Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

The Cost of Following Jesus

18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.

19 And a scribe came up 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 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

As we move on to the next series of miracles performed at the hands of Jesus, Matthew first transports us to the Sea of Galilee where Jesus is standing along the road, it’s at this point that Matthew sets the stage for what will take place in verses 23-27, which is when Jesus calms a storm while on the Sea of Galilee.

But before Matthew moves on, he shares with us an account of Jesus' interaction with two of his disciples.

You can think of this as sort of an interlude between Matthew’s list of miracles here in chapter 8.

So let’s take a closer look at this text and read again verse 18,

18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.

When Jesus sees that he's surrounded by a growing crowd of followers he orders them to go over to the other side of lake.

Despite his orders a scribe remains behind and approaches Jesus and says, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

And also another disciple remains and says to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."

When Jesus sees that he's surrounded by a growing crowd of followers he orders them to go over to the other side of lake.

Despite his orders a scribe remains behind and approaches Jesus and says, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

And also another disciple remains and says to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."

So when Jesus sees that he's surrounded by a growing crowd of followers he orders them to go over to the other side of lake.

Now you might ask, “Why?”

Why does Jesus order this crowd to go over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee?

While this text doesn't give us the answer, I think it's a fair assumption that Jesus intended to rest.

In fact, just a few verses later in verse 25 we see Jesus asleep in a boat with his close disciples, and we'll also see later in chapter 14 that Jesus similarly withdraws from the crowds to a desolate place in order to be by himself.

There are also other times when Jesus withdraws from the crowds in order to teach his disciples, like he does during his famous Sermon on the Mount back in Matthew chapter 5, despite the crowds still seemingly listening in.

We can also pretty easily discern where Jesus meant when he ordered the crowd to go to the other side of the lake.

Luke tells us that Jesus is standing alongside a road, and likely near the shoreline in Capernaum.

Now, Capernaum was located on the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee.

And when we read ahead in verse 28 we read, "And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs."

Or as Luke in chapter 8, verse 26 records it, "then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee."

So at this point in the story Jesus has presumably instructed the gathering crowd to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to the country of the Gadarenes.

But despite his orders a scribe stays behind, approaches Jesus and says there in verse 19, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

So this is the setting of here in verses 18-22.

Now, if you’ll recall we’ve talked about scribes before in the past, so I’ll just briefly describe who these men where.

At this point in history the title scribe was essentially synonymous with term lawyer, which means they were typically interpreters and teachers of the law of Moses (Torah).

They were the originators of the synagogue service, where they would read and explain the Scriptures to their fellow Jewish people.

Many of them belonged to the party of the Pharisees, but as a whole were distinct from them.

And although the majority of them opposed Jesus, some did believe, as we see here in our text today.

And on the outset this particular scribe seems to make quite an encouraging declaration, he says, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

But Jesus responds in such a manner that there’s little doubt in my mind that this man was, at least at first, probably left disheartened and dismayed.

In verse 20 we read,

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.”

Many of them belonged to the party of the Pharisees, but as a whole were distinct from them.

And although the majority of them opposed Jesus, some did believe, as we see here in our text today.

This

Now, despite his orders a scribe stays behind, approaches Jesus and says, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

And in verse 21 we read that yet another disciple remains and says to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."

If you’re following along in your Bible there’s probably a heading above verse 18 which reads something like this, “The Cost of Discipleship” or “The Cost of Following Jesus”.

Which is precisely what Jesus is pointing out here to this scribe.

He’s telling him to take his proclamation seriously, to soberly think upon what he’s committing himself to.

In essence, he’s telling him to count the cost.

We see similar statements by Jesus throughout the Gospel accounts.

One of which is in , starting in verse 25, so turn with me, if you would, to and let’s read it together,

The Cost of Discipleship

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Jesus explains to us that there is great cost associated with following him.

Now a much smaller and more personal example of what Jesus is doing here is when I’m often asked to take someone on a hike up the local volcano here on our island.

It’s somewhat of a long and hard physical feat so my immediate thought is almost always, “Does this person realize what they’re asking?” or “Does this person realize what such a hike will entail?”,

“Are they willing to endure bad weather?”, “Are they willing to keep hiking even if their feet or muscles hurt?”

Despite his orders a scribe stays behind, approaches Jesus and says, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

And in verse 21 we read that yet another disciple remains and says to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."

And if I’ve never gone on a hike with this particular person before, it’s a real gamble to take them on such a grueling trek.

I don’t know if they’re going to give-up after the first day, or come to realize they’ve bitten off more than they can chew halfway into it or not.

So what I try to do on the outset of our conversation is give them a sober understanding of what their request will demand of them, which is precisely what Jesus is doing here.

He wants this scribe to take seriously what he’s saying, and to understand what his commitment will look like.

Jesus didn’t simply intend to take the wind out of his sails just to be mean spirited, no he cares enough for this man to help him think through his commitment, to rightly understand what following Jesus will look like, that he might have right expectations.

That’s why we read there in verse 20 where Jesus says,

“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Jesus is warning this scribe that following him will be costly, that following him will be difficult, that following Jesus may mean that foxes and bird’s will have better accommodations than his disciples.

That following Jesus is not a one way ticket to having your best life now.

And in this particular conversation Jesus emphasizes that not even the Son of Man has a place to lay his head, therefore if not even the Son of Man has a place to call home, his disciples should expect no better reality.

Now what’s particularly important to notice is the title that Jesus attributes to himself.

He calls himself the ‘Son of Man’.

He says that not even the Son of Man has a place to lay his head.

Now what’s interesting about Jesus’ use of this title is that he pulls it straight out of the Book of Daniel, and that this title carries with it meaning that this scribe would have immediately understood.

Yet for many of us, I think we can miss its significant altogether.

So turn with me, if you would, to the Book of Daniel in chapter 7, starting in verse 9. We’re going to jump into the middle of one of Daniels prophetic visions of the heavenly throne room,

The Ancient of Days Reigns

9 “As I looked,

thrones were placed,

and the Ancient of Days took his seat;

his clothing was white as snow,

and the hair of his head like pure wool;

his throne was fiery flames;

its wheels were burning fire.

10  A stream of fire issued

and came out from before him;

a thousand thousands served him,

and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;

the court sat in judgment,

and the books were opened.

We see here a description of the Father sitting on his throne in all his glory, and then if we skip down to verse 13 we read of another person coming forward,

The Son of Man Is Given Dominion

13 “I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven

there came one like a son of man,

and he came to the Ancient of Days