“Jesus said, ‘No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.’” – Luke 9:62
One of my favorite summer activities as a child was the game of baseball. I enjoyed playing the sport from the time I was big enough to pick up a glove, all the way through my high school years. There was nothing better than spending a warm summer night or Sunday afternoon out at the ballpark.
I loved playing defense and relished every time the ball was hit my way. As a boy I used to dream of chasing down a pop-up in the outfield or snagging a line-drive up the middle. While playing in Little League, I was particularly enamored by the thrill of making a diving catch; so much so that, sometimes, during practice, I would purposely react slowly to a hit, just so that I would have to dive to make the grab.
There was something simply exhilarating about leaping through the air to snag the ball just before it hit the ground. It required giving everything you had, and leaving it all on the field. If you made the catch, you were a hero, and even if you missed, the effort was still lined with a certain kind of glory. The beauty of the play was not simply about success, but about being willing to give everything in order to succeed.
I feel like that is the message that Jesus communicates to us in the Gospel reading for this Sunday. Just as a ballplayer leaves the ground behind to catch the ball by diving, so must the followers of Christ be willing to leave everything else behind for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Jesus even insists that His would-be followers do not go back to say goodbye to their families or bury their beloved dead (Luke 9:59-62). Attaining the Kingdom is worth more than anything else.
As our love for God grows, it becomes easier to practice this kind of abandonment. Likewise, the more we abandon ourselves to pursuing union with God, the more thrilling our lives become, because abandonment gives rise to freedom, and freedom to joy. It is freeing and fun to dive after a ball and make a great play. It is far more freeing, and far more glorious, to leap headlong after the Lord and leave all else behind to follow Christ.
Merciful God, enliven within us the virtue of abandonment, so that we may pursue your Kingdom and love you above all else. Amen.
