The Cost of Following Jesus - Matthew 8:18-22

The Cost of Following Jesus

18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.

Reflection: Jesus has started off his ministry by giving plenty of invitation. He has taught the them what life is like in the kingdom. He has demonstrated it not only with words but with deeds. He has shown the disciples it is not just telling them about the kingdom but bringing God's kingdom to be manifest in healing of diseases and the driving out of demons. In God's kingdom, Jesus is Lord, and one word from Jesus, one touch from Jesus is enough to deliver them from sickness, disease and the power of the evil one. Now it's time for some challenge. Jesus calibrates the tension between challenge and invitation better than anyone. He knows we need both.

Today gives them the challenge to follow Him. One of his disciples says I will follow you but first let me go bury my father. And Jesus says follow me and let the dead bury their dead. Is Jesus advocating breaking the 4th commandment to honor your father and mother. Since Jesus came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill the Law the answer is no. So what gives? This is one of those hard sayings of Jesus we have to wrestle with. There is a tension here. The most likely answer is that Jesus knew this was more of an excuse than a legitimate objection.

But that does not take away the inherent struggle that we often face with the challenge in prioritizing our relationship with God and relationship with others especially Family? What I am fairly sure of is there will definitely times we will be misunderstood as we seek to be faithful to both. Where is God calling you to follow him today? It might not be comfortable and it might not even be understood, but as Jesus challenged his disciples he challenges us today too! And he calls us to model challenge and invitation with others we are called to disciple.

Jesus you call us to follow you and let the dead bury their own dead. Help us to understand what that means for each of us. Amen.

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