Pastor Scott Andrews | May 18, 2025
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Luke 9:57-62
We’ve all seen bandwagons – perhaps even participated some. A bandwagon is defined as, “joining a trend, movement, or activity that is gaining popularity or is perceived to likely succeed. It implies supporting something because it is currently popular, rather than due to personal conviction or long-term support.” That’s interesting – no long-term commitment – let’s jump on wagon while it’s fun, successful. Typical bandwagons can be seen in:
Politics – Voting for the candidate who appears to be winning in polls, even if you don’t fully agree with the platform.
Fashion – Wearing a specific look because it’s currently in style, regardless of your personal taste. You just want to be in.
Stock Market – Think about it, the entire stock market is a bandwagon. A certain stock does well, people buy. It starts tanking, and people abandon ship.
Sports – There is no greater bandwagon than sports. Supporting a team that’s currently winning and trending, even if you haven’t previously been a fan. I guess you can still pull for losers, but why not winners?
Here’s a question: can a bandwagon affect a ministry movement? Well, when Jesus first entered His public ministry, He burst on the scene. After being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus went into Galilee and began preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And to prove the kingdom was present, He began demonstrating kingdom authority and power – that is, teaching and healing. He began healing people – it didn’t seem to matter what the malady or disease was – leprosy, paralysis, fever, demon possession, later, even death – when they showed up, Jesus healed them. Why, there were even times when they didn’t show up, and He healed them anyway – a little servant boy, laying at home in bed and, bam, Jesus healed him.
It was incredible. News about Him began to spread everywhere. In fact, in Matthew 4 [23-25] we read this, “Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.”
Jesus had a movement going on. People were coming from every direction of the compass to hear Him, to catch a glimpse of this miracle worker. They were jumping on the bandwagon of success. Later, we find they liked Him because He fed them. Once, He took a boy’s lunch and fed 5,000 men alone. Everyone likes a free lunch. Let’s follow Him. Let’s make Him king by force. We can’t quite do it like that – but we can do a cheap imitation. I remember once when I was a kid, we lived in Arizona. Our church decided to have a big promotion Sunday – they decided to give a free McDonald’s Happy Meal to every kid who came through the bus ministry that day. Not quite the same as taking a quarter-pounder and feeding everyone, but it did the trick – lots of kids came. The bandwagon was a bus that day.
Jesus was gathering big crowds. The church growth people would have loved it. If only we could somehow figure out how to raise someone from the dead – that’s the ticket, we could advertise it, and lots of people would come. It might even make TV – then we could really hit the big time. Maybe be interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel or Bill Maher or Oprah.
But there was a problem. It seemed like every time Jesus gathered a big crowd, He would do something that made no sense. Something that would drive church growth people crazy – something you’d never find in church growth manuals or taught in Bible colleges or seminaries.
You see, the first time we read about those big crowds at the end of Matthew 4, Matthew 5:1 says, “When Jesus saw the crowds, [when He saw the bandwagon effect – people coming for perhaps the wrong reasons] He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them saying, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit.’” He began to teach them the very difficult words of the Sermon on the Mount.
What was He doing? In that sermon, He ripped the mask off of spiritual hypocrisy, He threw down the gauntlet before the religious establishment of the day. Doesn’t He know you’re not supposed to do that? You’re not supposed to offend people? Doesn’t He know you’re supposed to make it easy? Don’t be too offensive with your message – it’s okay to tell people Jesus can help them with their marriages and help them raising their children – why, He might even heal your finances or your health. But for goodness’ sake, don’t confront people; tone down the sin talk – that’s outdated – people don’t like to hear that anymore. What’s with this commitment stuff?
If you compare what Jesus did with many church methods today, you’d have to conclude Jesus never did get it. Maybe those who say He was just a revolutionary who got carried away with His own message are right. He didn’t know how to attract people. He went about it all wrong. Is it any wonder that through His three-and-a-half-year ministry the crowds got smaller, and that by the night of His betrayal, even His closest associates, His closest followers and friends, deserted Him?
He didn’t get it. Or was it He understood some things that we’ve lost today? Is it possible the Christianity we offer has little to do with the one Jesus came to bring? We’ll eventually get to the story of the rich, young ruler in Luke 18. Lord, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why, that’s easy – let me show you this tract. Pray this prayer, and you’re in. That’s not what Jesus did. We’ll look at it then, but the man went away. Jesus drove this seeker away.
