Bible Study series: Luke 9:57-62. Jesus was firmly resolved to go to Jerusalem and complete his mission. Do you want to join him? It’s all in or move on.
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
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Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 9:57-62
57 And as they were traveling on the road, someone said to him, “I shall follow you wherever you go!” 58 But Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man does not have any place to lay his head.” 59 He said to someone else, “Follow me!” But he said, “Lord, permit me to go away first and bury my father.” 60 But he said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead. As you depart, announce the kingdom of God.”
61 Someone else said to him, “I will follow you, Lord. But first permit me to say goodbye to those in my household.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks behind him is usable for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62)
Comments:
Let’s introduce the entire pericope or section of Luke’s Gospel. Jesus already issued the call of radical discipleship (vv. 23-27). We have to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily, and follow him.
Jesus often said startling things to get the point across. But he also meant them.
Now Jesus was on the long and winding road, moving through villages up north, on his way, eventually, to Jerusalem. He knew he was about to die. He had talked over his departure or exodus (= death) from this present life with Moses and Elijah. He had a deep urgency. This was a serious time. No messing around. The two persons who claimed they would follow Jesus and the one whom he called had to be ready and fit and usable. These important episodes in these people’s lives have been condensed for the purpose of teachings a main message: the radical call to discipleship.
It is important to realize that Jesus never categorically rejected each one. Rather, he simply threw down the gauntlet and challenged them. Would they take up the challenge?
Now let’s look at a possible OT background. In 1 Kings 19:16-21, as Elijah departed from Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God, where he was hiding, the Lord spoke to him to anoint Elisha to succeed him. Traveling down the road, he found Elisha, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, indicating his wealth. Elijah walked by him and put his cloak (or mantle) on him. Elisha left his oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother and I will follow you” (v. 20, ESV). Elijah gave him permission to go back. He returned and slaughtered the twelve yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and gave it to the people, who ate it. Then he followed Elijah.
In this case, Elijah permitted Elisha to return and give up everything, represented by the twelve oxen. In contrast, Jesus’s call was more radical because he was ushering in the kingdom of God. Elijah cannot say that about his ministry. He was special, true, for he appeared with Moses on the mount of Transfiguration (vv. 28-36, above), but he was part of a long line of many prophets circulating around Israel. He was not ushering a new way to approach God through a new covenant. He was part of the old way. Now the call to discipleship—following Jesus—was to get radical.
57-58:
Jesus was walking down the road, and a man called out to him that he would volunteer to follow him, no matter where the Lord went. Really? Maybe he was speaking out of his enthusiasm, not a sense of true calling. Recall the Parable of the Sower (or Soils) (Luke 8:4-15). Some people were so hardened that the devil stole the seed (word of God). Others had rocky hearts, so they received the word with joy, but had no roots, so during time of testing, they dried up. Then a third group got the word in their hearts and grew some fruit, but the anxieties and riches and pleasure of life choked out the growth, so they gave up.
It seems this man who called out to Jesus could have become like the second soil. He was enthusiastic, but he may not have sunk down any roots. Jesus said that he was itinerant (though he used to have a home base in Capernaum [Mark 2:1]). He used the metaphors of the foxes’ dens and birds’ nests to illustrate that he was on the road. They had homes; he does not as he was now on his way to Jerusalem. It is both sad and inspiring that he would never return home as the man that he was right now (though he went to Galilee after his resurrection [Mark 14:28]). He left everything for the express purpose of dying. Jesus challenged him that following him wherever he went would come with an extreme cost. Is the man ready to sleep out in the open air and go with him to Jerusalem? The man did not know what was going to happen there.
“Son of Man”: see v. 22 for more comments.
4. Titles of Jesus: The Son of Man
59–60:
Then Jesus called a man with a simple command. “Follow me.” The man asked permission to depart and first bury his father. That seems like a reasonable request. But something deeper is going on.
We have a word play in Greek. The man says he intends to “go away” (the verb is aperchomai and pronounced ah-pair-kho-my) first and bury his father. And Jesus replied that the man should let the dead bury their own dead. And he added, “As you go (away) (aperchomai), proclaim the kingdom of God.” So why the word play? Difficult to say, but apparently, the man wanted to do more than just bury his father; he wanted to depart or leave or go away from following Jesus for a period of time. Jewish law said that if a man touches a corpse, then he is unclean for seven days and then he became pure again (Num. 19:11-12). Apparently, Jesus knew that if the man went away or departed from following him, in order to go back and bury his father, then he might never return. The call on the kingdom is paramount. Jesus said he had come to divide family members against family member (Luke 12:49-53).
