Luke 9:51-62 Study Guide

Choosing Self: The Challenge of Surrender

An Orderly Account:

Encountering Jesus in the Gospel of Luke

Luke 9:51-62

The Text

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem…

Introduction:

In this passage, Jesus does not speak like a man trying to grow a crowd. This isn’t the way we expect preachers to talk. People are coming to Jesus saying, “I want to join up.” And Jesus says, “No you don’t. Get back. Walk away.”

This is not the way to make a sales presentation. Talk about how good your product is, how much it will improve their life, and remove all the barriers to purchase. Not Jesus. He says, “You don’t want what I’m selling.”

Why would he do that? Why the harsh words to those who are interested? It’s because the people in this passage do not know what they are asking. They think Jesus might be a helpful addition to their life. They want to follow him so long as it’s convenient, and Jesus will have none of that.

This passage teaches us that Jesus can’t be sampled. You can’t try before you buy. He says, “You either take me as King over all you life, or you can’t have me at all.”

Let’s see what this passage teaches us about following Jesus. First, we learn the difficulty of following Jesus. Second, the reason it’s difficult, and finally, the reason it’s easy.

1. The Difficulty of Following Jesus

This passage shows the difficulty of following Jesus in at least 5 ways. Let me give them to you and then briefly hit each one. Following Jesus must be: exclusive, patient, costly, absolute, and immediate.

Exclusive

Verse 52, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and chooses to go through Samaria. The Samaritans were a group of Jews who had basically invented their own religion. They believed their mountain (Gerazim) was more important than the mountain God chose in Jerusalem. They accepted Moses, but had rejected all God’s other prophets. And notice, in verse 53, the Samaritans “did not receive [Jesus] because his face was set toward Jerusalem.”

And for that reason, Jesus passes them by. He doesn’t stay. He doesn’t perform miracles. Essentially, Jesus is saying, you don’t get to invent your own religion. You don’t get to treat me anyway you want. I’m the way to God. I’m the Son of God. And if you don’t want me as I have revealed myself, then you don’t want me at all.

They wanted a man-made rather than a God-revealed religion and Jesus left them.

You may not like this, but there is only one way to follow Jesus—and it’s to accept him as he has revealed himself in his Word. The way to God is through Jesus Christ. It’s utterly exclusive. He doesn’t negotiate. That’s difficult.

Patient

After the Samaritans reject Christ, Luke tells us in verse 54:

“… when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them.”

It’s a fascinating scene, because the Samaritan’s reject Christ… and what happens when you reject Christ? You go to hell. Fire consumes you. So, what are the disciples saying? “Lord, give us permission to bring down divine justice.”

But Jesus rebukes the disciples. He reprimands them, and here’s why. The disciples rightly understood that the Samaritan’s deserved judgment—but they were absolutely wrong in their timing and spirit. They forgot that God is as equally and infinitely merciful as he is just.

They misunderstood that Jesus did not come first to condemn sinners, but to be condemned for them. His first coming was not to bring down divine justice, but to bear divine justice.

Jesus is far more patient with sinners than most of his followers. And to follow Jesus means being patient with those who reject him; far more patient than we’re inclined to be.

Jesus is slower to condemn and quicker to save than any of us, therefore following him means becoming painfully patient with those we’re tempted to write off. That’s difficult.

Costly

Verse 57, a man says, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus essentially says, “Have you counted the cost? I’ve no place to call my home. I don’t even have a pillow to put beneath my head.”

Friend, following Jesus will be costly. It may cost you career. It may cost your ease and comfort. Look what obedience cost Jesus: he left heaven for earth, he humbled himself. He may call you to wash the feet of those who betray you.

This first man doesn’t understand the hardness of following Jesus. He thinks he only stands to gain—not lose. He sees the kingdom as a way to build his resume.

But following Jesus is costly. No pillow. No guarantees.

Absolute

Verse 59:

⁵⁹ To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead…”

Refusing to attend your father’s funeral would be bad enough today, but in a first century Jewish context, nothing came before honoring your parents. And, in a patriarchal society, dishonoring your father would have been the most odious social infraction possible.

And, therefore, Jesus is saying to this man: you don’t understand how great I am. The first man didn’t understand the hardness of following Jesus. This man doesn’t understand the greatness.

Jesus is so great, that in comparison, his love for his own parents should look like hatred.

In other words, the greatness of Jesus commands absolute and total allegiance; the kind of loyalty and obedience that gets you kicked out of the family; run out of town.

When Jesus calls you to follow him, you say even to your parents: “I love you. I honor you. But there is someone even greater than you that I must follow even if it disappoints you.”

Immediate

The last man Jesus speaks with says, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”

There’s irony here. He calls Jesus Lord, then he begins to dictate the terms of his servitude to the Lord. He wants to set his affairs in order. And Jesus has harsh words for him: if you do not follow me immediately, you can’t follow at all.

My dad used to say to me (and, parents, this is a wonderful phrase for you to use with your own children), “Delayed obedience is disobedience.” Here’s what my dad was teaching me: obedience goes far deeper than doing what you’re told. That’s surface level obedience.

When you’re asked to do something and you delay in doing it, what you’re really saying is, “There’s something I’m more committed to right now. There’s something I love and serve more than you.”

In other words, whatever you’re most committed to, whatever it is that you obey instantly, with zero hesitation or second thought, that’s you’re real lord.”

And Jesus says, “That’s got to be me. When I give a command, you have to obey immediately. If you turn around and look back, you aren’t ready to follow me.”

