Matthew 8:18-22: Pack Your Coffin

If you have your Bible, turn to Matthew chapter 8, verse 18.

If you don’t have your Bible, there are some provided in the seat backs in front of you. Please be reading along, as it is important for you to know that it isn’t just me saying this, but it is coming from the Scriptures.

Matthew 8:18/

In the 1800s there was a missionary named Andrew Milne. He had plans to become a missionary to the New Hebrides Islands near New Zealand, specifically to a tribe that was known to cut off and keep the heads of their enemies as trophies. Every missionary who had ever gone to this tribe before had been killed. Buying one-way passage to the islands, Andrew and his wife packed their belongings in their coffins, prepared to live out the rest of their days there, however many that would be.

James Calvert, another missionary from the same century, committed his life to reaching the peoples of the Fiji islands with the Gospel. As the story goes, on the voyage out the ship’s captain pulled Calvert aside and warned him saying, “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages.” To this Calvert responded, “My good sir, we died before we came here.”

If you are like me, these stories spark something within you. There is something emotional to this thought of giving up everything for a purpose, of being willing to lose our lives for a worthy cause! We like to imagine ourselves in the shoes of these great heroes who practiced a life of radical discipleship to Jesus, but that’s all the further we’re willing to go. We like our comforts of air conditioning and our home region and having family nearby. And that’s okay right? Jesus surely isn’t calling all of his disciples to radical discipleship, right?

In our text this morning, Jesus gives us some difficult sayings about what it means to be his disciple, and he does not go easy on those who are seeking to follow Jesus without having to sacrifice.

Let’s read Matthew 8:18-22 together this morning.

Matthew 8:18–22 ESV

Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

Let’s pray and let’s study this together.

Exposition

Jesus says to sail to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (18)

In response to Jesus healing many people in the verses right before these, a crowd has gathered and, in light of Jesus’ command to the leper to tell no one what has happened, he likely is not wanting too much attention at this point

So he says to his disciples that they were going to sail across the sea to escape the crowds

They would be leaving the Jewish side to go to the Gentile side

But before they go we see a Scribe come to Jesus and essentially say “I want to be your disciple. It doesn’t matter where you go, I want to follow you. Please let me come on your boat with you!” (19-20)

This is somewhat surprising because Matthew almost always shows the scribes as antagonists of Jesus and his disciples, think of the phrase “the scribes and the pharisees” and that should bring up a mental image of the bad guys of the story

But that isn’t what’s happening here, this is a true potential disciple

He’s one who has studied and prepared to be mentored by a teacher

In Jewish practice, a disciple chose which rabbi he wished to follow, and that is what the man is doing.

He may have already examined several others and selected Jesus as the one he wished to study under.

He wants to learn from the master “teacher”

And this remark has overtones of ‘Jesus, this is your lucky day: I have decided to be your disciple.’

To this highly qualified potential disciple Jesus doesn’t say, “We could use a man of your talents! Welcome to the club!”

Instead Jesus says “foxes have dens and birds have their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”

Essentially, “the animals are going to have more comfort than my disciples! Are you ready for that?

Jesus sees the half-hearted commitment of the man and cuts straight to the heart

How far are you willing to go to follow me?

This is probably hyperbole, an exaggeration in order to prove a point.

Jesus’ ministry is going to be a traveling ministry and lifestyle

Paul says something similar, calling himself homeless due to his ministry in 1 Cor 4:11/

Jesus’ point is straightforward:

There will be no comfortable settled life for the one who truly follows Jesus

The Scribe says “I will follow you wherever you go”

and Jesus’ response is, that sounds nice, but will you go this far?

Jesus doesn’t want or allow shallow commitments

He demands that if anyone will be his disciple that they must count the cost to see if he is worth it and then make a radical commitment to forsake everything else for him!

Jesus doesn’t want a shallow commitment.