Bottom line on the word play: here’s how it could be translated expansively, in a paraphrase: “Lord, allow me to first depart for at least seven days so that I can bury my father.” He said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But you—when you depart on my mission—proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Further, did the father just die? That may not be exactly right. Another reading of the situation says that the old father may not have been at death’s door. He may have had many years left before he died. Then the delay to follow Jesus would be indefinite.
On the other hand, if we take the man’s situation in life literally, namely, that his father had just died, and the man had to go back and bury him, then this call to discipleship really is radical—very, very radical. But I believe Jesus saw a deficiency in the man that turned his father into an idol, and he needed to break with him. I believe that Jesus recognized that if the man went away even for seven days to wait until he was clean again, he would never come back.
Liefeld and Pao write that in first-century Palestine, secondary burial was commonly practiced. A man’s father died and was buried in a cave. Then a year later the son collected the bones and placed them with those of his ancestors. So waiting for a full year was too long to be a disciple of Jesus (comment on vv. 59-60).
In any case, this first-century situation, grounded in ancient Israel’s culture, may not apply to you. You may already be a follower of Jesus, and your father or someone else died recently. You should go to his funeral and memorial service. In your life situation, it is not either-or, cut-and-dry about attending a modern funeral or not, because you already decided to follow Jesus. In contrast, this man in vv. 59-60 was not yet ready to follow him.
“the dead bury their own dead”: this means that the spiritually dead should bury their physical dead. Who is spiritually dead? The ones who show no interest in the kingdom or in following Jesus.
“kingdom of God”; see v. 2 for more comments.
61–62:
Finally, the third man wanted to go back and say goodbye to his family. I see something deeper at work in this man’s story, and I believe the act of “saying goodbye” involves more than just popping his head in the door and saying, “See y’all later! Bye!” I say he wanted to spend time to put his house in order and then say goodbye, like Elisha did.
Saying farewell or goodbye may also involve packing things up and getting ready for a road trip. The man may have wanted to get his camping gear ready (so to speak). These kinds of delays are unacceptable. Recall that Jesus was on the road to Jerusalem to die, so the call to discipleship was super-intense at this time.
Further, saying goodbye in Jewish culture may have included an explanation and a long discussion with threats. “Why are you leaving, son?” “To follow Jesus!” Oh no, you don’t! If you do, I’ll disown you! You are out of this family!” As noted, Jesus is about to announce that he has come to possibly divide the Jewish family (Luke 12:49-53). It costs a high price to follow him in that culture.
But you can keep things simpler and conclude that the verb merely means “to say goodbye.”
How did Jesus respond to the man’s requirement, even his demand? Elisha slaughtered his oxen, which was a life-altering sacrifice. It depleted his wealth. His old life was over and done. Was the man on the road who saw Jesus pass by willing to go beyond what Elisha did? Was he ready immediately to abandon idolizing of his family and follow Jesus? Was he willing to leave everything behind, even his wealth and family? Even if it meant persecution and rejection?
“usable: the man who volunteered to follow Jesus must be ready and have his act together to follow him at this stage in Jesus’s ministry, because (as noted) he was on his way to Jerusalem, to die.
No, you do not have to clean yourself up first to be saved, but to follow Jesus on this level, the Spirit must come in and help you get your life in order. He will remove the bad and put in the fitness. Life in Christ is a marathon. You would be foolish to run it without getting in shape in the new believer’s class. Are you ready to go deeper?
The plowing metaphor “refers to plowing with the eyes ahead so that one plows in a straight furrow. This is especially necessary in Palestine, where a backward look might easily knock one off course in the rocky soil. While one hand guides the plow and the other goads the oxen, the eyes should look ahead to where the farmer is directing the plow” (Bock, p. 983).
“kingdom of God”: see v. 2 for further comments.
I like this comment: “Following him is not a task which is added to others like working a second job … It is everything. It is a solemn commitment which forces the disciple-to-be to reorder all their other duties” … “Jesus gives a call to these three men. The new era he brings and he represents demands total commitment” (Bock, citing Karris in the first quotation, p. 984).
GrowApp for Luke 9:57-62
A.. The main point to this section of Scripture is radical discipleship. What have you given up to follow Jesus?
B.. Have you hesitated to follow Jesus because your family would not approve? How did you overcome your hesitation?
C.. Jesus said you must be “usable” (“fit”) to follow him. To run a marathon, you must be in shape. How do you get in shape or get ready to follow Jesus over a lifetime?
RELATED
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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