Plough on
Proper 8C
1 Kings 19.15-16, 19-21; Luke 9.51-62
No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 9.62b
The children were falling about in giggles. Every time Zoot the
juggler failed in whatever he was trying to do, they roared with laughter. He was performing late at night, only by the light of a street lamp.
He’d try and try again to get on that unicycle, he’d try and try again to
climb an unsupported ladder, or throw flaming torches.
His ineptitude stoked the children’s delight. But one trick he attempted only twice, and then hurriedly moved on to
another. No buffoonery that turned into a spectacular feat - just a quick passing on, in the hope that not too many
of his audience had really noticed. Why I wondered?
Years ago, I was lucky enough to have a little circus training, and on thinking about it I’m certain I know
why. You can’t juggle black balls in the dark -for the secret is not looking at what you’re doing, but keeping
your gazed fixed on the furthest bit of the equipment or the ultimate place you’re aiming for. Without that
forward looking there’s no way you can do the trick - if you can’t see the highest ball because it’s black against a black sky there’s no way you’ll catch it. If the plougher looks intently on, the furrow will be straight!
Keep your eyes fixed on the ultimate goal and you will get there.The old words used for generations in the traditional January Plough Service gets the tone just right:
God speed the plough: the plough and the plougman,
the farm and the farmer,
machine, and beast, and man.
God speed the plough:
the beam and the mouldboard,
the slade and the sidecap,
the share and the coulters.
A sense of achievement, a harnessing of skill, activity with purpose and direction about it, is simply a delight.
But there is another side to the issue - of course, achievement and completion and just reward don’t always
follow a job well done, so the Plough Service words also say:
God speed the plough: in fair weather and foul,
in success and disappointment,
in rain and wind, or in frost and sunshine.
There’s much to harm and hurt, and justice isn’t always done, and people don’t always receive a fair reward for
their labours, and skill isn’t always appreciated, and effort is ignored, and a lifetime’s work can go as if for nothing.
There a lot of spite, a lot of aggro, a lot of hostility and ill-will in our world.
We can all understand the disciples wanting to rain fire from heaven on the Samaritans who would have nothing to do
with Jesus because he was from a people whose ideas about worship were very different from theirs. Jesus, like all the Jews, thought Zion in Jerusalem THE holy place to worship God; the Samaritans wouldn’t have that – Mount Gerizim,
that’s the holiest place. Can seem a petty argument in a secular age like ours. But if we translate the conflict into more familiar terms – people who hold to opinions, outlooks, perceptions and principles that we find difficult, strange
or plain stupid – then the attitude of the disciples’ becomes all too plain. There are people on whom I’d like to call down thunder and lightning. I won’t admit it too often, but if I’m honest ... I’m annoyed, frightened, challenged, vexed ... and I think, ... well, why not?
Be clear, the ‘Why not?’ is Jesus, who, we are told, ‘rebuked’ them for the thought. The Jesus people, if they really are Jesus people, don’t do that kind of thing. It’s a waste of time, effort, and anger! Keep your eyes on the prize, not on your petty worries and vexations. Set your faces toward Jerusalem. Keep your hand on that plough; hold on. Hold on.
It seems that many who encountered Jesus thought about him through the stories they knew about the ancient prophet
Elijah. Could it be that Elijah, as it were, was active amongst God’s people again? Calling down holy fire on the enemies of God? Luke is saying in this story, once and for all, that Jesus is not Elijah. That surely makes sense of the last verse (Luke 9.62) in today’s gospel: ‘Jesus said, “No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”’ When Elisha took his hands off the plough and asked to have a farewell party with his family before following Elijah (1 Kings 19.20), Elijah said, ‘Yes, go and do it.’ But that’s not the way with Jesus. No time to bury your dead father. No time to concern yourself with good-byes. No time to worry about ther way things used to be. Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem, and so must those who would follow him. Keep your hand on that plough, and hold on.
The later prophet Malachi (4.23) also made reference to Elijah and said, ‘I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will reconcile parents o their children, and children with their parents.’ Whereas we hear Jesus (Luke 12.53) talking of dividing fathers against sons, mothers against daughters, and mother-in-laws against daughter-in-laws. We hear Jesus saying there is no time for family concerns that we usually assume to be unassailable. Jesus’ words knock our accepted and acceptable outlooks. The urgency of proclaiming the kingdom of God means a radical break with tradition and familiar institutions. Set your faces toward Jerusalem, and keep your hand on that plough, and hold on. Hold on.
Jesus is presenting wholly new strategies for dealing with rejection: keep focused on Jerusalem, keep focused on the good news of the kingdom of God. This singular focus may seem alien and strange at first sight, but it offers an alternative that changes things for the better, forever. This single-mindedness lets you plough a furrow straight into the heart and mind and love of God. That straight furrow has no space for displays of power – the calling down of fire – and no space for age-old quarrels – worship on this mountain or that – its one direction is the love of God, marked – ploughed – through our whole world. Keep your hand on that plough.
