Luke 9:61

And another also said, I will follow thee, Lord, but first suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at my house. But Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

This was prospect number three; and what he requested might have seemed reasonable enough; but Jesus knew of the pressures the man would encounter at home and the persuasions that would thwart discipleship; and he promptly replied with the metaphor of a man plowing a straight furrow. This is an agricultural figure. Jesus was quite familiar with all of the little details that marked life in such a rural community as Nazareth, and some of his most wonderful teachings are founded upon such things. It was the divine genius of our Lord which saw in such things as sowing, reaping, casting fish nets, making bread, carving yokes, etc., the symbolism of eternal truths. Geldenhuys applied the metaphor thus:

One who plows must look before him so as not to plow a crooked and bad furrow. So also he who desires to be a member of Christ's kingdom should never allow other matters to distract his attention.[17]

It should be noted that Jesus himself honored the priorities which he here prescribed for others. He subordinated all earthly considerations, even the tender ties of his mother and brethren, to the all-important purpose of his mission of redemption.

This unit of teaching regarding the three prospects is found in part in Matthew, and thus it is plain that Luke in this great section did not deal exclusively with material unknown to the other writers of the Gospels. However, it is significant that Matthew's partial account of this unit places it in a different context. Luke's purpose of including it here appears to be that of making it somewhat of a preface to this section, stressing the high priorities of the kingdom. The theory that Luke and Matthew had a common prior source in "Q" is nothing but an imaginary device without foundation in reality. As Geldenhuys noted, "It has by no means been proved that such a written source as `Q' ever really existed."[18] It takes an agile imagination indeed to suppose that if Matthew had "Q" before him, he would have omitted the glorious material comprising the next nine or ten chapters of Luke.

[17] Norval Geldenhuys, op. cit., p. 296.

[18] Ibid., p. 292.