You see, the fact is, Jesus was not a, gather-a-large-crowd-at-any-cost kind of person. Contrary to what we see in a lot of churches today, He was not there to please people, to tell them what they wanted to hear. He was not building a kingdom with a consumer mentality that said, let’s see what makes people happy. Let’s see what they like and give it to them. Let’s promise them all kinds of spiritual benefits – tell them if they’ll just follow Jesus, they’ll be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous. All their problems will go away, their wallets will get fat, they’ll never be sick.
On the contrary, He was there to build His kingdom – and His church is one of costly discipleship. Whenever Jesus saw the crowds, He always seemed to up the ante – to ratchet the commitment level up a notch. This morning, we’re going to see, He continually made it a little more difficult – He told people – there is a cost to discipleship – there is a cost to following Me. You can follow if you want – in fact – I invite you to follow. No one is excluded. But there is a price to pay. I’m not suggesting we add to the gospel – we heard that well last week. But, whenever Jesus saw the crowds, He upped the ante. This is a tough text today. It may fly in the face not just at culture, but church culture.
So, we arrive this morning, finally, at the end of chapter 9. Verse 51 said, “When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem.” He sent messengers ahead of Him to a village in Samaria to prepare for His arrival. But they said no – go somewhere else, so He did. Not everyone accepted Him, or His mission, you understand. His hometown did not. The Gentiles on the east side of the Sea of Galilee did not. The religious establishment largely did not. These Samaritans did not. But others, seemingly, did. They wanted to jump on the bandwagon. He had a movement going. Let’s read the passage – Luke 9:57-62.
Jesus, calm down. This did not seem like relational evangelism. He’s driving people off. Let’s break the text down into these three people who professed to become a follower of Jesus. Each in a sense say, “Jesus, I’ll follow you wherever you go.” In fact, follow is the key word, appearing in each conversation. But each one had a hang up that Jesus exposes, which demonstrated they weren’t really ready to follow. Bottom line is, if you’re going to follow Me, Jesus says, I want everything you’ve got. Jesus is laying out some very important principles – the cost of discipleship. While it is true the gospel is simple, nowhere do we read that choosing to follow Jesus is easy. The question for us today is, are we willing to follow Jesus all the way to Jerusalem, the cross, no matter the cost? If anyone would be My disciple, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.
Let’s begin with the first would-be disciple found in verses 57-58. As they were going along the road, presumably still in Samaria headed somewhat south toward Jerusalem – remember, it’s a circuitous route, someone approached Him. Don’t miss that. He approached Jesus – I want to be a disciple. It’s like someone showing up here on a Sunday, saying, I want to be a follower of Jesus. That’s great. This guy says, “I will follow you wherever you go.” He’s a ripe prospect – sign him up.
By the way, Matthew’s parallel account tells us he was a scribe. A teacher of the law. This is significant. This wasn’t your run of the mill, everyday leper. This wasn’t a Gentile soldier. This wasn’t a woman. Hot dog, things are starting to happen now. This was a respectable member of the community. He was smart. He was reliable. He was a teacher of the Law. He knew the Bible – he taught the Bible. This guy had some authority. Now listen, I’m all in favor of lepers and broken people and stuff, but this guy could really validate our ministry. Scribes, these are the backbone of religious life – they’ve got money – they could teach Sunday School. They could lead small groups.
If he joined up with Jesus, it would lend some credibility to this rag-tag group. After all, Jesus was just a carpenter. And all He had managed to surround Himself with up to this point were sick people and the outcasts of society. But a scribe? Wow. Give him a front row seat. Make sure everyone knows this prominent member of society goes to your church. Why, you might even make him a deacon or an elder. Sign him up.
I covered this recently. How do we respond when people come to our church and say, I want to become a follower of Jesus? If it was the chancellor or the mayor or the president of Amazon, we’d be pretty excited. Wow, can you believe it? We’ll be able to get some mileage out of this guy. He could validate our ministry. Hey, if those guys think our church is okay, must be. But what if it’s your run-of-the-mill pagan? If it was Joe Six-pack? What if it was just a local sinner? I said this a few weeks ago, but we get so excited when Hollywood personalities or politicians or sports celebrities profess faith in Christ. It makes all the Christian periodicals and talk shows. When’s the last time you were invited to be a guest on one of those?
What did Jesus say? The first thing we should note is what He did not say. He did not say, you can’t come. You’re a scribe, I don’t take scribes, I only take broken people. No, the fact of the matter is – anyone can come. All our welcome. But, to come, you’ve got to leave your baggage behind. And it seems Jesus knew what was in this guy’s heart. He knew He didn’t have what it took to be a fully devoted follower. He would only follow if it was easy. If it was convenient. If it was comfortable. Remember, they expected the Messiah to show up and be King. Why not get in on the ground floor?
