No Turning Back

Read Luke 10.

There was a little chorus we used to sing in Sunday School and elsewhere. It was, I suppose, a precursor to the modern praise and worship music movement, and it was simple to remember. It was a short declaration of faith:

I have decided to follow Jesus,

I have decided to follow Jesus,

I have decided to follow Jesus,

No turning back, no turning back.

(Yes, now you will be singing that all day. You're welcome.)

Ruins of Capernaum, 2017

Just as we, in the basement of the Rossville United Methodist Church, declared our determination to never turn back and never turn away from Jesus, today's passage reminds us there is also a "no turning back" on the other side. Jesus talks about several cities in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee,all of which had a front row seat to his ministry. They saw miracles, they heard teachings, they witnessed the Son of God on foot. And yet, they rejected him. They turned away. Even Capernaum, where he lived during his ministry ("his own town"), did not welcome him as the savior. To these cities, Jesus says, there is a point at which there is no turning back. He pronounces woe and destruction on them—and, in fact, these cities were destroyed. They are in ruins still today.

Ruins of Chorazim, 2017

It's a cautionary tale that those who seem most likely to welcome Jesus are the ones who reject him. But those we wouldn't think would be about Jesus' business—like a despised Samaritan and a young woman who didn't fit into her cultural roles—are the ones who pay the best attention and do his work. 

Have you chosen what is best? No turning back.