Friday after the Fifth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on July 14, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 9:57-62 (NKJV)
9:57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, 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 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Devotion
The kingdom of God comes before all other attachments. It must be this way. Think of all those who have had to break with families who were of another religion, or whose families were hostile to Christ. Should they give up Christ to please father and mother? Of course not! They must walk the way of faith, even when it means leaving family behind. The fact is, we have no permanent home here. We don’t even have a home as humble as a hole or a nest.
Nothing is ultimately ours in this world. We give up wealth and status for the riches of heaven. We may have to give up earthly family for the family of God. Christianity is a radical religion. It reorders the hierarchy of values. The ancestors and the descendants must take second place. Family and tribe must be in the second spot. God’s kingdom runs counter to man’s expectations. But God must occupy such a place in our hearts, or He is not God. Once we understand this, then we can say to Him: “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”
Prayer: O God, Who hast prepared for them that love Thee such good things as pass man’s understanding: Pour into our hearts such love toward Thee, that we, loving Thee above all things, may obtain Thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