So, Jesus said – He goes right to the heart of the matter, “foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” What does that mean? Sounds like a riddle. I think the scribe knew exactly what Jesus was saying – you want to follow Me? Fine – but you have to understand something. If you’re looking for comfort, prestige, honor, power, you’re not going to find it here. This is a truth we must catch. If we’re going to follow Jesus anywhere, then it’s not necessarily going to be comfortable. It’s not going to be easy. In fact, it’s going to be challenging. Remember where Jesus was going – you want that?
Jesus says, if you want peace, I got that. The very peace of God will be with you. If you want kingdom power, I got that – the power to heal the sick; the power to calm the storms, the power to confront the forces of evil. If you want presence, I got that, too. What do I mean? If you follow Me, the very presence of Jesus by His Spirit will be with you. But if you decide to follow Me, don’t for a minute think it’s going to be easy. If you’re looking for comfort, look somewhere else. Is that the message we give people today? Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life – He can make you healthy, wealthy – He can take care of all your problems. Is that what Jesus says? No. Jesus says, I love you and have a difficult plan for your life.
He says, deciding to follow Me is going to cost you. Deitrich Bonhoffer said when Jesus bids a man to come, He bids him come and die. You may not be rich, you may not be comfortable, you may not be accepted, you may even be persecuted. But know this – if you decide to follow, you’ll be with Me – you’ll have peace, you’ll have power, and you’ll have presence. But you won’t have comfort. It’s interesting – the God of creation gave the birds and the foxes places to rest – but when the Creator came, He had no place to lay His head. It was true in Bethlehem when there was no room for Him in the inn. It was true in His hometown when they tried to kill Him. It was true in Samaria when they turned Him away. It will be true when He arrives at Jerusalem. The only place they will give Him to lay His head is a rich man’s tomb.
I want to make clear – Jesus never kicked anybody out. But when He moved out, He left a lot of people behind. If you decide, if we decide to follow Him wherever He goes, it may get uncomfortable. And we may leave people behind. People who want church to be easy and nice and comfortable. But, Christ’s church has to move out to the battle where it’s messy and difficult. Some people won’t like that. But know this – we will be with Jesus.
The second man to come to Jesus that day (verses 59-60) Matthew calls a disciple. What that means, implicitly, is that he was thinking the same thing the scribe said, Jesus, I’ll follow you wherever you go. Jesus even looked at him and said, follow Me. But, the man said, I’ve got a family issue to take care of first. Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” To which our meek and mild Jesus responded, “Follow Me, forget about him; allow the dead to bury their own dead.”
What? That sounds kind of calloused, doesn’t it? Think I’ll try that sometime. “Hey, we got a retreat this weekend, are you in?” “I can’t my dad died.” “So what, who cares – you coming? Let the dead bury the dead.” Wow. You have to understand what was going on here. If this man’s father had already died, they would have buried him within a day – 24 hours, typically. And you would sit with the body until it was buried. This guy would not have come to hang out with Jesus until the burial was done. It’s possible his dad was already dead, not likely, but it would make this invitation to follow Jesus immediately even more stunning.
But, it was a colloquial expression that is still used in parts of the Middle East today. A few years ago, there was a missionary named Dr. Waldmire in Turkey who had seen a young man come to faith in Christ. He saw some promise in the guy, so he said, hey, I have to take a trip to Europe – come with me so I can disciple you – maybe you can attend school for a year or two. The young man replied, Okay, but I can’t right now, I’ve got to bury my father first. The missionary said, oh, I’m so sorry. We can wait, I’ll help you bury your father and take care of your mother, then we’ll go in a couple weeks. The young man said, oh, you don’t understand – he’s not dead yet. I can’t go until after he dies.
That’s what most suggest was happening here. This would-be disciple came to Jesus, and Jesus said, follow Me. And the man said, ok, but I’ve got to stick around and bury my father – I’ve got to wait until after he dies – why? To make sure I get my inheritance. I’ve got to take care of my financial future, then I’ll come and follow You. And Jesus gave the disciple a very difficult choice – follow Me now, and let the dead bury the dead. To be My follower means you leave everything and preach the kingdom of God. Let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead.
What was this man’s problem? Security. He wanted to have everything together financially, and then he would follow Jesus later. Notice, the man said, permit me first to bury my father. First things first. To which Jesus said – follow Me now, or don’t follow Me at all. And we remember the words of Matthew 6:33,34, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.”
