Luke
9:57 – 62
Take
due cognizance of the cost of discipleship
Luke 9:57-62 New King James Version (NKJV) -
57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”58 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.”
59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 8:19-22 New King James Version (NKJV) -
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.”
While Luke gospel mentions “someone”, the parallel account in Matthew gospel says “scribe”. The latter description is the accurate rendition, i.e. a “scribe” is a better description than just “someone.”
Therefore, if the person was a scribe, it would
appear that he was an informed person and would have been familiar with Christ’s
ministry by being on his trail. So his
request to become one of Jesus’ intimate associates was not out of place; and
Jesus did not reject that request, for He had enjoined that whoever made a
request deserved a granting. (Matt 5:42)
However, Jesus summarily explained to the scribe the
uneasy life of a disciple by saying, “Foxes have holes and
birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His
head.” That was probably too hard
for the scribe to bear. The scribe
certainly lived a life of comfort – far better than that of the fisherman like
Peter, or a tax collector like Matthew.
Though the scriptures do not tell whether or not the scribe eventually
became one of Christ’s disciples, the inference may be correct that he did
not. But certainly Jesus did not reject
the scribe as a disciple; and He would never have rejected his proposal, for He
would in no wise cast away anyone coming to him. The confirmation of this all-embracing love
is the healing of ALL the sick that came to him. (Matt 12:15, 15:30)
And Jesus would not have commandeered the second applicant to “follow Him” but the man must have made a request like the scribe did. Compare Matthew 8:21 with Luke 9:59. Matthew’s account here is more in the character of Jesus than Luke’s parallel account. There is no compulsion in Jesus’ relation with others, even though He is the Lord. This character is attested to when Jesus rebuked John and James for asking to call down fire to destroy those who rejected them in Samaria. (Luke 9:53-55)
The lesson from the gospel narrative of
the three applicants for discipleship is that the ministry of the gospel of God’s Kingdom is not merriment and wealth acquisition; it is rather a tough
ministry though with a glorious future in the new earth society wherein those
who endured to the end will have everlasting life – the real life. (I Tim
6:17-19) It is not a ministry of excuses
and rationalizations; it is a ministry of wholehearted
service by unrelenting followers of the Master and Great Shepherd. (Deut 6:5, Deut 1:36, Josh 14:8-10)
CF
Monye
1
November 2018
