Moving Forward

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19 So he set out from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat, who was plowing. There were twelve yoke of oxen ahead of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle over him. 20 He left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, "Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you." Then Elijah said to him, "Go back again, for what have I done to you?" 21 He returned from following him, took the yoke of oxen, and slaughtered them; using the equipment from the oxen, he boiled their flesh and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out and followed Elijah and became his servant.

(1 Kings 19:19-21)

When Elijah, led by God, selected Eisha to be trained as his successor as a prophet for God's people, Elisha's initial response may have called his commitment and his fitness into question. By requesting to return home to bid his farewells to his family, Elisha could have been politely declining this new role. But, in fact, Elisha took that opportunity to truly sever his ties to his previous life. He burned his equipment and slaughtered his animals so that there would be nothing for him to return to - nothing holding him back from his calling.

In Luke 9, it may seem that Jesus takes this sentiment even further when some of those he called to follow him request a similar grace. But Jesus likely knew that in their hearts they were actually declining rather than simply requesting a (very reasonable sounding) delay. We know that Jesus respected and honored free will because when, in the preceding verses, Jesus was denied the opportunity to stay in a Samaritan village his disciples wanted to essentially kill the people of that village by calling down fire from heaven, but Jesus rebuked their impulse and simply moved on.

We are not forced to accept God's calling for our lives. Refusing to accept God's invitation may, in fact, save us some heartaches and headaches, but we may also be denying ourselves the gifts and graces God longs to share with us. However, making a commitment that we have no intention of honoring is a sin. God calls us to move beyond any ties to the past, to people, to anything that would keep us from giving our full selves to God. From Lot's wife, to Elisha, to Jesus' instruction, looking back with longing for a past God is calling us out of is a recipe for our destruction. We can honor all that made us and shaped us while guarding against worshiping, or making an idol of, our past. By God's grace, may we move forward more tightly bound to God, God's redemptive work, and those with whom we share in that work, than we are to anyone or anything that came before.

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58 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." 59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 60 And Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." 61 Another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home." 62 And Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:57-62)