Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head

 

 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.  Then a certain scribe came 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."  Then another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."  

Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.  And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves.  But He was asleep.  Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"  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.  So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?" 

 

- Matthew 8:18–27 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus had come down from the mountain after preaching the Sermon on the Mount, great multitudes followed Him.  And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."  Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."  And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."  The centurion answered and sad, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.  But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.  For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me.  And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."  When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!  And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the sons of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you."  And his servant was healed that same hour.  Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever.  So He touched her hand, and the fever left her.  And she arose and served them.  When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed.  And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses." 

 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.  Then a certain scribe came 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."  Then another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."    My study Bible comments that since the term Son of Man is a reference to the Messiah (Daniel 7:13), it's an expression of both His humanity and His divinity.  Here this refers to Christ's human condition.  In Matthew 25:31-33 it is used to describe Christ's divine authority.  Regarding the commend to "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead," my study Bible says that Jesus is not negating the command to honor parents, but rather is teaching us to put the things of the Kingdom as our highest priority.  Those who ignore this priority are spiritually dead.  Let us note that these verses follow upon the last in yesterday's reading, in which Jesus spoke of His human condition, despite His miraculous ability to heal illness.  Quoting from Isaiah 53:4 (see also 1 Peter 2:24), the text tells us that Jesus' use of the term Son of Man fulfills the prophecy of the suffering Messiah.  As Christ suffers with humanity, we who follow Him must be prepared for our own at to,es difficult choices made for the sake of serving God.

 

Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.  And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves.  But He was asleep.  Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"  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.  So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"   My study Bible comments that the Lord's mastery over creation is another sign that He is the Messiah and is divine.  Commands to the sea and waves can only be given by God (Job 38:8-11; Psalms 66:5-6, 107:29).  Jesus was asleep because, as a human being, He needed rest.  In Christ's Incarnation, as has been the theme throughout this reading, Christ assumed all the natural actions and needs of the flesh, of which sleep is one.   Additionally, this image of Christ and His disciples in a boat is one traditionally used to illustrate the Church.  My study Bible comments that God both permits storms and delivers us through them, so that we can see God's protection more clearly.  Christ's rebuke of the storm is also an illustration of His calming the tempests in the human soul.

 

 How does Christ calm our tempests?  There is first of all the understanding of the trust which we put in Christ.  This is not the kind of trust in which we confide our deepest desires to Christ and expect Him to answer every prayer as we hope He will.  It is, effectively, the kind of trust in which we accept that whatever our circumstances there is something we can gain from them by trusting in Him even to guide us through what seems perilous, or horrific.  If we think back to the early Christians, we know of the terrible persecutions they endured for their faith, submitting to martyrdom as did He.  When we have times to make difficult choices, such as the man who had to choose between discipleship to Christ and going back to bury his father, we also begin to understand what it is to bring the Kingdom into this world and carry our own crosses.  We will come across the heartbreaking and difficult understanding that there are those who will hinder our capacity to do that, with demands which we cannot meet.  This seems harsh, but we need to consider that the world we live in imposes harsh circumstances on everyone at times, whether or not we can trace them to the struggle to serve God in a direct or obvious sense.  Indeed, we cannot be surprised at the difficulties that come in opposition to Christ and to Christ working in us and among us.  What we turn to Christ for is the kind of peace that is meant to teach us where our true roots are, where we find ourselves in the security of love, and how we can follow His love.  The Cross is the symbol of what is possible through God's work in our lives and in our world, turning grim prospects into a victory of spiritual truth and meaning, of Resurrection.  On the other side of the tempest, we don't know what awaits. We live in a world which in many ways reminds us of opposition to Christ, and yet we hold to His love for us.  He has lived as one of us, experienced what we do, and loves us.  In this we must trust.

 

No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God

 

 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face.  And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.  But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.  And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?"  But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.  For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them."  And they went to another village.

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, 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."  Then He said to another, "Follow Me."  But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."  And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."  But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

 

- Luke 9:51-62 

 

On Saturday, we read that the next day after the Transfiguration, when Jesus, John, James, and Peter had come down from the mountain, a great multitude met Him.  Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, "Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child.  And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.  So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."  Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you?  Bring your son here."  And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him.  Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.  And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.  But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, "Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men."  But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying. Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.  And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.  For he who is least among you all will be great."  Now John answered and said, "Master we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us."  But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side."

