Eyes on the Prize

I am a huge football fan, which is ironic because I love the Detroit Lions who have not won anything in my entire lifetime. One of my earliest childhood memories was watching a football game with my father and three older brothers. The Lions were playing the Houston Oilers in Houston and it was a homecoming of sorts for Lion’s running back Billy Sims. He was from the Houston area and had many members of his family in the stands. The play I so vividly remember was a handoff to Billy Sims. The camera zeroed in on his eyes and you could tell he was focusing on one thing--scoring a touchdown. Nothing was going to stand in the way of his achieving the prize he was focusing on. He juked right and left, breaking tackles, and carrying defenders; he even hurdled one man who tried to tackle his legs. And, yes, Billy Sims scored a touchdown on that play. His eyes were on the prize and nothing was able to stand in his way.

In our text this morning we’re going to look at someone else who had His eyes on the prize. If you have your Bibles please turn with me to Luke 9:51-62.

This passage opens with the eyes of Christ on the prize. We read the time for Christ to be taken to heaven is drawing near. Heaven, the prize awaiting us if we are faithful, was also the prize Christ was looking to. But it was not quite time yet. There was still ministry left to be done and there was still the ultimate act of sacrifice waiting for Christ in Jerusalem. Jesus didn’t look elsewhere, He didn’t look to run away, He looked toward Jerusalem. I love how the King James version states this passage: “And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9: 51). Setting one’s face toward a particular place is an Old Testament expression for great resolve, a solid commitment. It was an expression that meant the person was going to get where he or she was headed no matter what.

The eyes of Christ may have been on the prize but that doesn’t mean He had tunnel vision. He still saw the sick and the hurting. He saw the lame, the blind, the outcast, and the downtrodden. He still saw His friends and His enemies; He continued reaching out to them. Jesus decided not only to take the road that led through Samaria to Jerusalem, but He apparently intended on staying the night in Samaria. Imagine a Hatfield looking for lodging at a McCoy’s house. Imagine a Boston Red Sox fan knocking on the door of a New York Yankees fan’s house asking to spend the night. Imagine an Ohio State Buckeye fan on campus in Ann Arbor looking for some fellowship and brotherhood the night before the big game. Samaritans and Jews were rivals--they were enemies. However, Jesus knew they needed ministered to.

Jesus saw those who needed Him, but He couldn’t force himself on them anymore than He can force himself on us today. The Samaritans rejected Christ; they didn’t extend the grace to Him He wanted to pour out on them. Despite their rejection, Jesus still pours out His grace upon them--a lesson the disciples needed to learn.

When the disciples heard the Samaritans rejected Jesus they thought it was the perfect opportunity to rid themselves of their rivals. Fresh from their visit with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration James and John quickly recalled how Elijah had called down fire on King Ahaziah and want to do the same to the Samaritans.

There is Jesus, His eyes on the prize, but still pouring out His grace even on those who reject Him. He rebukes His disciples for their eagerness to tear down when their mission is to build up. He rebukes them and moves on to a village open to His grace.

Neither Samaritan’s rejection or the disciples’ lack of understanding and compassion stands in Jesus’ way. Jesus is going forward. The next section in our text is a reminder of the cost of following Jesus compared to the prize of heaven. Three men encounter Jesus along the dusty road to Jerusalem.

The first man runs to the front of the crowd, walks beside Jesus, and says, “I will follow you wherever you go.” I’m sure Jesus smiled at the man’s enthusiasm, but it isn’t enthusiasm that gets us to the prize. It is grace, commitment, and sacrifice. Jesus pats the man on the back and replies, “foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (v. 58). Jesus doesn’t hide the cost of following Him: you must be ready for hardship.

It was a common practice in those days for a person to follow a teacher and get an education in philosophy. Jesus wasn’t offering a philosophy course but a life-course that demanded more than just following along taking notes. There would be no grades in Jesus’ class . . . it was simply pass or fail. In order to pass one had to be willing to give up every thing for the sake of the goal. One has to be willing to give up all the world offers for all that God offers.

We’re not privy to what the man’s response is. On the silver screen of my imagination I picture the man stopping, standing still as the crowd moves along, a dejected look on his face as he contemplates the message of commitment Jesus shared. He is at a crisis moment in his life: will he commit to following Jesus and accept the gift of eternal life or will he fall back into the world?

I picture Jesus looking back at the man, His eyes pleading with Him to come. But this Jesus looks only briefly and then His eyes move back forward towards the prize.
Along the way Jesus sees a man, perhaps the man is sitting along side the road watching the crowd come toward him. Jesus calls out to the man, “follow me” (v. 59). It’s an invitation freely given . . . an invitation the disciples had eagerly accepted. The man’s reply to Jesus seems like a fair request, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father” (v. 59). Jesus gives the man a knowing look, the look a parent gives a child when he or she is trying to pull a fast one and says: “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (v. 59).

To us Jesus’ reply may seem less than compassionate; however to an Israelite it would have seemed down right shocking. The Jews had strict burial rites God had provided in the Book of Law. What Jesus was suggesting was against the tradition taught for years in the synagogue. But Jesus had a reason for His seemingly harsh reply.

If the man’s father was dead why wasn’t the man attending to the burial? It seems the man’s father was not dead and this was an excuse to put off following Jesus. I believe Jesus sensed the man’s unwillingness to leave the world behind and gently seeks to guide him.

Once again we do not know the man’s response. We don’t know if he recognized Jesus was talking about the spiritual dead. We don’t know if he understood Jesus was implying there is nothing more important or more urgent than proclaiming the kingdom of God. We don’t know if he joined the crowd following Jesus or if he decided to remain with the spiritually dead. We do know the Jesus extended an invitation for life and the man’s eternal life depended on whether or not he would accept.

A third man tells Jesus “I will follow you Lord, but first let me go back and say good-by to my family” (v. 61). Another seemingly innocent request, but if the man was serious he would have quickly caught up to Jesus. The man wants Jesus to tell him go on take as long as you like, give the wife a hug for me and tussle the children’s hair. Tell them Uncle Jesus wants you to be a father and a husband first and a disciple when you get the time. Instead Jesus says, “no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (v. 62).

A man on the road to Jerusalem would understand the importance of looking forward during plowing. The terrain was rough and if you looked elsewhere, even for a second, a mistake in preparing the field could happen. The man would have understood the symbolism on the surface, but would he recall the deeper historic symbolism. Would he have remembered Lot’s wife looking back towards Sodom and turning into a pillar of salt? Perhaps images of the Israelites looking back to Egypt after God had delivered them from slavery. Would he have understood how important it was for Jesus to look forward to the prize and not back to what had been?

As with the other two men we’re not sure of the response. We’re left to wonder whether these three men over came the obstacles that stood between them and the prize. As these men stood at a fork in the road of their lives--did they choose life or death?

I believe Luke purposely left his readers in the dark because he knew one day the reader would have to make a similar choice. The question we have to answer is where are our eyes at today? Are we focused on the prize? We have to be willing to take the narrow, rocky road in order to stay focused on God and the prize of eternal life. The time for an answer is now--follow Christ and His grace. Will to decide to follow today?