He wants those who will give up everything to follow him

Matthew then immediately continues by telling us of a disciple who wants to follow, but wants to bury his father first (21-22)

This disciple is most likely part of the wider group of disciples (probably not one of the ones who eventually became the twelve)

We are not told if the father is near death or has already died

If the father is already dead, the son is only asking Jesus to wait for a few hours, but the text doesn’t tell us

Burial duties were a sacred responsibility of children

and the only exceptions were for a high priest or for someone who had taken a Nazirite vow

Both of these had serious responsibilities to remain ritually clean, which includes not touching a dead body

Even regular priests were expected to put the burial of his family above his role as priest

By all appearances his request seems to be completely reasonable and honorable!

But Jesus says something that seems incredibly harsh!

“Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead”

WHAT?!

That’s way more shocking than what he said to the scribe!

To the scribe he just said “it’s going to be a tough life, you ready for that champ?”

To the disciple who wants to bury his father before following Jesus, he’s saying “if you want to be my disciple you must leave the dead to bury the dead. So leave your father behind!”

Surely, Jesus can’t really mean that! Is Jesus even allowed to be harsh?!

But this isn’t the only time Jesus says something like this and he’s recorded in multiple gospels making similar or even stronger statements!

In fact, in Matthew 10:37 he says

Matthew 10:37 ESV

37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Jesus is being that harsh! Why would he be so harsh?!

We tend to try to explain the harshness of the statement away by lessening the brunt of it, but the most likely answer is pretty simple

Jesus’ statement is harsh...

because he intended it to be harsh.

Following Jesus is not meant to be easy! It’s not meant to make you rich and comfortable! It’s not meant to make you comfortable!

Following Jesus is meant to make you holy!

And in our pursuit of Christ we must set everything else the world offers as second best!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian who lived in Nazi Germany, was killed in a concentration camp because he stood firm in his following of Christ!

He had a system of looking at and talking about the ways those who call themselves Christians respond to Christ’s call to follow him

He calls it cheap grace and costly grace

In cheap grace your mind agrees that Jesus really is the Son of God and that he really is the savior of the world, but nothing in your life actually changes. You don’t change your attitude or actions, you don’t sacrifice your minutes, manpower, or money for the sake of Christ and the spread of the Gospel

But costly grace, not only understands the Gospel, but is willing to give up everything for the sake of the Gospel. Those who recognize that the grace of God is costly are the ones who pack their coffins and never look back!

When they do look back they remind themselves that Jesus paid an exorbitant price for their salvation and so they could give up everything for eternity and never be owed a drop of worldly comfort from Christ!

You see, with each of these would be followers there is one distinct difference that ends up placing them both in the same boat:

the first promises too much (what he cannot deliver)

while the second promises too little (what he does not want to sacrifice)

Brothers and sisters, this text is clear

Shallow Christians are not accepted by Jesus as disciples until they have counted the cost and deepened their commitment.

Jesus calls on his followers to Count the Cost!

Both of these men were more sincere than many who attend church regularly but are unwilling to get involved.

Both of these men were likely willing to do far more than most American church members today for the purpose of following Christ!

Yet Jesus still sends them away with a curt, startling demand for a deeper surrender to him.

Too many think they can get into heaven on the basis of a basic “faith” while clinging to the world.

Yet James says clearly that “faith without works is dead” (Jas 2:26);

unless we show by the way we live our lives that Christ is first, we are not disciples.

We are saved by grace apart from works (Eph 2:8–9), but our good works are a necessary proof that we have found faith.

Jesus calls us to sacrifice everything to follow him!

A helpful way to think about this is to think about how you identify yourself

For myself, I am a Christian, American, father, husband, and son. I am a Steeler fan and a novice barbeque-er.

Now, what of those things are the most important to me?

Am I a Steeler fan first or am I a husband first?

If Alicia told me “It’s me or football!”

Am I going to say, “it’s been a great 8 years of marriage, honey. I’ll miss you.”

Or am I willing to give up the Steelers for the sake of my wife?

Similarly, am I an American first or am I a Christian first?

Let’s think about refugees for a second

As an American, I don’t want to see my country change!

I want my nation to flourish and I want my family to flourish in this nation!

I want my tax dollars to be making my existence better!

But as a Christian, I see the nations are coming to us!

