My Walk Through the Book of Matthew by Annette Godtland

The Cost of Discipleship (Matthew 8:18-22)

18And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. 19Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go."

20And 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."

21Then another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."

22But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

Again there are multitudes. At the end of Matthew 4, Jesus healed many people and great multitudes followed Him. Matthew 5 starts with Jesus seeing the multitudes, Him going up the mountain, and His disciples coming to Him. On the mountain, He taught them many things and I was wondering who He was teaching: the multitudes or His disciples. In Matthew 8, when Jesus came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. Jesus healed a leper, healed the Centurion's servant, healed Peter's mother-in-law, and healed the demon-posessed and sick of all who were brought to Him. And still Jesus had great multitudes about Him.

I read this a couple times, wondering about the connection between the great multitudes and the disciples who Jesus talked to here. Actually, I wonder if the multitude are disciples, or at least disciple "wanna be's". That would fit in with the description that the multitudes followed Him and would resolve my question I had earlier about whether He was teaching the multitude or disciples, as He may have been teaching the multitudes who were His disciples.

It seems that a great multitude was always following Jesus. Were they trying to be His disciples? Jesus' answers to their statement of dedication and personal request seemed kind of rude to me, out of character for Jesus. Why would Jesus seem to be trying to discourage discipleship rather than encourage it? Was Jesus just trying to winnow out the disciple wanna be's from the true disciples?

Being a disciple is more than just hanging out with the cool crowd, going along with whatever you see everyone else doing, following the leader wherever he is going. Jesus does not want you to jump into the role of discipleship blindly. Go in knowing there will be hardships so you aren't discouraged later.

Also, being a disciple means it must be your first priority. What Jesus commands, you do. Jesus' commands shouldn't wait. I see myself falling into this trap quite often. There are things I really would like to do (whether it's discipleship, or even something I've always wanted to try), but I tell myself I will do it after I finish this other thing I am in the middle of, or I will do it next weekend, or I will do it when things ease up a bit for the summer, or I will do it when my daughter is more independent, or I will do it after I retire. I procrastinate. Will I ever do it?

My dictionary defines disciple as one who subscribes to the teachings of a master and assists in spreading them. Does Jesus call us all to be disciples? Are we all cut out to be disciples? Jesus doesn't want us to try to be His disciples till we are ready for it. As with any commitment, first learn everything there is about the new role you are to take so you aren't disillusioned about what to expect. Next, make it a priority, so it doesn't get put off. Otherwise it is not a real commitment.

I don't think Jesus was just trying to be rude to these two disciples. But He wanted to make sure they were ready to be disciples before they committed themselves to it. I find it interesting that Jesus demonstrated how he could command someone to be well, and they became well. He commanded demons to leave a person and they left. But when He commanded his disciples to cross to the other side, His command was met with a request to take care of something else first. God could have extended Jesus' power over man as well, but He gave man freedom of choice. But the right choice is complete, aware obedience to the commands of Jesus.