Do we follow like this guy? Sometimes, we do. I’ve got to take care of my future. When I’m through school, when I’ve found a good job, when my family is living comfortably, when my stocks are okay and I’ve got money in the bank, when my future is secure, when I’ve taken care of everything – then I’ll follow Jesus. And Jesus words come resoundingly, follow Me. Let those who are concerned about their own security in this life, who only have this life to live – this is all they’ve got – you let them bury the dead. As for you, follow Me – I’ll take care of your security. Remember Peter and Andrew, James and John? They pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed Him. They left their security, they left their livelihood, and followed Jesus.
So what are you saying, Scott – are we’re supposed to quit our jobs and work at the church or go to the mission field? No – only if God calls you to. But what I am saying is this – if your education or job or career or even family keep you from serving God now – then don’t think for a minute you’ll serve Him in the future. I don’t have time – I’ve got work to do. Jesus says, follow Me. Let Me be your security. Trust Me for your daily bread. Commit yourself to Me to be a fully devoted follower. Give up comfort, give up security. These are hard words.
Can I just take an aside here. I am amazed at the number of people who simply don’t have time for God. They don’t have time for His church. They love Him, they say. And they’re going to follow Him…someday. Let the dead bury the dead. If God lays a ministry, a service, a commitment on your heart – do it now, whatever the sacrifice. Follow Him – that’s the point – don’t delay.
The third guy is found in verses 61-62. After the scribe and the disciple had come, we read of a third one who said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” Sounds like a reasonable request. Inf fact, there was a biblical precedent for this. One day, when Elijah threw his mantle on Elisha’s shoulders, Elisha said, let me go kiss my father goodbye. Let me go say goodbye to my family. Interesting, in both the second and third stories here, it could be said they simply wanted to honor their father and mother, just like they were supposed to.
But what does Jesus say? “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom.” That sounds mean. Jesus isn’t being very sensitive to people’s needs. What was this guy’s problem? Lord, I like what I see. I think the things you’re doing are pretty cool. I like Your teaching, and I’m pretty sure I want to follow. Some suggest the man is saying, but, I need to go home and make sure it’s okay with them. I need their approval, their acceptance. Even though they may not follow, I want them to think it’s okay if I do. In other words, Jesus, you’re not enough, I need them, too.
Why do some suggest that? Because Jesus says – you’re not fit for the kingdom. If you need approval, if you need your family or your friends to still like you, to pat you on the back, to give you an at-a-boy – if you need to follow Jesus with your head looking back at what you’re leaving – you’re not fit for the kingdom. The principle – you must get rid of all distractions – even good things, if you would follow Me. No comfort, no security, no distractions. Don’t look back.
You see, if you put your hand to the plow, in order to plow straight furrows, you’ve got to keep your eyes fixed straight ahead. You’ve got to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. If you’re more concerned about the people back there, if you’re more concerned about what they think and what they say, then you won’t follow Jesus. You’re gonna to be all over the field. Jesus says, follow Me – don’t look back – make a decision – follow Me. I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back.
You can’t listen to other voices. Yes, Elijah allowed Elisha to go home to say goodbye – but he went home and burned the plow and slaughtered the oxen – anything that would come in the way of God’s call on his life. If you want to go back and burn your inheritance, your comfort, your security, your acceptance, fine. But burn it, and come. Does this sound different, difficult? It is.
It’s interesting to note: Luke does not record the responses of these three men. Some suggest if you read between the lines, having their motives exposed, they all walked away. Perhaps. Perhaps they repented and followed. I don’t know. But that’s my prayer for us. You see, what’s the point of all this, this morning? It means if you’re going to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ, then you might just need to give up some things. If you’re looking for comfort, don’t follow. Stay where it’s safe. If you’re looking for security, stay behind. If you’re looking for acceptance anywhere except with Jesus, you’re not fit for the kingdom.
Listen, if we’re going to be a church that Jesus is building, it means we need to be willing to move out. To follow Jesus, wherever He goes. I believe God does take us to places that may not be comfortable – may not be secure – and people may not like it. We may have to leave some relationships behind. But that’s the way of His kingdom. You see, we can’t be a faithful church and love the world, too.
Some of you, perhaps, have been playing church long enough. You want church to be comfortable and secure and nice and warm and gooey. You want to leave here feeling good every week, and you want it just the way you want it, the way it’s always been. But is God calling us, is He calling you, to greater commitment? Are we willing to follow? What is it He wants you to leave behind today, no turning back?