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Jesus calls us to follow him

Read Matthew 8:18–22

Jesus wants a certain type of person to follow him. His disciples must continue the task that he gives them.

Here, Matthew had a section that was not about miracles. He told about two talks. They explained how to be a real disciple. Jesus was going to suffer (Matthew 8:17). His disciples must suffer too. (Compare Matthew 5:10–12.) Anyone who wants to be a disciple must understand this. (Read Matthew 8:18–20.) To follow Jesus must be the most important thing for that person. (Read Matthew 8:21–22.)

Jesus had been working hard. Maybe he felt that he needed a rest. Maybe he did not want people to get too excited about his work. Anyway, he decided to go away from the crowd. (Read Matthew 8:18.)

As he left, a teacher of the Law came to him. He told Jesus that he wanted to be a disciple. These teachers were usually against Jesus. (Read Matthew 5:20; Matthew 6:2, 5,16 and 15:1.) But this was not always true. (Read Matthew 13:52 and 23:34.) This man even said that he would change his way of life. (Read Matthew 8:19.) But he only called Jesus ‘Teacher’. This may show that he did not understand who Jesus was. (Read Matthew 8:1–4 and Matthew 8:5–13 again. These men understood about Jesus much more clearly.) But read Matthew 8:20. Jesus tested the man. He had not thought enough about being a real disciple.

Another man wanted to be a disciple of Jesus. We read about him in Matthew 8:21–22. This man had thought too much about being a real disciple! He was willing to be a disciple. But he was very aware of something else. He had other responsibilities too. In the end, he refused to follow Jesus.

‘ Lord, first let me bury my father.’ We may not understand what this man meant. Maybe his father had just died. He wanted to go to the funeral, of course. But, something else was more likely. He was probably saying that he had responsibilities to his parents. This might continue for some time. He could not follow Jesus until his parents were dead. Jesus does not tell us to ignore such responsibilities. But he does teach us that real disciples must put him first in their lives.

Questions

  • Have you said: ‘Not now, Lord, but later’? Is there something that you should do now? Write it down. Then ask God to help you to do it.
  • Sometimes a person shows great excitement. What is the difference between excitement and trust?
  • What do these verses mean to you? Is God calling you to do some special work for him?

Important truths

The Son of Man

In Matthew 8:20, Jesus called himself ‘the Son of Man’. This was the first time in the Gospels that Jesus did this. (Note: The Gospels are the first 4 books of the NT.) The OT mentioned this name in several passages. In Psalm 8:4, it referred to men who are weak. They have no power. They trust God completely. The same use of the name is in the first chapters of Ezekiel. But it is different in Daniel 7:13. It has another reference to a ‘son of man’. This seems to be a title for the Messiah. Jesus wanted people to think. This was the most likely reason for this phrase. Jesus was showing them slowly who he really was.

This title comes 29 times in Matthew’s Gospel:

Here, Jesus said that people would refuse to accept him.

  • This began at his birth. There was no room at the hotel.
  • The story continued. The people in Judea refused to accept him. (Read John 15:18.)
  • Many people in Galilee stopped following him. (Read John 6:66.)
  • The people in Gadara asked him to leave. (Read Matthew 8:34.)
  • The people in Samaria refused to let him stay. (Read Luke 9:53.)
  • All peoples in the earth refused him. (Read Matthew 27:23.)
  • Finally, even God the Father left him. (Read Matthew 27:46.)