Delayed obedience isn’t partial obedience. It’s disobedience. Whatever you obey instantly—that’s your real lord.

Do you see how difficult it is to follow him? Exclusive, patient, costly, absolute, and immediate obedience.

Why is he making it so difficult?

2. The Reason it’s Difficult

Twice in the passage Jesus says, “When you choose to follow me, you’re entering a kingdom.”

Verse 60:

And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Verse 62:

⁶² Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Jesus says following him is not merely ethical improvement. It’s not becoming a better version of the current you. Christianity is not learning doctrine. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger.

When he says you must enter the kingdom here’s what he’s saying: you have to cross a border.

It’s 697 miles from this hillside to the Canadian border. And it doesn’t matter if you drive 200, 300, 500 miles… you can travel 696.9 miles but until you take that final step, you’re not in the kingdom of Canada yet. There aren’t degrees of being in the kingdom. You’re either in or you aren’t.

And you don’t get in by improvement. You don’t get in by learning. You don’t get in by trying hard. God has to make you a citizen. He has to welcome you into his kingdom. And he does that by presenting his Son to you, and calling you to pledge fealty to him.

Colossians 1:13 says God “has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Before you come to Christ, you are your own king. You live according to your own laws and dictates. And you’re in the domain of darkness. And when you come to Christ, you aren’t just improving, or learning, God is transferring your citizenship from this world to his kingdom. And you are forsaking yourself as king and pledging fealty to God’s Son as your new king.

In the Lord of the Rings, the little Hobbit Pippin kneels before the Lord of Gondor and takes an oath:

“Here do I swear fealty and service to Gondor, and to the Lord and Steward of the realm, to speak and to be silent, to do and to let be, to come and to go, in need or plenty, in peace or war, in living or dying, from this hour henceforth, until my lord release me, or death take me, or the world end.”

And Jesus says to become a Christian is to enter his kingdom; it is to make that oath to him.

Many people come to church and say, “I want to know the way to live. I want to know the truth. I want a better life.”

Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, the life.” (John 14:6)

Jesus says, you need me as your king; your ruler! You’ve got a cross the border into my country and I have to take ownership of your life.

Why is it difficult to follow Jesus?

1. Because being a Christian isn’t just improvement—it’s a total transfer of allegiance. That’s why it’s exclusive and absolute and immediate. Because “No, my Lord,” is a contradiction in terms.

Friend, very humbly, if you call yourself a Christian, but continually ignore and disregard the clear commands of the King, then maybe you aren’t actually a citizen of the kingdom. Maybe you haven’t been transferred from the domain of darkness.

2. Because you can’t get in this kingdom unless the brings you into it. Remember Colossians 1: God transfers us into the kingdom. None of us apply for membership on our own volition.

Romans 3 says, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks after God.”

Listen—some people search for a God who will serve them; who will fulfill them, or answer their prayers, or grant their desires. But no one looks for the God of the Bible.

The reason we are not born as citizens of his kingdom is because we are born as rebels on the run—and God ran you down.

Some of you who are Christians, you can’t really say why you are. It’s not like you were looking for God, you were seeking him out, you were banging on the door. Some of you picked up a Bible and began to read. Some of you decided to attend a church service. Some of you, God moved a Christian neighbor in next door.

That’s why it’s difficult! You’re not just trying to improve yourself—you’ve crossed a border into a kingdom and you now have a king.

3. The Reason it’s Easy

Yes, following Jesus is difficult. But in another sense, it’s the easiest thing in the world. I really mean that. For three reasons.

First, he has already obeyed God in your place.

Verse 51:

⁵¹ When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

Luke shows us that Jesus knew the time was approaching for him to fulfill God’s plan. The Father sent his Son to heal, to preach, but most importantly—to die.

The Father required absolute and immediate obedience from Jesus Christ, and he gave it. Costly, exclusive, perfect obedience.

You see, it’s not just that we’ve done bad things that needs forgiveness, and therefore Jesus died. It’s also that we ought to have given God a life of perfect satisfaction. We ought to have obeyed him entirely. And Jesus did.

While we run from the commands of God—Jesus set his face and marched straight to it. He gave the absolute, costly, immediate obedience we never could.

Second, he’s the only King who will die for you.

Typically, it’s the subjects who die for the king. While he sits in the throne room, the subjects do his bidding and die for him. But Christ the King dies for his subjects. He serves and sacrifices. Other kings extract payment, but King Jesus gives himself completely.

Some of you right now are serving kings who expect you to die for them—but they would never die for you.

Before Jesus ever asks you to die for him, he first dies for you. God showed his love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Third, when you enter his kingdom, his power enters you.

The same Colossians 1 that says you are transferred into the kingdom also says you are “strengthened with all power according to his glorious might.” (Col. 1:11)

Here’s what that means: before Christ, whenever you tried obeying God’s commands—it was like trying to push a dead car up Pike’s peak. But when you are in Christ, God drops a new motor in the car.

Before you came to Christ, it was like singing into a dead microphone. But now that you have been transferred into his kingdom, God has turned on the amplifier.

A Christian is no longer trying to live for God on their own. Christ dwells within them by his Spirit, animating and mobilizing their life. You begin to love what you used to hate and hate what you used to love. That’s not self-improvement. That’s the kingdom power of God coming into you, transforming you.

So, what does that mean for you today?

Examine Your Allegiance. Have you crossed the border, or are you still serving an old king?

Repent of Delayed Obedience. Where have you been saying. “I will follow you… but first…”?

Surrender to the King Who Died for You. You can’t earn what he purchased. Look to the cross—and believe.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small.

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.