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Gospel: Luke 9: 57-62
As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding
on their journey, someone said to him,
“I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him,
“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
And to another he said, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”
And another said, “I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”
Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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While plowing, a farmer must remain focused on his path ahead. If he turns around and looks back, then he’ll end up carving zig-zag lines, ruining his fields.
It’s easier – and far more effective – to focus on the present moment than on the past or future. Only when you finish one row, do you move on to the next.
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Jesus tells us the same idea applies in discipleship.
When following the Lord, we plow one row at a time; we can neither look back to the past nor be distracted by the future.
Discipleship unfolds day by day.
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This also means that we avoid the world of “what ifs.”
Sometimes we may wonder what life would be like if we never made a particular decision; if we raised our children differently; if we pursued a different career; or if we had come to faith earlier.
God is never in the world of “what ifs.”
God is in the world of “what is.” … and “what will be.”
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Regardless of the lines we’ve ploughed in our past – for better or for worse – the Lord is directing our attention to the present while creating our future.
What might it look like for me to focus my attention on doing the Lord’s work today?
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