United Methodist Church Hyde Park, NY

 A DECISIVE DECISION
Luke 9:51-62
 
Two New York men who had never been out of the city decided that they had had it with urban living, so they bought a ranch down in Texas in order to live off the land like their ancestors. The first thing they decided they needed was a mule. So they went to a neighboring rancher and asked him if he had a mule to sell. The rancher answered, “No, I’m afraid not.” They were disappointed, but as they were visiting with the rancher one of them saw some honeydew melons stacked against the barn and asked, “What are those?” The rancher, seeing that they were hopeless city slickers, decided to have some fun. “Oh,” he answered, “those are mule eggs. You take one of those eggs home and wait for it to hatch, and you’ll have a mule.” The city slickers were overjoyed at this, and bought one of the melons, then headed down the bumpy country road toward their own ranch. Suddenly they hit an especially treacherous bump, and the honeydew melon bounced out of the back of the pickup truck, hit the road, and burst open. Seeing this in his rearview mirror, the driver turned his truck around and drove back to see if he could retrieve his mule egg.
 
Meanwhile, a big old Texas jackrabbit came hopping by and saw this honeydew melon burst in the road. He hopped over to it and, standing in the middle of that mess, he began to eat. Now here came the two city slickers. They spied their mule egg burst open and this long-eared creature in the middle of it. One of the men shouted, “Our mule egg has hatched! Let’s get our mule.”
 
But seeing those two men coming toward it, the jackrabbit took off hopping in every direction. The two city fellows followed in hot pursuit. They gave everything they had to catch him, but finally could go no farther. Both men fell wearily onto the ground, gasping for air, while the jackrabbit hopped off into the distance. Raising himself up on his elbow, one of the men said to the other, “Well, I guess we lost our mule.” The other man nodded grimly. “Yes, but you know,” he said, “I’m not sure I wanted to plow that fast anyway.”
 
The title of that little story is “How committed are you?” It is also the question at the center of today’s scripture readings.
 
As the story of Elijah and Elisha begins, Elijah finds Elisha plowing a field with a team of oxen. The prophet takes off his cloak and puts it on Elisha – a sign and symbol of the younger man’s call. Elisha leaves his oxen and runs after Elijah. He asks for and receives Elijah’s permission to kiss his father and mother good-bye. Then Elisha goes to his team of oxen, kills them, and cooks the meat using the yoke that had harnessed them as fuel for the fire. His intent is unmistakable. Elisha is never going back to farming again. He is leaving it all to follow Elijah.
 
Time passes, and in this morning’s text, Elijah and Elisha are now on their way to the Jordan, where God is about to take the great prophet up to heaven by a whirlwind. Along the way, first at Gilgal, then at Bethel, and a third time at Jericho, Elijah urges Elisha to stay behind. But each time the young disciple confirms his initial decision, responding, “I will not leave you.” The two go on until they reach the Jordan, where Elisha witnesses Elijah’s ascension, takes up the mantle Elijah has let fall, and begins his journey as prophet.
 
This morning’s reading from the gospel of Luke calls attention to the importance of similar resolve in following Jesus. Prior to this point, almost all of Jesus’ life and ministry have taken place in Galilee, but now, the time has come for Jesus to carry the news of the kingdom to Jerusalem, the center of power of the old age. Luke signals the importance of making and keeping the commitment to journey with Jesus by saying that Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Luke’s readers need to set their faces similarly. 
The passage offers three mini-examples of the importance of making a decisive decision to follow Jesus. In each case, people state that they want to follow Jesus, but instead of immediately welcoming them, Jesus cautions them. He wants to prepare the disciples for what lies ahead on the way.
 
One person asserts, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus responds with what seems a warning for the hard times ahead: while foxes and birds have nests, Jesus and his companions have no place to lay their heads. That is to say that they have no physical home of their own, but depend on the hospitality of others.
 
A person wants to bury a parent before coming with Jesus. In this time, showing respect for the dead was very important. But Jesus instructs this seeker to “let the dead bury their own dead” and to witness to the kingdom of God. In other words, acting in behalf of God’s realm is more important than any other social value.
 
A third person wants to bid farewell to family at home. In this culture, people did not think of identity in individual terms as we do here today. Personal identity was wrapped up in community
through family, religion, and ethnic affiliation. Saying farewell was an exercise of identity and a sign of respect. Jesus emphasizes that faithfulness to the kingdom and its new social world takes precedence even over the fundamental social structures of the old age.
 
This morning’s scriptures ask, “How committed are you?” Elisha decided to follow Elijah and never looked back. Three would-be disciples of Jesus were not able to make the same decision or demonstrate the same resolve. These texts challenge us to reflect on the degree of our commitment to Christ and the kingdom of God. What blocks us from fuller commitment in the same fashion that concern about security, about the dead, and even about family stood in the way of the potential disciples of Jesus in today’s gospel text?
 
I read of a pious old gentleman of an earlier generation who would get up regularly at the prayer meetings in his church to pray: “Use me, O Lord, use me – in some advisory capacity!” In other words, I want to be used, but . . .
 
For German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who lived from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century, and whose works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, philosophy, and science, there was no but. Goethe once wrote:
Until One is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to turn back, always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans. That the moment one definitely commits oneself then Providence moves on too. All sorts of things occur to help that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision; raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
Whatever you can do or dream you can – begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Begin it now.
 
There comes a time when each of us needs to make the kind of decisive decision made by Elijah,
to have the kind of resolve of Jesus, to demonstrate the kind of dedication of Goethe. There is a time to fix our eyes firmly on the future, to commit our lives to a great cause, and to decide once and for all that come what may, we are not turning back. There comes a time when we must make a commitment of all we are, all we have, all we hope to be, to the One who calls us to follow him.