The Kingdom of God
“Not So Wise Men”
Luke 9:57-62
Watch on YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqU091I5leE
Now, our first impression upon hearing this title is the wise men found in the Christmas story. Instead, in this series, we’re looking at Kingdom of God principles we can live our lives by.
Looking at this area of Scripture, it surprises many people when they read about how Jesus was discouraging people from following Him. It also comes as a surprise to think that Jesus wasn’t as seeker friendly as many make Him out to be.
In our passage, Jesus is behaving in a manner unlike anything we’re accustomed to. We do everything we can to attract people to come to church, but here Jesus is doing the exact opposite.
So, let’s look at these most unusual encounters.
“Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, ‘Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’ Then He said to another, ‘Follow Me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.’ And another also said, ‘Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:57-62 NKJV)
When we read this, our minds almost automatically ask, “Why did Jesus handle these three guys the way He did? Why did He say these things that seem harsh when we see this as an honest desire on their part to follow?”
Because they didn’t realize some truths about the Kingdom of God, and Jesus wanted them to know what they were asking. Therefore, it’s from Jesus’s response to their requests that we find out some valuable information about God’s kingdom, and our entrance into it.
And just an FYI. These guys most likely had been following Jesus for a while. They saw His miracles, listened to His teachings, and they are interested, but they were still unprepared to fully follow, and Jesus confronts them in these areas.
The First Guy
The first guy rushes up with great excitement proclaiming, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” (Luke 9:57 NKJV)
He’s ready to leave it all behind and follow, no matter the cost, or so it seems. Now if someone came up to me and said that he or she was ready to follow Jesus, I’d say, “Great, what a blessing,” and I’d encourage the heck out of them. To me, this is the type of man or woman the church needs, the sort who would make an excellent addition to God’s kingdom.
But not Jesus! Instead of welcoming this person, Jesus rebuffs him, and if you would, discourages him. We could say that Jesus stopped Him dead in his tracks.
This type of person is quite common. Jesus’s preaching and miracles attracted him. Now, this conversation took place right after Jesus cast out the demonic spirit and healed a young boy. This first guy probably heard Jesus sending out the 12 disciples with the power to heal. Maybe he even heard what others said about how Jesus spoke with authority, and Jesus’s statement that the Kingdom of heaven was at hand.
Jesus presented something new and fascinating, not like the old stuffy religion this man grew up with, so he was all in, or so he thought.
I remember a similar occurrence. A gal had experienced a miracle, and her son, who was a believer, saw the miracle and wanted to follow in the same way that our first guy in this story did. So, he signed up for seminary, but soon he became discouraged and quit.
This is a picture of an idealist. A person who wants to do good, seeing the misery and unhappiness in the world, but not prepared for what lies ahead. They see only what is on the surface, the excitement and success.
Jesus said much the same thing to the disciples, who argued amongst themselves about who would be the greatest in this new and improved Kingdom Jesus was talking about.
Jesus said, “For he who is least among you all will be great.” (Luke 9:48b NKJV)
And so, he presents us with those who enter with great enthusiasm and zeal, not realizing the cost, and later leave disappointed and discouraged because the Kingdom of God didn’t come in the way they thought it should be, or it wasn’t what they thought it would be.
There’s an interesting statement Jesus made about the cost of discipleship. He begins by saying that if anyone who wants to follow Him, but does not hate what holds them back, including family, and even their own life, they cannot be a disciple (Luke 14:26).
And then Jesus said, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?” (Luke 14:28 NIV)
Many use this as a reason not to get involved in ministry work, but that isn’t what it means. A tower wasn’t a luxury; rather, it was a necessity. The last thing anyone wanted was a half-built tower. Instead, they were to find out how much it would cost and then secure sufficient funds to see the project finished.
We are to know the cost of discipleship, and that it may cost our jobs, family, and even our lives. And then move forward with what God has called for us to do.
And this is what Jesus ended up telling this guy. He’s saying that the Kingdom of God is all about changed lives, and to fulfill this mission, it’s going to cost.
“Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Luke 9:58 NKJV)
Can you imagine what this guy thought? Here is Jesus, the Son of Man, the Messiah, and while the animals had a place in this world, He didn’t. Here is the Lord, the ruler of the universe, and owner of everything, and yet He had nothing of this world, or as we would say, He had nothing to show for it.
Jesus didn’t come to set up a kingdom on earth; rather, He came to seek and then save the lost and to give his life as a ransom for many (Luke 19:10; Mark 10:45).
And so, Jesus told this guy that if you follow Me, you’re not going to get adulation and applause, but hated and be ostracized.
Jesus said, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:20 NKJV)
Therefore, to this first guy Jesus deflated his idealist view of the Kingdom of God and brought it down to the reality that those who follow, those who want to be a part of the Kingdom of God will not be any greater than the King Himself. And then He said that the King has nothing that the world would consider of value; instead, it’s a life of dying to self in order to live for God.
The Second Guy
This guy is someone that Jesus invites to follow.
“Then He said to another, ‘Follow Me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:59-60 NKJV)
What attracted this guy, and what interested him, was the possibility of following and becoming one of Jesus’s disciples; but he was hesitant. And so, Jesus challenged him, and this second guy responded, “I’ll come, but first let me go and bury my father.”
Jesus responded to this request by saying that if the Kingdom of God is here, then enter, no matter what might be happening. And while Jesus's statement may sound harsh, He wasn’t refusing the man to go home to bury his father.
If this man’s father had indeed just died, then the man wouldn’t have been with Jesus at that point in time. He would have been sitting “shiva.” This man’s father instead was probably old and in ill health. What this guy was doing was giving Jesus an excuse as to why he couldn’t follow, an excuse that didn’t hold up when held to the light of truth.
This second guy was saying what many say when asked to follow Jesus and become a Christian. They say they’ll follow, but not right now. They say they’re too busy with their jobs and families, or they need to wait until they get this or that right in their life.
People see the truth of the gospel message, and while it troubles them, there are other things they want to get out of the way first.
Consider St. Augustine’s prayer. It troubled him when he listened to a teaching about the Kingdom of God. He knew what the preacher was saying was right, and that he wasn’t living his life for God, but he was also living with his mistress. So, a conflict was happening within him, so he offered this prayer.
“Lord, make me good: but not yet.”
To this second guy, Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:60 NKJV)
Those who haven't asked Jesus to save them, who have not come to Jesus by faith, are not a part of the Kingdom of God, and therefore Jesus said they are dead already. The natural man is dying, and since they praise each other, Jesus was saying to let them bury each other. Our job is not to bury those already dead; instead, our job is to preach that new life is available through belief in Jesus Christ. Our job is not to bury them, but to bring them back to life.
There’s nothing wrong with looking after our aged parents, taking care of their needs. But this is not the priority of those who are citizens of the Kingdom of God.
It’s as if Jesus was saying, “Anybody can bury their father, but it’s only a citizen of God’s Kingdom can tell their father that He needs to be saved, so go preach the gospel.”
Jesus is telling us to wake up people to their plight, and that Jesus didn’t come to bury them but to save them.
Christianity is all about a living Savior, Jesus, who seeks and saves the lost. Religion is about morality, and while it’s easy to talk about a person’s immoral lifestyle, Jesus came instead to save the immoral and give them a brand new life. So, He has given all of us the responsibility to speak life to the dead, not to bury them.
When a person hears the good news, nothing, not even family, should come in the way of following Jesus.
Concerning family ties, Jesus never allowed such ties to stop Him from His mission. Look at what Jesus said concerning family ties.
“‘Who is My mother and who are My brothers?’ And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, ‘Here are My mother and My brothers.’” (Matthew 12: 48-49 NKJV)
Jesus also said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26 NKJV)
Jesus isn’t telling us to hate our families, but that our families cannot come before our devotion to Him. If a family member stands between you and your belief in Christ, then put Christ first.
