[an error occurred while processing this directive]

The Rev. Clare Fischer-Davies
St. Martin's Episcopal Church
July 1, 2007
Proper 8 C

Don't Look Back

In mid-March, I took Andy to the train station in Providence, kissed him goodbye and sent him off to Japan. He turned away from me and strode purposefully into the station, never once looking back. It reminded me of his first day of kindergarten - when he did the same thing - turned away from me and plunged into that new chapter of his life without a single, backward glance. However ambivalent Gerry and I might have been letting go of our baby - whether at 5 or at 17 - Andy had no doubts at all. He was ready for his next adventure, and went off with his face firmly set toward the future.

"Don't look back," Elijah says to Elisha. "Don't look back," Paul says to the Galatian Christians. "Don't look back," Jesus says to those who wish to follow him. "Don't look back."

Greg pointed out last week that Jesus knows exactly where he's going - he knows that his ultimate destination is Jerusalem, and he knows what awaits him there. Luke uses a particular distinctive phrase: "He set his face to go to Jerusalem." The phrase is used for the first time here in the 9th chapter, and from now on Luke will use it repeatedly to again and again reorient Jesus to Jerusalem, to the place where his ministry will meet both its tragic end and its glorious fulfillment. Jesus doesn't look back and he expects that those who are called to follow him won't look back, either.

Elijah is one of the great prophets of ancient Israel, active at a time when apostasy has tempted even the kings themselves away from God, back to pagan idols. Elijah's zeal and devotion have earned him a death sentence, and for the first time he feels something like fear and even begins to doubt whether he can fulfill his prophetic role. So God appoints Elisha to be Elijah's helper and eventual successor.

Elisha is out plowing - and obviously, since he has twelve yoke of oxen at work, his farm is large and prosperous. But when Elijah passes by, and throws his cloak over Elisha's shoulders, Elisha is glad, even eager to follow him. "I'm just going to kiss my parents goodbye," he says, but even that brief hesitation is too much for Elijah.

"Forget it," the prophet says. "Go back - forget I ever called you."

I think the passage is a little cryptic here with its jumbled up pronouns; Elisha does turn away from Elijah, but now only to make a sacrifical offering of those twelve pairs of oxen - an enormous offering! Elisha feeds his community the slaughtered oxen, and then he follows Elijah as his servant and apprentice. Elisha at first is distracted from his prophetic call by his affection and respect for his parents, but after he is rebuked by Elijah, he looks back only to offer God the sacrifice of his former life - that's what the oxen represent - and then he follows Elijah with a fully dedicated and devoted heart.

"Don't look back!" Paul tells the Galations. "Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." This passage takes us right into the heart of one of the fiercest disputes in early Christianity - must Gentiles who wish to follow Jesus submit to the requirements of Jewish law - must male converts be circumcised? Paul, in his missionary journeys, had begun to offer baptism to anyone who sought it without demanding that they first become Jews. That's what he'd done with the new Christians in Galatia, but that practice brought him into serious conflict with the Jerusalem Council - the center of apostolic authority.

Paul writes to the Galatians because they had first written to him, telling him - among other things - about another missionary who had visited them after Paul departed and had overturned Paul's teaching about circumcision. Who is right? Who are they to believe? What is required for Christian faith and discipleship?

"Don't look back," says Paul. "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love." Paul is outraged that someone has come behind him and upset and confused his converts. He spews out his anger "I wish those who unsettled you would castrate themselves!" Partly Paul is angry that those he instructed have been bewildered by different teaching, but he is also passionately committed to his conviction that Christ saves us by grace, and offers us the new life of the resurrection. "Don't look back." Don't be drawn back into dependence on the Law and on obedience and on your own efforts for salvation. Live by the Spirit of Christ instead.

"Don't look back," Jesus says. Jesus has set his face to go to Jerusalem, and everything that happens from now on, takes place in the shadow of the cross. It sounds harsh and uncompromising to us, but Jesus wants those who follow him to have no illusions about what discipleship is going to cost. Those who have only been dazzled by miracles, or intrigued by parables, or caught up in the force of Jesus' own personality, need to understand that if they follow Jesus, they are heading toward crucifixion.

If this seems harsh, remember that even Jesus' closest disciples don't get it. Peter and James and John have just been up on the mountain with Jesus and seen him transfigured and heard God's own voice confirm that Jesus is God's beloved son, and still - on the night Jesus is arrested, those three most-trusted followers are too terrified to do anything but run away and seek their own safety.

"Don't look back." This phrase doesn't mean, take a blind leap into an unknown future. It doesn't mean be foolish and imprudent. In fact, at least as Jesus speaks in Luke, it means - know the full cost and meaning of what you are about to do. Weigh all the pros and cons, do all the research and assessment that you can - but once you begin - then don't look back. Keep your face turned toward your destination. Don't let your inevitable doubts and misgivings distract you. Set your face in the direction you are called to go - and then, don't look back.

I expect that somewhere, in some management guru's book, is the secular, corporate equivalent of "don't look back." Setting any course, for any new direction, any new initiative, requires full commitment to that new course. Every organization is bedeviled by individuals who want the leaders to look back, to be distracted from the purpose, to keep things the way they've always been. The church is no different - and even though the church changes direction at a glacial pace, there are still always those who say "look back! Look back! There's something behind us! We need to go pay attention to that stuff in the rearview mirror - we need to turn around and fix everything behind us before we go forward."

St. Martin's has set a course - you actually began setting that course before I came - by making a commitment to parish diversity, by identifying outreach and Christian formation as areas of growth, by affirming hospitality as a foundational ministry of this congregation. We believe that such a course shows us how to follow Jesus more faithfully, helps us share the Good News with others, and equips us to be better, more dedicated disciples. We have set our faces to follow Jesus, and I pray that we won't look back.

My heart ached as I watched Andy disappear into the train station without a backward glance. But really - would I have wanted him to look back? Would I have wanted him to run back to me for reassurance? Would I have wanted to see his face filled with doubt and anxiety? Would I have wanted him to change his mind at the last minute?

Of course not. He had chosen his course, worked hard to get ready for that moment, and now - set his face toward Japan. I'm glad he didn't look back.

In enews this week, I quoted Tobias Haller, a priest whose blog is always inspiring and insightful. I'm going to quote it again: "The Spirit moves where it wills, leading a pilgrim people. And to follow the Spirit, and to follow Christ, means pulling that cross from the ground and carrying it every day of your life, not knowing where it will be planted next. If the church is to be true to its own best self, it must always be on the move, and follow the One who is the Way."

Always on the move, following the One who is the Way. We are indeed a pilgrim people, following the One who shows us that, in the mysterious economy of salvation - when we are willing to lose our lives, we find them - when we are willing to be last, we are first - when we are willing to empty ourselves, we are filled. We may be headed toward Jerusalem, and we may be carrying our own cross, but we are following the Way that leads to life and freedom and peace.

Don't look back.