Looking forward - and not looking back                     

Welcome to our Service. You can find the reading and reflection for the service, below: 

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53 but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 Then they went on to another village.

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 But 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 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

Some years ago, I lived for over 6 months on Kibbutz Yifta in northern Israel. A troubling time, as we all watched around us the preparation for Israel’s invasion of Southern Lebanon.

On this kibbutz, there were about 40 volunteers from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Europe, and South Africa.

One of the jobs I really enjoyed was getting up early and working in the cotton fields.

We took turns driving the tractor. On the front of the tractor was a boom, with four plastic seats attached at equal distances. A person would sit on each of these seats with a spray gun. As the tractor driver carefully navigated the furrows, the sprayers would target the weeds.

I had spent some years doing holiday jobs on farms driving tractors. Like most New Zealanders, Australians, and South Africans, tractors were more or less familiar to us. (Tractors, for those unfamiliar, have a fixed accelerator and independent brakes for each wheel.)

However, you can imagine how foreign this experience would be for a European city-dweller. Picture someone who had lived their whole life in a semi-detached house, in an urban European city-  where they had never seen a tractor up close and the nearest thing to a cotton field might be the small patch of grass outside their local Rovers Return.

It was common for some of these volunteers—Spaniards, French, or English— as a matter of national pride, to insist on taking a turn driving the tractor.

But rather than carefully following the furrows, they’d set the accelerator at too high a speed, touch one of the brakes and veer wildly out of control, crashing across rows. The volunteers seated at the front would cling on for dear life, screaming in multiple languages for the driver to stop.

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I’m not sure what kind of “tractor driver” I’ve been over the last ten years, but I’ve felt blessed to be here.

Jesus says, “No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

What happens when you look back while ploughing? The same thing as when the tractor goes out of control: you damage the crops, create chaos, and annoy everyone you work with. Most importantly, the job doesn’t get done.

Our Gospel story today is about choosing a course for our lives—looking forward, hands on the plough. It’s about focus, purpose, and deciding what’s most important.

Of course, this doesn’t mean there won’t be chaos. There will be mistakes, things will go wrong. We are all learning together. 

As we enter this next phase in our church’s life together,  I believe our vision is clear: supporting the people and providing the right tools, facilities, and resources to strengthen our Christian mission in service and welcome to our community. Reaching out, welcoming in. Being the church whose hospitality witnesses to the hospitality and grace shown to us by Jesus.

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The passage begins: “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”

Jesus’ journey begins with an understanding of its end. The crucifixion and resurrection loom ahead—a purpose, a direction, but not an easy path.

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Jesus says, “Follow me.”

One man replies, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Middle Eastern scholars explain that this is an idiom still in use today, meaning, “Let me fulfil my family obligations, care for my ageing parents, and then, after they’ve passed, I’ll follow you.”

But Jesus responds: “Let the dead bury their own dead; as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Another man says, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me say farewell to my family.”

The issue here isn’t between good and evil. It’s not about choosing Jesus over something bad. Instead, it’s about prioritising Jesus above even the best of human values—family, duty, and cultural obligations.

This is the radical challenge of discipleship.

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I’ve mentioned before the indulgence of Googling your own name. It is called ego-surfing.  If you search my name, you’ll find thousands of hits—because “Martin-Baker Corporation” is the world leader in the manufacture of ejector seats.

I don’t think that is why my parents gave me my name, I don’t think anyone has called their son Martin for at least the last few decades. 

A friend in the Air Force once told me that “pulling the Martin Baker” means your plane is in trouble, it's about to explode and it’s time to eject.

On Tuesday, I am ejecting. Not because the plane or the tractor, is about to crash. I still believe in the calling to ministry that God set in my heart as a teenager. After 10 very happy years here I think this change is the right thing for me and for our church here. 

There will be debris from our building plans. But through the debris, a tractor will come.

Talking to Rory this week I know that he is very keen to be driving the tractor, but I also know it is on his heart to encourage and enable others to have a turn. To share the role of ministry. We are all in this together, driving or on the boom out the front.  I trust this community will do a good job.

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We can't get away from it. 

Jesus says, “Follow me.”

Together, we’ll invite others to join us in this work, as fellow pilgrims on the path of life—a path that places things in perspective, to always reflect on what is most important, through life, death and life beyond death. We are not alone. God is always with us.

Amen.