time to speak with his friends first. He said, “Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go and say goodbye to those at home” (Luke 9:61). This sounded reasonable. Elisha had asked something like this when Elijah called him, and it was allowed. But the work of the gospel is higher, and its urgency is greater than that of the prophets, so here it was not allowed. Some understand his words to mean, “Let me go and arrange my household affairs and give instructions about them.”

What was wrong in this request? First, he seemed to think that following Christ would be sad, troublesome, and dangerous. It was as if he thought he was about to die, so he needed to say goodbye to his friends forever, or at least without any comfort. But in following Christ, he might have become a greater comfort and blessing to them than if he had stayed with them.

Second, he seemed too tied to his worldly concerns. He still had his heart set on his relatives and family matters, and he could not easily or properly separate from them. They still held onto him. Perhaps he had already said farewell once, but one who is unwilling to leave keeps saying goodbye again and again. So he wanted to go once more, because they were at his house.

Third, he was willing to put himself into temptation against his own purpose of following Christ. To go back and say farewell to those at his house would expose him to the strongest possible pressure to change his mind. They would all be against his decision, and they would beg and plead with him not to leave them. It was reckless for him to walk into such a trial. Those who decide to walk with their Maker and follow their Redeemer must also decide not to stop and talk with their tempter.

Christ then rebuked him with this reply (Luke 9:62): “No one who puts his hand to the plow, and means to do good plowing, keeps looking back. If he does, he makes crooked furrows, and the ground he plows will not be ready for seed. So if you mean to follow me and enjoy the blessings that come to my followers, but you keep looking back to worldly life and longing for it, then you are not fit for the kingdom of God.” Looking back like that is like Lot’s wife looking back at Sodom (Genesis 19:26).

In one sense, such a person is not fit ground for the good seed of the kingdom of God, because the work has not been carried through fully. In another sense, he is not fit to be a worker in the kingdom, because he cannot even hold the plow properly. Plowing comes before sowing. Just as people are not ready to receive God’s comforts until their hard ground has first been broken up, so people are not ready to spread the good seed if they cannot keep at the work and keep looking back to quit it.

The lesson is clear. Those who begin God’s work must settle it in their hearts to go on with it, or they will accomplish nothing. Looking back leads to drawing back, and drawing back leads to destruction. Those are not fit for heaven who set out toward it and then turn around. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.