 

  Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face.  And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.  But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.  And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?"  But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.  For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them."  And they went to another village.  Now that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem, He has steadfastly set His face to go toward His Passion.  From Galilee, He must pass through Samaria.  Let us understand that He is headed toward rejection by His own people, and so in a sense, this rejection by the Samaritans is a preparation for the disciples.  Clearly, as Jesus says, they must learn "what manner of spirit" they are of.  They will face an incredible amount of rejection, both in Jerusalem and in their missions and ministries afterward, in the Church.  But their mission will always be to follow their Master, who has come not to destroy men's lives, but to save them.  See John 3:17.  They must learn to move on, as did Jesus, to another village.  We know Jesus' instructions for encountering rejection among the Jews (Luke 9:4); here they are among the Samaritans.

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, 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."  Then He said to another, "Follow Me."  But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God."  And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house."  But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."  My study Bible comments on this passage that, as Jesus responds to those who would like to follow Him, He teaches that there is a cost to discipleship.  He reveals three of them.  First, the disciple relinquishes personal or earthly security; that is, if the Lord has nowhere to lay His head, then neither will the disciple.  Second, there is nothing, not even the honor due to parents, that can be an obstacle to serving the Lord.  Finally, a disciple cannot delay in accomplishing the good that Christ demands.

 

These notes on discipleship in our last passage sound very harsh at first reading.  Even Jesus' commands sound like they could be very harsh:  "Let the dead bury their own dead," speaking of one's father, and, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God," speaking of saying farewell to those at one's house.  But these are commands that reflect, first of all, the urgency of the time.  Jesus has "steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem."  It is the time for Him to act, His hour (John 12:27).  We must remember that God's timing is crucial to this picture.  We're told in Ecclesiastes, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven" (see Ecclesiastes 3).  This is the time for Christ's purpose, His hour of glory and glorification.  It is the time of the Cross.  But so it is in our own lives and with our own purposes set forth by God.  There are times when we're to act and to respond.  Everyone makes choices for how they are to serve God, and once that choice is made there is a hierarchy of necessities that one must face.  Do I go home now for a visit, or do I heed this call in my heart and during my prayer to act as it seems God is commanding me?  One cannot suggest that every single impulse is from God, but there are times when prayer and discernment, when speaking with pastors, and asking brothers and sisters in the Church to pray for oneself and one's choices, all add up to what seems like a powerful call, a decision to be made, even (and perhaps often) when we seem to have compelling reasons to delay, turn the other way, and put this off.  The story of Jonah is illustrative of this point.  Indeed, the first chapter of that story is all about Jonahs' disobedience, his refusal of the call from God (Jonah 1).  Similarly to Jonah, there are those of us who are aware we have put off a decision repeatedly put forward to us during prayer, and have experienced the bad outcome as another lesson from God, another pronouncement of Jesus' statement that we're not to look back once we've put our hand to the plow.  In terms of family obligations, it is often surprising how one will find that things work out, with family members much more obliging than we thought possible, or circumstances creating opportunities for us to know it was better that we responded to that call.  Oftentimes, it happens otherwise.  Our family obligation might disappoint ourselves and even those whom we sought to please, and God's call was the better priority in retrospect.  These are small examples from experience, but suffice to say that God calls us where love calls us.  We're not asked to treat family and loved ones poorly.  Nor are we asked sacrifices that will not in the long run benefit us and our lives overall -- especially in terms of values gained, character expanded, and the greatest love part of our internal experience.  While these words in today's Gospel reading sound harsh, in effect they are Christ's words of love, telling us about priorities and the values of the Kingdom.  There will be times -- and one may testify that this is so -- when it seems we are throwing away important relationships and norms in order to follow what seems like a fool's errand that is the product of our faith.  But those times have embedded within them a prescience we're not always in touch with, and that is truly where faith comes in, even how our faith grows.  God asks of us courage, even as Christ shows His courage.  Sometimes we are being asked for a greater humility than we knew.   Let us consider the help we have to make good decisions and find our way with faith.  Remember that the God we serve is love, whose kindness and mercy and grace is our guiding light.  For we, too, must know what manner of spirit we are of.  Ultimately our choices are about the values we wish to help to bear into the world, the greater love that might not make sense to the world, but which we nonetheless can know.

 

 

Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead

 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.  Then a certain scribe came 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."  Then another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.  And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves.  But He was asleep.  Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"  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.  So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"

- Matthew 8:18-27

Yesterday we read that when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."  And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."  The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.  But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.  For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me.  And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."  When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!  And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the sons of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you."  And his servant was healed that same hour.  Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw His wife's mother lying sick with a fever.  So He touched her hand, and the fever left her.  And she arose and served them."  When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed.  And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses."

And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.  Then a certain scribe came 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."   My study bible comments here that since the term Son of Man refers to the Messiah (Daniel 7:13), it expresses both Christ's humanity and His divinity.  Here it is referring to Christ's human condition.  Elsewhere (25:31-33) Jesus uses the term to describe His divine authority.

