Anyone who has raised children or spent time with
them knows how creative they are when it comes to stalling for time. When there
is a difficult task to be done or it is time for the fun to end, children get
to work on trying how to figure out how to gain some more time for fun and
games. For example, when it is bedtime, children will often plead for just one more story or another drink of
water. Or, when they are enjoying themselves and it comes time to go home, kids
will suddenly forget where they put their shoes or even pretend to be unable to
hear their parents telling them to come home. Other kids will give a list of
reasons of why they should be allowed to continue doing what they are doing.
We
see this process of “stalling” in the word of God today. In our readings, God
is inviting others to service and discipleship. God moves Elijah to anoint
Elisha to become the next prophet who will spend his life in the service of God.
In our Gospel, Jesus invites others to follow him. In both readings, people stall
for time; they say ‘yes’ but not quite yet. And they give some pretty good
reasons. Elisha tells Elijah to let him first go home and tell his parents
good-bye. An unnamed man in the gospel responds to the invitation of the Lord
by saying “Let me first bury my father.” These seem like pretty good reasons to
delay following the invitation of the Lord. But the Lord is persistent and even
unimpressed with these good reasons that are given. Jesus says in our gospel:
“No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit
for the kingdom of God.”
Now,
as adults, we can see right through the efforts of children stalling for more
time. But in our readings, we might tend to feel the invitation of the Lord to
service and discipleship is a little extreme or even unreasonable. I think most of us would like to say these
readings are difficult to understand because in both them, the good reasons
given are treated as almost ridiculous by Jesus and Elijah. He makes it clear
when he calls he expects us to follow.
As
much as we might like to think otherwise, we have the same tendency at times to
stall when we hear the call of God in our lives. I am not just speaking of the
big decisions of whether we are called to marriage, religious life, or priesthood.
I'm mainly speaking about the ways that God calls us to follow him in our
day-to-day living. Perhaps some of us are being called to be more responsible
in our driving, to slow down, to obey traffic signals and to be more courteous
to others on the road. Others may be hearing the call to be more open to life
in their families and in their marriages. Still others are being called by the
Lord to follow him by being more generous with their time and material
resources.
And
yet, how often, when we hear this call of the Lord, do we respond with reasons
why we cannot follow what the Lord is asking of us? How we try to stall for
time with the Lord by trying to show him how unreasonable his invitations are?
Don’t get me wrong, we always have good reasons, at least humanly speaking. But
Christ invites us to consider turning over everything to him as his followers.
He knows and wants what is best for us and when he calls he does so in our best
interests. Much like the child, who is unable to see the bigger picture when
his parents tell him it's time to go home or go to bed, we too often fail to
see how God’s plan is best for us.
Following
the Lord is not always easy. Often when God calls, we have very practical and
legitimate concerns that tempt us to stall for time in following him. We might
justify speeding because we are late, we might feel like we are unable to
volunteer our time to others because of a busy schedule, or we cannot possibly
help another in need because we recently bought a new car or home. All of these
concerns are understandable, but how often do we use these reasons to stall for
time when God challenges us follow him more closely?
In
order to follow the Lord wherever he calls us, we have to give him times of
silence and stillness. In these times of prayer with the Lord, we come to
understand his invitation to follow him and we give him time to explain his
plan for us. Obviously each one of us here has responded to the call of Jesus
to follow him, otherwise we wouldn’t be in Church today to give him thanks and
praise. However, the call to follow the Lord is lifelong and Christ will
continually invite us to follow him closer and closer.
God calls us in ways large and small. Each day he
invites us to come and follow him without looking back at what we left behind
for his sake. Often it seems crazy and we can give hundreds of very
well-thought out reasons why God should give us a break or at least more time. However, this tendency to
stall with God ultimately robs us of the peace and grace that comes with
following his wonderful plan. Marvelous things happen when we turn ourselves
over to God and his plan for us without conditions or delay. Don’t make God
wait for your ‘yes’ to follow him every day, in ways large and small.
