Chapter 17 of Luke starts off with Jesus talking about the tug of sin on our lives. He segues into forgiveness and faith (He is teaching His disciples during this part of the chapter) and then as they are traveling to Jerusalem they encounter ten men infected with leprosy. The ten men stood at a distance (as required by law) and called out to Jesus to have pity on them. Jesus instructed them to report to their priests and as they went they were healed! (Another reminder that almost every time Jesus healed someone in the Bible he required a faith action before they were healed)
Now we shift to where Jesus is talking to the Pharisee's about the upcoming Kingdom of God. Jesus reminds them of how quickly His second coming will occur and how life on earth will be shocked at His return. He then reminds them of the judgement of God during the days of Noah as well as the punishment delivered to the cities of Sodom. Then comes the deliberate reminder from Jesus's lips, "Remember Lot's wife."
Lot was Abraham's nephew, (yes, that Abraham) and had been a first-hand witness to God's faithfulness over the years. The faith, and devotion to God could not have been a secret to Lot's wife. During a time in the world where few people had such a godly example in their family this was no small privilege. Yet the story of Lot takes a terrible turn when he moves into the city of Sodom. Sodom was the most evil of all places and yet this is where Lot and his family remained and set their roots. God did not ignore the sinful nature of the people and singled out the city for destruction. We know from Genesis 18 that God had told Abraham that if there were ten godly men He would spare the city. (I've often wondered if Abraham did the math and figured that at least Lot and his family would constitute enough people of faith to save the city. Abraham was wrong.)
Fast forward to the appearance of God's angels to rescue Lot and his family due to the fact that God could not find at least ten people who honored Him. Yet even with this message straight from God's messengers Lot and his family hesitated to leave the city. The pull of sin had infected their hearts to the point of being immune to the truth of God. The angels had to physically pull them out of the city (Lot, his wife and their two daughters - the daughter's husbands refused to go . . . ) Once out of the city the angels told them to flee to the nearby mountains but Lot again resisted. Let us go to the town right in front of us on the plain, the town of Zoar. The angels agreed to this request but gave them strict instructions. As the light was dawning on the plain they were told NOT to turn around and look at the city they had just left. Then God sent fire from heaven and it destroyed everything on the plain (except for Zoar), including animals, people, and vegetation. But Lot's wife couldn't resist looking back at the land she loved and God immediately turned her into a pillar of salt. She became a monument, frozen in the moment of her rebellion and sin against God, a testimony to the fact that the wages of sin is death and there can be no room in the heart of a Christ follower for the things of this world. We must hold on loosely to this world and the trinkets that it offers.
"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” - C.S. Lewis
I wonder how long the monument of Lot's wife lasted on the plains next to the town of Zoar. Months? Years? And I wonder how Lot and his daughters felt each time they passed this monument to their loved one's failure to obey the words of God. She died for she didn't truly believe. We know this because of her hesitation to leave her sinful home and then her failure to believe the words of God's messengers as they were being rescued. There was no part of her heart that wanted to reside in the place of God, her heart remained captured by the allure of Sodom. God honored her request, just like He will honor our desire if we don't want a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus. Yet the choice seems so simple from the distance of history. Looking at this story through the prism of our experience this seems like a easy choice, be rescued with your family and have a brand new start in a place not corrupted by sin and its effects or remain trapped, enthralled by the gaudy promises of the liar himself. (John 8:44)
Remember Lot's wife.