Now this doesn’t mean divorcing, because God hates divorce, but to believe in God, and what the Bible says is that by our chaste behavior, maybe this will win them over. (1 Peter 3:2)
Jesus is saying that there’s an urgency to God’s Kingdom, and its message that cannot wait for a better or more opportune time.
The Third Guy
Now, with this last guy it’s a toss up whether Jesus invited this guy to follow, or the guy is coming to Jesus wanting to follow, but like guy number two, he gives Jesus another excuse.
“Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” (Luke 9:61 NKJV)
Not an unreasonable request to say goodbye to the old in order to live for the new. But Jesus knows the heart of man, and the deceitfulness that lies within.
Therefore, Jesus said, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62 NKJV)
It is interesting that when driving, if our attention becomes drawn to the right or to the left, and we’re not looking straight ahead, our car drifts in the opposite direction.
Jesus is saying that once we follow Him, it’s all or nothing. We mustn’t look back at the old, instead, we need to look ahead to the new. The past represents an old life, a dead life, and that’s the last thing we need to look at, and while we learn from our past mistakes, we shouldn’t dwell upon them.
Paul said, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV)
Lot’s wife may be the perfect illustration of this. They were told to leave Sodom and not to look back. But Lot’s wife didn’t heed the warning. The old life held some value to her. In her heart, she really didn’t want to leave, although she knew it would save her life. So, she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.
When we enter God’s Kingdom, we must make a clean break from the worldly kingdom we once inhabited. We must turn our backs upon the past, because if we don’t, it will tear us in two, because Jesus said we can’t serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).
The Apostle James said, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4 NKJV)
If we love the world and the things of the world, then the love of God doesn’t live within us.
Here’s the point. If we believe Jesus loves us so much that He left the glory of heaven to die an inglorious death upon the cross for the forgiveness of our sins so that eternal life in heaven is ours, how can we ever long for the world that led to our sin and to His death? Can we truly desire those things that ruined our soul and produced His death?
In our passage, Jesus is saying that the Kingdom of God calls for an unconditional surrender. This guy, however, was half-hearted. He wanted to follow, but he didn’t want to make a clean break from the world. This is a case of divided loyalty.
Look at what God said through the prophet Hosea about divided loyalty.
“The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners, making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake.” (Hosea 7:8 NLT)
I remember God’s calling for me to come to Mesquite. The Lord was speaking to my heart that He was going to allow me to return to the church I was pastoring in Las Vegas and remain there as its pastor, but He added that His presence would not be there for me anymore.
God was calling me out. I didn’t know where, but it was to be out of Las Vegas. And if tempted to go back, the Lord later added the same words Jesus spoke that once I started on this new path, there was no returning. And if I did, I could never again draw a straight line for God in my life or in the lives of others.
Jesus knows what is best. Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves, and once we go back into the world, even if it’s to say goodbye, we may never want to leave it again.
Conclusion
When we follow Jesus and enter the Kingdom of God, we are no longer our own. We belong to the Lord and are no longer part of the world. It’s difficult, but it is the most fulfilling life we’ll ever live.
The Kingdom of God is not some novelty we enter and then dump if it doesn’t work out or until something new comes along. The Kingdom of God isn’t about following the old ways of this world or desiring them anymore.
Earlier, Jesus makes this point when He said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23 NKJV)
The Kingdom of God is about fully following after Jesus. It means picking up our crosses daily and following Him. God’s kingdom is about our realizing we are no longer our own. Instead, Jesus bought our lives with a price, and that was through the blood He shed.
And so it comes down to making the same declaration that Peter made, and one that I made as well. When Jesus made a hard statement, it says that every one left except the twelve. And so he looked at the twelve and said, “Why don’t youleave as well?”
These are the same words that He spoke to me when I lost everything and others were encouraging me to leave the faith. But what I said in return is what Peter said to Jesus, “Where else can I go, for no one else has the words of eternallife.”
And it is this same declaration we must all make if we want to be one of the wise men, and not one of the not so wise men.
