“Elijah set out, and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat, as he was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen.” —1 Kings 19:19
Elijah called Elisha to become his disciple while Elisha was ploughing. This is not an insignificant detail. When Jesus called one of His disciples, He spoke of discipleship as putting one’s hands to the plough (Lk 9:62). Being a disciple is like ploughing. Disciples have the power to break up hard ground and hard hearts in a hard, hardened, and hardening world. Without the disciples’ ploughing, there won’t be much of a harvest, no matter how much seed is sown and no matter how much work is done.
Jesus, before His Ascension, commanded us to make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19). This entire world needs to be ploughed and then sown and harvested. We will never win the world for Christ until we plough the world for Christ. Therefore, Jesus’ disciples must start ploughing and keep ploughing without looking back, or they are unfit for the kingdom of God (Lk 9:62).
Ploughing is hard work with hard ground, and the first field we must plough is the field of our own hardened hearts. Repent and plough! Prophesy and plough! Pray, preach, and plough! Work, suffer, and plough! Love, die, and plough! Be a disciple; make disciples; plough!
PRAYER: Father, as the sweat pours down my brow, may I plough and keep my eyes straight ahead, focused on You.
PROMISE: “The flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; the two are directly opposed.” —Gal 5:17
PRAISE: “They killed Him, finally, hanging Him on a tree, only to have God raise Him up on the third day and grant that He be seen” (Acts 10:40). Praise the risen Jesus
(From a reflection by a member of the editorial team of the late Fr Al Lauer’s Presentation Ministries)
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John Portelli
