The Would-be Followers of Jesus

Today's Reflections 

      

 

The Would-be Followers of Jesus

Mt 8:18-22

¹⁸When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side. ¹⁹A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” ²⁰Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” ²¹Another of [his] disciples said to him, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” ²²But Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”

I WILL FOLLOW YOU. Of his own accord a scribe presents 

himself to Jesus; he is determined to follow Jesus. He has not been called to discipleship by Jesus, as in the case of the first disciples; he himself volunteers. The scribe follows the tradition in Israel that says that the disciples choose their “rabbi” whom they follow, serve, and learn from. But in Jesus’ case, the disciples do not choose him; he himself chooses his disciples (cf Jn 15:16).

Jesus takes this occasion to teach the people the cost of discipleship. He may be seen as powerful in words and in actions and people flock to him, but this does not mean that following him is a picnic. He refuses the devil’s temptation to make his mission easy by using his power as Son of God. He chooses to be an itinerant preacher, leaving the security of home in Nazareth. He and his disciples live upon the charity of well-disposed people who minister to them out of their substance (cf Lk 8:2). Jesus does not enjoy the security that God affords animals and birds. Indeed he has nowhere to rest his head, the minimum comfort a person can have.

Jesus does not turn away the scribe. He just wants to be honest with him. Following Jesus means taking his simple and meager lifestyle. More, it means carrying one’s cross!

With their blood, the martyrs of Rome

watered the seed of Christianity

at the heart of the Roman Empire.

They knew and paid the price of discipleship!