ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE – CHASACH חשח  Cheth Shin Cheth

Luke 9:61-62: “And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house. (62) But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

This is a very curious passage. Three men came to Jesus wanting to follow Him.  What they were wanting was to be a disciple.  It is the rabbi who chooses his students not the students choosing the rabbi.  Jesus was building quite a reputation as a teacher and it would not be unusual for young men to seek to be mentored by a master teacher.  In fact, it would have been an honor.  So, Jesus was, like any rabbi, being very choosy.  

The first man asked to be a disciple and Jesus told him the cost and that candidate flunked promptly flunk his interview as he obviously was not willing to pay the cost.  But there was a second man that Jesus extended the offer and the man quickly agreed but wanted to first bury his father. I agree with the preachers that his father was not yet dead.  It was a Jewish custom for the children to prepare the body of their parents and make sure all proper protocols were carried out. 

I had a guy riding my disability bus who was Jewish and his mother passed away.  The man is on disability.  He was a police officer during 9-11 and spent months on the site of the Twin Towers after they fell. Apparently, the toxic nature of the ruins did a number on health and he is now on dialysis along with other physical problems. He moved to Chicago with his mother and when she passed he was obligated to make sure she was properly buried which cost around $13,000 plus the cost to move the body to New York.  The Synagogue paid most of it but there were costs they did not pay and some of us drivers helped him out because we could see how focused he was on fulfilling his mother’s wishes. There were other arrangements that could have been made, but even being a nominal Jew who rarely attended the synagogue, it was still very important everything is done according to his mother’s desires, which is the only righty.   

Jesus was not being harsh when he said “Let, the dead bury the dead.”  The Jewish community would have guaranteed his father would have been buried properly. As with this Jewish man who lost his mother, he could have let the synagogue handle everything, but he would rather take on a burden of debt so he could attend to her personal wishes.  But Jesus said: Luke 14:26: “If any [man] come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”  The word hate in Aramaic is sana which means to be an irritant.  It is the word for a briar.  In other words, if you are not willing to be an irritant to your family for the sake of Jesus you cannot be His disciple. This young man was saying his father would object and he had a duty to his father’s wishes to make sure when his father died, his wishes were carried out.  He was not willing to put Jesus before His father.  His father would be properly buried without son if he was being disciplined but the son did not want to offend his father for the sake of Jesus.

Then a third person said that he would follow Jesus right after he said farewell to his family. He was willing to let the dead bury the dead but even saying farewell to his family disqualified him.  What is so wrong with saying farewell.  The word farewell in Aramaic is shelem from the same root as the Hebrew word shalom.  It means the same in Aramaic.  It is a greeting and a farewell depending on the context in which it is used. It also means to complete, to bring to a conclusion, and to make peace.  Apparently, this man had more to do than say farewell, he had to do some reconciliation with members of his family. He had to make shalom or peace with them.  

To him, Jesus said that no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.  In those days farmers would hire day labor to plow their fields.  It was more than one man could do and was hard work using a wooden plow.  The overseer or owner of the land would observe the day laborer from a distance.  There would be a great temptation on the part of the day laborer to look back and see how much he accomplished as it would determine how much more he had to do. Such a person was interested in only making a wage and not in performing a good task.  He would not really be devoted to plowing in a correct matter to yield the best results.  Such a person would be immediately fired.  If he looked back, that was the indication his mind was on just getting a job done to collect his wage and not worry about the results. His mind was on other things.  One who focused on what was ahead and not how much he accomplished would not look back.  He would be more concerned about being sure the land was plowed correctly even if he had to work overtime to do it. 

Jesus was saying that if you seek to be His disciple you must not have any distractions that keep you from doing the job you were called to do.  There is a real temptation to look back at how much you accomplished, but if you are truly serving God the results are not important, only that you did your job the way God wanted you to do it.   If you are only interested in results, in the number of souls you’ve won, the size of your ministry, you are looking back and you are not fit for the work God has assigned to you.  That word fit in Aramaic chasach which means to realize the value or importance of something.  This third applicant had problems at home and that disqualified him from service for had he did not realize the value or importance of the work. If he did he would have made peace with his family long ago, now he is going to do it just to get this position.  

This whole story that is recorded focuses on one thing.  You cannot serve God if you do not see chasach, the importance of the work. If there are other things going on that you would rather do, then don’t even attempt to serve God, for your heart will not be completely in it. 

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