Follow Me

When Jesus calls us to be His followers, He doesn’t want much: just everything.

An Unrealistic Call, 8:18-22

Matthew 8:18–22 NKJV

18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. 19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” 20 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.” 21 Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

The Command: Follow Me, 18

The Volunteers, 19-22

The Scribe, 19-20

He will follow “wherever”

The Response: There is no specific where, there is only everywhere

The Other, 21-22

He will follow later

The connotation here is that his father is still alive, not that Jesus is being uncaring in the middle of this man’s grief

The response: There is no later, there is only ever now

The Expectation

Jesus expects His followers to prioritize following Him, wherever and whenever He leads.

Many people find that Jesus’ expects too much of His followers in general and them specifically. But does He really? The next couple of events actually address that question.

Jesus Controls the Physical World, 8:23-27

Matthew 8:23–27 NKJV

23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. 25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” 26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

The Setting, 23

they were crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat and Jesus slept.

The Situation, 24-25

A “great tempest” arose on the sea. How great? Great enough that these men who had grown up on the Sea were filled with fear.

The Solution, 26-27

Jesus arose (literally, stood up) and instructed the weather to change its ways. And it did!

Here we learn in no uncertain terms that Jesus, who created the physical world, also commands the physical world. There is nothing in it that is beyond His control. His disciples marveled at this display. As would we if we had been there.

Jesus Commands the Spiritual World, 8:28-34

Matthew 8:28–34 NKJV

28 When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. 29 And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. 31 So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.” 32 And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water. 33 Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.

There is much we could observe here, but I want to focus on the exchange between Jesus and the demons.

The Recognition, 28-29

They Approached Him, 28

They Knew Him, 29a

they knew Him by name

they knew Him by title

they knew Him by relationship (this is more than we understand)

they knew Him by role (it was He who will eventually consign them to the torments of everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, Mt.25:41.)

The Request, 30-31

Pigs Appropriate

To a Jewish audience, pigs were the embodiment of all that is unclean. (They are not much better to a gentile audience.) As such, they were the perfect host for these demons.

Permission Required

In this situation, these demons could do nothing unless they received permission.

The Response: Go, 32

Jesus gave them permission and they left the men they had been possessing and possessed the pigs.

Here we learn in no uncertain terms that Jesus, who created the spiritual world, also commands the spiritual world. There is nothing in it that is beyond His control.

Having asserted and demonstrated His control over both the physical and spiritual realms, Jesus comes to the one creature who uniquely inhabits both: mankind.

Jesus Confronts the Human Condition, 9:1-8

Matthew 9:1–8 NKJV

1 So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. 2 Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” 3 And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!” 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 7 And he arose and departed to his house. 8 Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

Though this episode is pretty straightforward, there is much we could draw out of it. But I want to focus on some underlying thoughts that are not immediately obvious but definitely impact what we read.

Adam Brought Death, 1-2

Adam’s disobedience opened the floodgates of death and disease that are common to the human experience.

Our sins, following in our first father’s footsteps bring about our own death

Autonomy Brings Death, 1-2

By autonomy, I mean personal prerogative taken to whatever degree we deem appropriate. Lawlessness would be the most natural extreme, but the exercise of any amount of personal prerogative usually runs afoul of the autonomy and personal prerogative of others, frequently in injurious ways.

The fact that Jesus first addresses forgiveness with this man indicates that his condition is either directly or indirectly caused by sin

Law Brings Death, 3

Literal death if you violate it and living death if submit your autonomy to it.

These men would rather leave this man in his condition and have Jesus follow what they thought was right.

Jesus Brings Life, 4-8

He Forgave the man

He Healed the man

The Multitudes Marveled

The Multitudes Glorified God

Here we learn in no uncertain terms that Jesus, who created the mankind to live uniquely and simultaneously in both the physical spiritual world, also commands this unique existence. Our lives and their ailments are rooted in both realities making the life we need and the health we want sometimes complicated. There is nothing in it that is beyond His control.

Jesus confronted the human condition, asserting and demonstrating His ability to to overcome the damage and bondage we bring upon ourselves.

Jesus Calls Us to Follow Him, 9:9

In this context, Matthew represents us as Jesus followers.

Jesus is clear about what He wants: everything.

Our natural response is to think, if not say, that is too much.

Our natural inclination is to deny Him some measure of what He wants and try to follow Him while simultaneously following our own desires.

When we consider all that Jesus is and all that Jesus does, following Him is the only realistic response: so Matthew does, and we should. What else is reasonable?