Are We Truly Disciples?

Luke 9:57-62 (ESV) - As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "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." To another He said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God." Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God."

"Regularly, God tests the earnestness of our hearts by bringing us to a fork in the road. When it becomes necessary to choose between two ways, which do we follow? Comfort or convention or custom - or Christ? The test from the very outset has been 'Follow Me.'" - Michael Wilcock, The Message of Luke

We often think of discipleship in terms of how a church, or an individual, mentors and shepherds others in their walk with Christ. While it is that, the inverse is also true, vastly more important, and often passed over. Discipleship also includes the traits that one must possess, within their sanctifying character and demeanor, that has Christ identify them as disciples - apart from man's self-claim of discipleship. Christ looks to the fruit (Matthew 7:16-20).

Often, man makes decisions in the heat of the moment without considering the deeper implications and effects that decision may have on their future. They'll often think they have what it takes until those deeper implications begin to surface. This is when their convictions are tested and often fade. Just like with a New Year's resolution of gym membership, the good that was to come from this decision turns out to not be worth the cost. Between the time of their decision and this moment, one may make many claims of being a disciple of Christ. But finally, they come to a fork in the road and the earnestness of their hearts is tested by God. God uses these moments to identify the true disciples apart from the crowd.

Jesus, Himself, never called any followers to a life of comfort and ease. He is constantly stating how His followers must be willing to lose much (Luke 9:24). In this passage, Jesus is approached by some who tell Him they are willing to follow Him wherever He goes. Jesus' response to this wonderful news is somewhat jarring when deeply pondered. Jesus' lesson, surprisingly, sounds like what modern church culture would call 'hard preaching'. On the surface, it may seem like Jesus is trying to discourage them or scare them away. But He is illustrating the same exclusivity of the gospel that causes so much offense in the culture today.

Jesus seems unwilling to accept the momentary decision - sprung from a surge of desire - as a sure implication that this person is a disciple. He tests the person's heart to make sure they truly understand what they're getting themselves into. This passage helps the readers understand the deep implication and effects a life of discipleship will bring in terms of loss and hardships that they, otherwise, may not consider.

In verse 57, there is a confession of belief and faith. In modern church culture, that alone is considered a victory - as it should be. But Jesus goes a little further to let the person know the difficulties that lie ahead before they make, what may be, a hasty and half-hearted decision only motivated by impulse. He is stating that following Him does not mean comfort or ease or wealth. Jesus, Himself, didn't go that way and reiterated how it will be no different for his disciples. Jesus, knowing the heart of man (John 2:25), knew this person's unique spiritual struggle and is asking Him to consider it.

These costs may be similar to others or unique to every person. Jesus' point in that passage isn't to foster asceticism but to identify a specific spiritual weakness in a heart that only Jesus can read. Some are called to live with comfort, and some are called to give it up. The point of the passage is following Jesus at all costs. Jesus is forcing His audience to ask the question of if they are truly bearing any costs or if they're continuing in a particular comfort or situation at the expense of following Jesus. Is the reader trying to be a comfortable disciple of ease while voicing claims of following Jesus?

The level of loyalty Jesus is commanding is shockingly illustrated in verse 59. The follower asks to first go bury their father and mother - a process the culture viewed as following the 5th commandment. Jesus' response to allow the dead to bury their own is a deliberate implication of the level of commitment Jesus' disciples are identified by. If Jesus is truly more important than this man's father, He would follow Jesus immediately in that moment. This was that follower's fork in the road.

Whether we are called to give more of ourselves to our loved ones or break away so as not to compromise our fidelity to the Lord, who is more important to the follower in those moments - those relationships or Jesus? When the effects of this worldview are considered, the cost of this becomes too large for most who live 2000+ years removed from the motivating effects of the immediate events surrounding Jesus' ministry. But Jesus, when telling Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29) is including today's age in that statement. And the blessed believers who believe without sight are identified, by Christ, as those who have Thomas' level of belief after he stuck his hands in Jesus' wounds yet may live 2000 years removed from Jesus' physical presence. Jesus will identify His disciples by those who put Him as more important than anything else.

Much like the people within this passage, anyone can voice a claim that they are a disciple of Jesus. Knowing this, Jesus challenges His audience to begin to ask themselves if the evidence in their lives overwhelmingly identifies them as a disciple in God's court.

Considering the deep connection to their culture and history, it's likely that Jesus' audience, when hearing Jesus respond to requests of saying goodbye to loved one by associating plowing a field, would have remembered 1 Kings 19 - when Elijah called Elisha to follow him as a disciple. Elisha was plowing a field when called by Elijah. Elisha requested that he be able to say farewell to his family and Elijah granted that request. Elisha then slaughters his entire team of oxen while destroying all tools of his trade. Elisha is communicating to Elijah, at that moment, that he has made a distinct breakaway from his life and his past so that he may follow Elijah.

And while Elisha was allowed to say goodbye to his relatives, Jesus raises the bar by letting His audience know that someone greater than Elijah has come - the Messiah. And that higher greatness demands a higher loyalty.

As mentioned previously, this is no call to asceticism. There is no intention, by Jesus, for His disciples to follow Him into a ministry for have-nots - but to join a ministry of conquerors. Jesus says, in His lesson with the rich young ruler, that no one who has left everything behind will not receive many times more in this life and the age to come. Although this passage may sting the hearts of some, a disciple understands that they are unable to give up more than Jesus can give back. But also, the disciple is one who is ready to give up everything they hold dear for Jesus.

No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God. This passage isn't uniquely talking about the pleasure of sin, alone. But Jesus is asking His disciples to give up, if necessary, even good things that are wonderful, healthy, and perfectly well for man to appreciate and desire, should that choice come.

A disciple is identified as one who is willing to give up everything they treasure because they treasure Jesus above all else. The blessings God gives back, as a disciple, will be treasured above all. However, those things will also look very different than the things they treasured before regeneration. This concept is later confirmed by Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:16, when he says that believers are new creations. Outward relations toward Him, although important, profit nothing apart from regeneration.

What this means for the church, in terms of the great commission, is to trust in our Rabbi's method - to help someone, who may have claims of being a disciple, understand the depths of that phrase's meaning. And guide them to ask themselves, through self-reflection, if they've really decided to follow Jesus; if Jesus really is their treasure. If He is, they won't mind giving up any and everything that holds a lesser place in their hearts such as money, belongings, notoriety, success, or even close and intimate relationships. Not that some of these will no longer be appreciated, but they will pale in comparison to the disciple's treasure in Christ.

A true disciple is not a self-identified position. It is a divinely identified position. One in which its members are ready to give up everything to follow their King.