Elijah in his day had called the people to a recommitment to the one true God. Jesus also calls to a similar ecommitment. The aims were very similar – the liberation that the grace of God provides – but the methods of the two were very different. Jesus is not Elijah; his ways are altogether other than the disputative and sometimes violent ways of Elijah. Disputes about the relative holiness of particular mountains are besides the point in the Jesus way of doing things. His power is quite other than the usual power humans fall prey to. The single-mindedness that ploughs nothing but
the furrow of Godly love is Jesus’ only way.
We argue about the boundaries of our responsibilities towards one another. We like to indentify ourselves as belonging and others as just that – ‘others.’ We measure who is worthy of our compassion and care, and who is not. The enemy is all too often another person, or another group with whom we feel no sympathy. We are so clear about who is a neighbour and who is not – metaphorically and literally.
And to all that Jesus says, ‘Phewy!’ ‘Samaritans are your neighbours, and you’d better believe it. There is only one furrow worth ploughing – it’s straight and true and deep and long – and it turns the turf of your hostilities and antagonisms. There is no ‘them.’ Whether you like it or not Samaritans are your neighbours. Later I’m going to tell you a story that will make plain that sometimes it’s only Samaritans that seem to know what I’m about and who do the things that I would do. ‘Good
Samaritan’isn’t the oxymoron you think it is. Samaritans are sometimes the only people to follow my way – the very people you want to reduce to heavenly barbeque ash!’
As the old spiritual says,
Keep on plowing, don’t you tire,
Every round goes higher an’ higher,
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on.
Hold on, hold on,
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on.
I heard th’voice of Jesus say,
Come to me, I am the Way
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on.
Got my hands on the gospel plow,
Wouldn’t take nutin’ for my journey now,
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on.
Keep your hand on that plough. Follow the furrow, straight and true, that leads to God. Don’t be put off. Don’t be diverted. Don’t look back. Keep looking forward – let the hurts, the rejections, the misunderstandings of yesterday be just that: the things of yesterday. Set your face to your home with God and you’ll be surprised – even delighted – to see those on left and right who follow the parallel furrows. The controversies and antagonisms that had such a powerful pull on our lives come to be seen for what they are: diversions to be avoided. Plough on – God waits for you. Look intently to that goal – plough on.
Acknowledgement: with thanks to Kirk Alan Kubicek for some of the ideas and connections utilized in this script.
Luke 9.62b
The children were falling about in giggles. Every time Zoot the
juggler failed in whatever he was trying to do, they roared with laughter. He was performing late at night, only by the light of a street lamp.
He’d try and try again to get on that unicycle, he’d try and try again to
climb an unsupported ladder, or throw flaming torches.
His ineptitude stoked the children’s delight. But one trick he attempted only twice, and then hurriedly moved on to
another. No buffoonery that turned into a spectacular feat - just a quick passing on, in the hope that not too many
of his audience had really noticed. Why I wondered?
Years ago, I was lucky enough to have a little circus training, and on thinking about it I’m certain I know
why. You can’t juggle black balls in the dark -for the secret is not looking at what you’re doing, but keeping
your gazed fixed on the furthest bit of the equipment or the ultimate place you’re aiming for. Without that
forward looking there’s no way you can do the trick - if you can’t see the highest ball because it’s black against a black sky there’s no way you’ll catch it. If the plougher looks intently on, the furrow will be straight!
Keep your eyes fixed on the ultimate goal and you will get there.The old words used for generations in the traditional January Plough Service gets the tone just right:
God speed the plough: the plough and the plougman,
the farm and the farmer,
machine, and beast, and man.
God speed the plough:
the beam and the mouldboard,
the slade and the sidecap,
the share and the coulters.
A sense of achievement, a harnessing of skill, activity with purpose and direction about it, is simply a delight.
But there is another side to the issue - of course, achievement and completion and just reward don’t always
follow a job well done, so the Plough Service words also say:
God speed the plough: in fair weather and foul,
in success and disappointment,
in rain and wind, or in frost and sunshine.
There’s much to harm and hurt, and justice isn’t always done, and people don’t always receive a fair reward for
their labours, and skill isn’t always appreciated, and effort is ignored, and a lifetime’s work can go as if for nothing.
There a lot of spite, a lot of aggro, a lot of hostility and ill-will in our world.
We can all understand the disciples wanting to rain fire from heaven on the Samaritans who would have nothing to do
with Jesus because he was from a people whose ideas about worship were very different from theirs. Jesus, like all the Jews, thought Zion in Jerusalem THE holy place to worship God; the Samaritans wouldn’t have that – Mount Gerizim,
that’s the holiest place. Can seem a petty argument in a secular age like ours. But if we translate the conflict into more familiar terms – people who hold to opinions, outlooks, perceptions and principles that we find difficult, strange
or plain stupid – then the attitude of the disciples’ becomes all too plain. There are people on whom I’d like to call down thunder and lightning. I won’t admit it too often, but if I’m honest ... I’m annoyed, frightened, challenged, vexed ... and I think, ... well, why not?
