Luke 9:62
“And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Context
Jesus speaks this to one of several would-be followers as He sets His face toward Jerusalem; the man had asked first to go home and bid farewell to his household.
What Does Luke 9:62 Mean?
Jesus uses a vivid farming image to teach about wholehearted commitment to the kingdom of God. A farmer plowing a field must keep his eyes fixed ahead; if he looks back, his furrows go crooked and the work is ruined. So it is, Jesus says, with those who would follow Him while their hearts remain divided, longing for what they have left behind.
This saying comes at the close of a series of would-be followers, including one who wanted to first return home to say farewell. Jesus is not condemning ordinary family love or responsibility; He is addressing the danger of a divided heart -- of putting one's hand to the work of the kingdom while continually glancing backward toward an old life. Such backward longing makes a person "not fit" for the kingdom, not because God rejects them, but because divided attention cannot do the work well. The call of Christ asks for focus and forward motion. Like the plowman who trusts the path ahead and keeps his eyes on it, the disciple is called to set the hand to God's work and not be drawn back by regret or hesitation. Following Jesus means moving forward with steady purpose, leaving behind whatever would pull our hearts from the task before us.
In the Original Language
The word arotron means "plough." The phrase blepon eis ta opiso -- "looking to the things behind" -- describes a backward gaze that ruins the work and reveals a divided heart.
Cross References
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,”
- Philippians 3:13
“But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”
- Genesis 19:26
“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
- Hebrews 12:1
Application
Follow Christ with a forward-looking, undivided heart, refusing to let longing for the past pull you off course.