Rachel Workman: 18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his
disciples to cross to the other side of the lake.
19 Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man[e] has no place even to lay his head.”
21 Another of his disciples said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.”
19 Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man[e] has no place even to lay his head.”
21 Another of his disciples said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.”
Where ever you go, teacher I will follow you.
Those are easy words but would I really? Jesus didn't have a place to call home
or even a bed to sleep in. Would I sleep on the ground with no cover to follow
Jesus in the cold and heat? I like to think my answer is yes. Or would I be
like the man making excuses about needing to return home. It's easy to say now
knowing what we know what we would do. But what about if we didn't know what we
knew? Would we, would I leave it all to follow someone who up until this point
was just a hoped for promise?
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John
Burnett: 18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him,
He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. 19 Then
a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” 20 Jesus
*said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the [a]air have [b]nests, but the Son of Man
has nowhere to lay His head.” 21 Another of the disciples said
to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 22 But
Jesus *said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own
dead.” Jesus didn’t beat around the bush or consider
how his words would make someone feel about Him. He tells this guy who
wants to be a disciple that following Him is more important than burying his
father. He knew the father and called him dead, as in separated from God
and not having eternal life and those who were going to bury him were in the
same predicament of being spiritually dead. A few days of following
Christ is more important than burying the man’s father.
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Allen Michaels: 14 When Jesus came into
Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He
touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on
him. Peter’s mother-in-law gives us a
beautiful example to follow. Her response to Jesus’ touch was to wait on Jesus
and his disciples—immediately. Has God ever helped you through a dangerous
situation? If so, you should ask, “How can I express my gratitude to him?”
Because God has promised us all the rewards of his kingdom, we should look for
ways to serve him and his followers now.
16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed
were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all
the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the
prophet Isaiah:
“He took up our
infirmities
and bore our diseases.”
and bore our diseases.”
Matthew continues to show
Jesus’ kingly nature. Through a single touch, Jesus healed (8-3, 15); when he
spoke a single word, evil spirits fled his presence (8:16), Jesus has authority
over all evil powers and all earthly disease. He also has power and authority
to conquer sin. Sickness and evil are consequences of living in a fallen world.
But in the future, when God removes all sin, there will be no more sickness and
death. Jesus’ healing miracles were a taste of what the whole world will one
day experience in God’s kingdom.
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