Be clear, the ‘Why not?’ is Jesus, who, we are told, ‘rebuked’ them for the thought. The Jesus people, if they really are Jesus people, don’t do that kind of thing. It’s a waste of time, effort, and anger! Keep your eyes on the prize, not on your petty worries and vexations. Set your faces toward Jerusalem. Keep your hand on that plough; hold on. Hold on.
It seems that many who encountered Jesus thought about him through the stories they knew about the ancient prophet
Elijah. Could it be that Elijah, as it were, was active amongst God’s people again? Calling down holy fire on the enemies of God? Luke is saying in this story, once and for all, that Jesus is not Elijah. That surely makes sense of the last verse (Luke 9.62) in today’s gospel: ‘Jesus said, “No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”’ When Elisha took his hands off the plough and asked to have a farewell party with his family before following Elijah (1 Kings 19.20), Elijah said, ‘Yes, go and do it.’ But that’s not the way with Jesus. No time to bury your dead father. No time to concern yourself with good-byes. No time to worry about ther way things used to be. Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem, and so must those who would follow him. Keep your hand on that plough, and hold on.
The later prophet Malachi (4.23) also made reference to Elijah and said, ‘I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will reconcile parents o their children, and children with their parents.’ Whereas we hear Jesus (Luke 12.53) talking of dividing fathers against sons, mothers against daughters, and mother-in-laws against daughter-in-laws. We hear Jesus saying there is no time for family concerns that we usually assume to be unassailable. Jesus’ words knock our accepted and acceptable outlooks. The urgency of proclaiming the kingdom of God means a radical break with tradition and familiar institutions. Set your faces toward Jerusalem, and keep your hand on that plough, and hold on. Hold on.
Jesus is presenting wholly new strategies for dealing with rejection: keep focused on Jerusalem, keep focused on the good news of the kingdom of God. This singular focus may seem alien and strange at first sight, but it offers an alternative that changes things for the better, forever. This single-mindedness lets you plough a furrow straight into the heart and mind and love of God. That straight furrow has no space for displays of power – the calling down of fire – and no space for age-old quarrels – worship on this mountain or that – its one direction is the love of God, marked – ploughed – through our whole world. Keep your hand on that plough.
Elijah in his day had called the people to a recommitment to the one true God. Jesus also calls to a similar ecommitment. The aims were very similar – the liberation that the grace of God provides – but the methods of the two were very different. Jesus is not Elijah; his ways are altogether other than the disputative and sometimes violent ways of Elijah. Disputes about the relative holiness of particular mountains are besides the point in the Jesus way of doing things. His power is quite other than the usual power humans fall prey to. The single-mindedness that ploughs nothing but
the furrow of Godly love is Jesus’ only way.
We argue about the boundaries of our responsibilities towards one another. We like to indentify ourselves as belonging and others as just that – ‘others.’ We measure who is worthy of our compassion and care, and who is not. The enemy is all too often another person, or another group with whom we feel no sympathy. We are so clear about who is a neighbour and who is not – metaphorically and literally.
And to all that Jesus says, ‘Phewy!’ ‘Samaritans are your neighbours, and you’d better believe it. There is only one furrow worth ploughing – it’s straight and true and deep and long – and it turns the turf of your hostilities and antagonisms. There is no ‘them.’ Whether you like it or not Samaritans are your neighbours. Later I’m going to tell you a story that will make plain that sometimes it’s only Samaritans that seem to know what I’m about and who do the things that I would do. ‘Good
Samaritan’isn’t the oxymoron you think it is. Samaritans are sometimes the only people to follow my way – the very people you want to reduce to heavenly barbeque ash!’
As the old spiritual says,
Keep on plowing, don’t you tire,
Every round goes higher an’ higher,
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on.
Hold on, hold on,
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on.
I heard th’voice of Jesus say,
Come to me, I am the Way
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on.
Got my hands on the gospel plow,
Wouldn’t take nutin’ for my journey now,
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on.
Keep your hand on that plough. Follow the furrow, straight and true, that leads to God. Don’t be put off. Don’t be diverted. Don’t look back. Keep looking forward – let the hurts, the rejections, the misunderstandings of yesterday be just that: the things of yesterday. Set your face to your home with God and you’ll be surprised – even delighted – to see those on left and right who follow the parallel furrows. The controversies and antagonisms that had such a powerful pull on our lives come to be seen for what they are: diversions to be avoided. Plough on – God waits for you. Look intently to that goal – plough on.
Acknowledgement: with thanks to Kirk Alan Kubicek for some of the ideas and connections utilized in this script.