Then another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."     As always, Jesus is not negating a commandment (to honor parents).  But He is teaching us to put the things of the Kingdom as our highest priority.  Those who ignore this priority, my study bible says, are spiritually dead.

Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.  And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves.  But He was asleep.  Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"  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.  So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"  Immediately after the text uses the name "Son of Man" for Jesus, indicating that He is both human and divine, this event is given in which both His humanity and divinity are on display.  Christ's mastery over creation is another sign that He is the Messiah and is divine.  My study bible suggests that commands to the sea and waves can only be issued by God (Job 38:8-11; Psalms 66:5-6, 107:29).  But Jesus was asleep because He is a man, and as human being, He needs rest.  My study bible says that in His Incarnation, Jesus assumed all the natural actions of the flesh, which includes sleep.  This image of Jesus and His disciples in a boat is a traditional one used to illustrate the Church itself.  My study bible adds that God both permits storms and delivers us through them, so that we can see God's protection more clearly.  Jesus' rebuke of the storm, it says, also illustrates His capacity to calm the tempests in the human soul.

I am one who can testify to Christ's capacity to calm the tempests in the human soul, as my study bible puts it.  As one who has met with frequent tempests of the soul, I can say with a certain authority that this is indeed the truth.  It reminds me of the man blind from birth who was healed by Jesus in John's 9th chapter.  When the disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (thinking that sin must be the direct cause of such misfortune), Jesus replied, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him" (John 9:1-3).  Just as one calamity might be grounds for the work of God, so the tempests in our own souls might also be grounds for Christ's work in us, to calm what needs calming and heal what needs healing.  This ties in nicely with the first part of today's reading, in which we are reminded that in all things and through all things, we may prioritize the Kingdom first, as my study bible comments.  It sets us free from the immediate storm, disaster, hardship, or sorrow -- and also offers up to us answers we might not get otherwise, giving us baby steps out of our problems.  If we are capable of putting aside our immediate fears or struggles, even for a moment, and focusing on Christ, setting ourselves to prayer, we might find a better way, an acceptance, and a plan for moving forward into the future.  Indeed, for some of us, disaster might just be the way to God's kingdom, for we would not have turned to Christ for answers otherwise.  Hence, the wisdom in my study bible's comments regarding the storms that Christ both permits and delivers us through.  In fact, if experience is anything to go by, there are a number of ways in which disasters and personal dilemmas may offer us a great way to go forward in life, particularly if we're mainly or primarily concerned with spiritual growth.  This may not be a recipe for worldly success, or the greatest social impressions that may be sought, but it is a way to deepen faith and to growth within the reality that Christ wants for us.  And this number of avenues forward and into new life is multiplied through all those facets developed through the Church and historical worship through time, such as praying with the saints, and the angels who help to guide us, the Scriptures of both Old and New Testaments, and our fellow faithful.  A crisis is a time for turning over life with its "shoulds" and "would-haves" and "could-have-beens" to an open place for inquiry, a freedom we didn't allow ourselves before, and an open mind and heart to God and God's direction that just wasn't possible without it.  I find that when we come up against a wall of the impossible, it is most likely that our direction needs changing, or our expectations need to be re-examined, and possibly our goals and desires re-evaluated in light of God's sight and influence.  That is the time we turn to prayer and find our way.  Often we come up against a wall not necessarily of our own making, but one that others might put before us in the form of social rejection.  There may be a line which we can't cross and remain within a particular social circle.  For the earliest Christian martyrs, that line meant death when responding by refusal to worship Caesar rather than Christ.  In a modern context, there are other ways in which people may stand in the way of proper priority in worship, often demanding that our freedom to choose Christ first be surrendered to priorities which don't recognize that essential choice.  Like the young man whom Christ tells to "let the dead bury their own dead," we also may find ourselves having to leave behind certain groups of people whom we think are indispensable, but we'll find ourselves called forward if we let prayer be our guide, and put Christ's Kingdom first.  These things aren't easy to do, and they are not simple.  Like Jesus Himself, we won't evade all of the storms of human life and what it means to be fully human.  But we will be led through them, and we will find our dependence grow upon God.  It is a question of putting our trust in this particular basket, giving Christ the keys to our souls and our choices, and setting ourselves free through God's truth (John 8:32).  This just might be the time of our greatest freedom, a realization that we can choose differently, and are not bound through the things we think must be done or observed.  It is time to give Christ the chance to show us the way forward, to let go and be guided by praying with the saints, to accept change that otherwise seems impossible.  Let us consider His way when no other ways seem to work.  It might just be time for a change in priorities, an unloosing of even the ties that bind.