When Jesus gave his Great Commission in Matthew 28 he told us to make disciples of every nation and now they’re coming to us!

What incredible opportunity for the light of the Gospel to be shown to some of the most downcast of the whole world!

As a Christian, I see the chance to love and care for the sojourner that God told his people to care for!

These two opinions cannot both exist in reality. They are mutually exclusive.

So I have to decide, am I an American first? or am I a Christian first?

Now think of yourself.

Where do your allegiances lie? Do you have them placed in the proper order of priority?

Where does your commitment to Christ fit in to your commitments to

Your family?

If your family ridiculed you for your faith, would you still come to church?

If your family is pressuring you to miss church so you can spend all day Sunday with them, what would you choose?

If Christmas happened to fall on a Sunday, would we choose to close the church so we could spend time with family?

Your job?

Are you showing more commitment to your job than you are to the church?

Are you willing to lose your job for the sake of living as a Christian?

Your national or political affiliation?

Is it always “America first” in your mind?

OR is it Christ above all?

Brothers and sisters, PACK YOUR COFFIN

Anything we have allowed to hold us back from following Jesus wholeheartedly needs to be tossed aside because it will not fit in our coffin! Only things of eternal significance will come with us when we die!

When you die, what benefit does your family give you? Your parents faith will not save you. Your honoring of them over Christ will not be a positive for you when you come before Him upon death

When you die, what benefit does your job or money give you? The money and pleasure from your work will not grant you entrance to heaven! Your house, car, or pool. Your collection of sports memorabilia any other physical thing you collect, they all will mean nothing to you when you draw your final breath!

When you die, what benefit does your political or national affiliation give you? None of that ultimately matters! All who are Christians will be ultimately united in Christ’s nation!

Set it all aside to follow Christ alone! Don’t think that just because you asked him to wait that he has any obligation to do so! So many people say “well let me do this thing or that thing, and then I’ll settle down and give my life to Christ”. Don’t you realize you aren’t promised tomorrow?

Pack your coffin! Dedicate your life to the work of a Christian! Dedicate your life to honoring Christ in all ways because he does not accept halfhearted disciples!

Jesus makes it clear in this passage that a half-hearted disciple is no disciple at all!

It may seem like I’m beating this point to death, but I need to know that you know! If you are a half-hearted disciple then you are in danger of being rejected by Christ upon your death!

For so long we have had a culture of cheap grace and it terrifies me that we may have generations filled with people who think they’re Christians but all the while they are bound for hell because their allegiances are out of whack and Christ is not above all in their lives!

Hear me clearly, I’m not saying that to follow Christ means you need to abandon your wife and your children and move to Africa. I am saying that maybe means you move with your wife and children to Africa. Maybe that means being willing to let your children to pack their coffins and go to some of the most dangerous places in the world for the cause of Christ.

Maybe that means that you will dishonor your parents or spouse who you dearly wish to honor but to do that in the way they’re asking means dishonoring Christ by forsaking the gathering of his body or ignoring clear calls from Christ to specific ministries

Maybe that means changing your daily habits to intentionally put yourself in the path of those who do not know the good news, (changing where you shop, where you get your gas, or get your hair cut) so that you may get as many chances as possible to share the light of Christ with them

It definitely means that you will not be comfortable.

You will get social anxiety by interacting with strangers, some of whom you’ll have trouble understanding because they’re from another country.

You will fear for your family and their safety

You will face difficult situations with your family members who do not understand or have rejected the Gospel

You will stick out like a sore thumb for representing Christ over a political candidate

But brothers and sisters, that is what it means to follow Christ

He promises that hardship will come to his followers

But he promises that he will be with them in the hardship and he offers a great prize: redemption to God for us, the treasonous rebellious sinners.

He calls his followers to count the cost of discipleship and then to commit to either wholeheartedly following him no matter what happens, or to rejecting him and his kingdom.

There is no middle road of half-hearted discipleship. Jesus has never allowed there to be one.

So will you pack your coffin for an eternal comfort? Or will you cling to your earthly comforts that will only last a couple decades?