• Putting a Hand to the Plow  Luke 9:51-62, by Rev. Randy Quinn

   (see below)
 

• FORWARD!  Luke 9:51-62, by Rev. Rick Thompson
   

• No Turning Back,  Luke 9:57-62, by Rev. Randy L Quinn
   

• Coachable Moments, 2 Kings 2:1-14, Thomas Hall
   

• An Easy Choice?  Luke 9:51-62, Thomas Hall
   

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Putting a Hand to the Plow
based on Luke 9:51-62
by Rev. Randy Quinn

I don't know about you, but it is hard for me to read that last line without thinking about the story of Lot and his wife. You remember them, don't you? Lot and his wife were all but begged to leave Sodom before the city was destroyed by God. They continued to drag their feet when the angel of God finally took them by the hand and led them out of the city. On their way out of town, the angel warns them not to turn back.

No reason is given, no punishment is named. And when Lot's wife turns back, she turns into a pillar of salt. The common explanation is that she looked back with a longing to be there and it was her attitude that was punished.

"Don't Look Back!" seems to be the message in our gospel lesson, too. Like Lot's wife, we are warned that once we start to follow Christ we can never turn back.

There are some times and places when I know that it is wisest not to look. Often times we get the wrong ideas or seeds are planted in our minds that are difficult to keep from growing. And while I know there are things I wish I had never seen, for the most part, I am too curious to not look around. And I have a hard time not looking back, too. Maybe you do, too.

Have you ever found yourself in a conversation talking about the way things used to be? How often have we heard someone recount the story of how they got here or there? Do you ever find yourself wondering what life would be like if you had made a different decision?

Then there are the times I am in prayer and I give God thanks for the way I have been directed in the past, the way God has worked in my life and in the life of others over the course of time. Can this be all bad? God's warning in the story of Lot's wife, is that God is a God of all time and all places. We cannot afford to look back or we will deny the power of God in the present and in the future.

Is this passage really telling me —— and you —— to not look back? Is it really suggesting that we can never cherish our times together? Is it really suggesting that l get on with my life and you get on with yours and to end all communications with one another.

If this passage in Luke is about Lot's wife, l think so. But I am grateful this morning that we also read the story about Elijah and Elisha. Reading these two passages side—by side this week helped me realize that Jesus is not talking in the terms that God used with Lot but is referring to the image of Elisha.

When Jesus warns us that no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God, he is recalling the image of Elisha, not the image of Lot's wife. Elijah was a well-known person in his day. Out of the blue, he came up to Elisha and summoned him with symbolic actions. He went out of his way, into the field where Elisha was working and put his mantle on Elisha's shoulders.

Elisha's response is remarkable. If Elijah were to come to you in the field while you were running

the combine this summer, I suspect that you would at least finish the field, or perhaps empty the load in the bin first. If you were to respond as [continue]