One who walked away
The Man Who Would Follow Later
On the road a man volunteered to follow Jesus wherever He went, then added one condition: let me first go and say goodbye to those at home. Jesus answered that no one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. We never learn what the man decided.
“And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.”Luke 9:61
Who they were
He is one of three would-be followers Jesus meets on the road to Jerusalem in Luke. This one steps up eagerly and says, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go bid farewell to those at my house. It sounds reasonable, even courteous. He is not refusing Jesus; he is asking for a little time to close things out properly at home, to take his leave the way custom expected. He wanted to follow, and he wanted to follow on terms that let him keep his affairs orderly and his ties intact. He is the most sympathetic of walkers-away, because his hesitation is so ordinary and so gentle, a good man asking only to say goodbye first.
Why they walked away
Jesus answered with the image of a ploughman. No one who puts his hand to the plough and keeps glancing backward can cut a straight furrow, and such a one is not fit for the kingdom. The issue was not the goodbye itself but the backward-looking heart, the first that keeps waiting for a more convenient season. Later is the softest way to refuse. It never says no; it just postpones until the moment passes. Elisha, when Elijah called, was allowed to kiss his parents and go, but this man's first felt like a leash. Many of us are here, fully intending to follow, once the season is right, once things settle, and the road moves on without us while we look back.
The Christ who does not coerce
Jesus does not seize the plough handles and force the man's hands forward. He states the cost of a divided heart plainly and leaves the man on the road to choose. He will not be followed by half a person, one hand on the plough and one eye on the house, because that is not following at all. Yet the sharpness of His word is a mercy. He tells the truth about what looking back does, so that a man might turn and give his whole self while the offer stands. The Gospel does not tell us the man refused. It leaves him mid-decision, his hand near the plough, the field ahead of him, and the call still sounding. That silence is room for the reader to answer where he did not.
Questions people ask
What does looking back at the plough mean?
It pictures a ploughman who keeps turning his head instead of watching the furrow, so his line runs crooked. Jesus used it for a heart that says yes but keeps glancing at what it is leaving. The man wanted to follow after first settling things at home. Jesus was not condemning goodbyes but the divided attention behind later, the postponing that never quite commits to the road.
Was it wrong to want to say goodbye to his family?
Not in itself. Elisha was allowed to kiss his parents before following Elijah. The problem was the word first, the sense that home came before the call and that following could wait for a convenient time. Jesus read the heart, not the etiquette. He was naming a hesitation dressed as courtesy, the gentle postponement that lets the moment slip past while intentions stay good.