June 30, 2019
Hope Lutheran Church
Rev. Mary Erickson
Luke 9:51-62; Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Eyes on the Prize
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
A farmer was teaching his young son how to plow. As his son sat in the tractor seat, his dad pointed to the far end of the field. “Now, son,” he said, “What you have to do is keep your eyes on one point at the far end of the field. Just focus on that one thing and drive straight toward it. And when you get to the other side of the field, your row will be straight as an arrow. Understand?”
The boy nodded in agreement, “Just keep my eyes on one thing and drive toward it. Got it, dad!”
So the boy started up the tractor. He looked keenly at the far end of the field. His eyes fixed on something and then he slowly let out the clutch. The tractor began to roll down the length of the field. He was plowing a perfectly straight row. Dad felt a swell of pride in his heart.
But then, about halfway down the field, the tractor started to veer to the left. And not just a little bit. The boy was plowing WAY off course! By the time he reached the far end of the field, he was disastrously off. Dad couldn’t believe it. How could his son have failed so miserably? He threw his hat to the ground in disgust and ran to the far side of the field.
“Son, I told you to keep your eyes on one thing and drive right at it! What happened?”
“I did, Dad! I was watching a cow in next pasture. Then she started to walk towards that tree over there. But I just kept following her like you told me to!”
Most of us don’t have much experience with plowing fields. About the closest we come is mowing our lawns. The same principle holds. You have to pick a point on the far side of your lawn and just keep walking towards it.
Nowadays, plowing is pretty high tech. Many farmers use GPS systems to guide their tractors. They just plug in the coordinates of their field, and off they go. They don’t need to fix on that one thing any more. They can catch up on their email while the tractor drives itself.
That brings us to another thing, distracted driving. According to the National Safety Council, 28% of all traffic accidents are caused by people talking and texting on cell phones while driving. 28 percent! When we’re behind the wheel, it’s essential that we remain focused on the primary task at hand, safe driving. We can’t allow anything else to get in the way of that.
Keep your eyes on the prize. In our gospel reading today, Jesus is transitioning from the first part of his ministry to the second half. During the first portion of his ministry, Jesus stayed to the north, in the area around the Sea of Galilee. He carried on a ministry of preaching and healing. His reputation grew tremendously.
But just when he was at the peak of his fame, Jesus shifted gears. It was time for him to be “taken up,” as Luke called it. “Taken up” – a pretty way of saying “be crucified.” This was the end game of his ministry: Golgotha. This was the landmark at the far end of the field. That fixed point was the cross. Jesus put his hand to the plow and set his eye on that goal.
Jesus’ ministry shifted. For three years, his route had been roundabout. He carried on an itinerant ministry. He curlicued his way around Galilee. Jesus and his disciples rowed from one side of Lake Galilee to the other. He meandered through Samaria. He moseyed up north to Tyre and Sidon. They toured the cities of the Decapolis. They travelled to Bethsaida and Capernaum and Cana and then back again. They moved from town to town. They buzzed around circuitously, like bees in a meadow.
But all that changed when it was time to be “lifted up.” Then, it was laser focus. It was time to make a bee-line for Jerusalem. Jesus was on a mission. Luke tells us that Jesus “set his face” towards Jerusalem. The word in Greek conveys determination. Jesus is resolved.
As he sets out, Jesus encounters some people. Our passage today tells us what happens in these encounters. In each case, there’s a lack of focus. Distractions come into play. Jesus responds to them.
First of all, Jesus and his disciples pass through the region of Samaria. There’s no way around Samaria. It’s like going from Wisconsin to South Dakota. You HAVE to pass through Minnesota! To go from Galilee to Jerusalem, you had to pass through Samaria.
But the Samaritans could tell Jesus wasn’t stopping there. He wasn’t going to mosey through their territory like he had through Galilee. Jesus was an express commuter. No healings, no preaching. They didn’t want anything to do with him.
There was longstanding bad blood between Jews and Samaritans. James and John are outraged at the response Jesus receives. In their opinion, what’s needed is a good, old fashioned smiting. “Jesus,” they ask, “Do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” These two hadn’t earned the nickname “Sons of Thunder” for nothing!
Hmm. Let’s put their request into proper perspective. Here’s another translation, “Say, Jesus, while you’re on your mission to bring healing and reconciliation to the nations – while you pursue your destiny of restoring God’s perfect peace to all humankind – would you like us to utterly destroy these lowlifes for you?”
Talk about losing the focus! James and John have been diverted. Hatred and rage have derailed them off the peace train. Prejudice has subverted them from following Jesus. Their longstanding loathing of the Samaritans has pulled them out of alignment with Jesus’ values. In the twinkling of an eye, they traded them in for destruction and violence.
What happened to them is addressed by Paul in the passage we hear today from Galatians. The ways of the flesh, as Paul calls them, are opposed to the ways of the Spirit. There’s an alternate force at work, he asserts. It’s hell-bent on a course away from the works of God’s Spirit. It debases, it corrodes. It pulls us downward into our lower urgings. It pits us against one another. It fosters enmity and violence.
These things are not of God, Paul warns. Pursue instead the fruits of the Spirit. Keep your eyes set on love and joy, on peace, patience and kindness! Live by the Spirit! Be guided by the Spirit!
What James and John say is so out of character with Jesus’ mission that it actually stops Jesus on his course. Jesus puts on the brakes and turns. He turns and looks right at James and John. Luke simply says that Jesus rebukes them.
As we each set our hands to the gospel plow, the corrupted urgings of our heart can obstruct the focus of our mission. Our inner self becomes diverted by emotions not of God. These urgings don’t pursue the goals of God’s kingdom. They lean towards another course.
Jesus turns and rebukes James and John. Their eyes had wandered from the prize. Jesus called them back to his kingdom’s focus. And the show of his grace is that they then continue on the way with Jesus. Jesus calls them to realignment. They steer back on course. They continue their walk with Jesus. Their eyes return to the prize.
We need God’s Spirit to keep our minds aligned with the will of God. Like James and John, we need to stop and reflect. We regularly need to turn from our outward focus to look inside. Where is our heart aligned? We use this respite as an opportunity to reflect honestly on our emotions and motivations. And where we discover we’re not in harmony with the fruits of God’s Spirit, when we find destructive, bitter forces worming within us, we pray to be made anew in the image of Christ:
Change my heart, O God,
Make it ever true!
Change my heart, O God,
Let me be like you!
Thou art the potter; I am the clay.
Mold me and make me, this is what I pray! *
As Jesus continues on, he encounters three individuals. The first man says he’ll follow Jesus wherever he should go. Jesus points out the challenges to following God’s way. It can be lonely. Our initial zeal can evaporate once challenges hit.
The next two men say they’ll follow Jesus, but there’s something they need to take care of first. Something holds them back. Jesus urges them to keep the main thing as the main thing. He tells them to seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these other things shall be added. The Kingdom is the priority. When we keep our focus on that, everything else will fall into place. But we cannot plow straight if we take our eyes off the prize.
In all of these encounters, Jesus points to diversions steering us off course. Jesus calls each of us to follow him. He invites us to keep our eyes focused on the prize before us.
What have you been called to? How do you live out service to God’s kingdom in your daily life? What row have you been invited to plow? Each of us has been called to a unique path. We serve out the mission we have been called to in our families. We spread God’s grace and good will through our jobs, in helping out a neighbor, in standing up for justice. For every one of us, we have before us an opportunity of service that we alone can fill.
Plow straight, my friends! Keep your eye on the prize!
*From the song “Change My Heart, O God” by Eddie Espinosa
