078: The Cost of Discipleship: Public Ministry of Jeus from the First Passover to the Second: Gospel Harmony [LivingWeb Library]

078: The Cost of Discipleship

And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

- Matthew 8:20

Book	Matthew	Mark	Luke	John
Passage	8:18-22	Not in this book	Not in this book	Not in this book
Lectionary	Not in the Lectionary
Text	18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. 19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
Manuscripts
Differences
Parallels
Time Frame	Autumn (About Sep-Oct) of 28 A.D. / 780 A.U.C, near the end of his Third Journey, about 1½ years into his public ministry (about half-way through his public minstry).

Quotes

On Verse: 20 - 21 - 22

Matthew 8:20

Reader! art thou a poor man? and dost thou fear God? Then, what comfort must thou derive from the thought, that thou so nearly resemblest the Lord Jesus! ... And as our Lord was now showing forth his eternal Divinity in the miracles he wrought, he seems studious to prove to them the certainty of his incarnation, because on this depended the atonement for sin. Indeed our Lord seems more intent on giving the proofs of his humanity, than of his divinity, the latter being necessarily manifested by the miracles which he was continually working.

- Clarke, Adam, Adam Clarke's Commentary, Matthew 8:20

He would have him understand that his followers must expect poverty and hardships, and be prepared to bear them. Poverty is no disgrace, unless brought upon men by their own fault. The poor resemble the Redeemer in their outward condition, more than the rich. He chooses for them, in this respect, that condition which, when on earth, he chose for himself.

- Family Bible Notes, Matthew 8:20

He will have him weigh well the real nature and the strength of his attachment, whether it be such as will abide in the day of trial.

- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary, Matthew 8:20

- Wesley, John, Notes Upon the New Testament, Vol. 1, on Matthew 8:20

Matthew 8:21

- Spurgeon, C.H., Spurgeon's Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 8:21

Matthew 8:22

It was usual for the Jews to consider a man as dead who had departed from the precepts of the law; and, on this ground, every transgressor was reputed a dead man. Our Lord's saying, being in common use, had nothing difficult in it to a Jew. Natural death is the separation of the body and soul; spiritual death, the separation of God and the soul: men who live in sin are dead to God. Leave the spiritually dead to bury their natural dead. All the common offices of life may be performed by any person; to preach the glad tidings of the kingdom of God is granted but to a few, and to these only by an especial call; these should immediately abandon worldly concerns and employments, and give themselves wholly up to the work of the ministry.

- Clarke, Adam, Adam Clarke's Commentary, Matthew 8:22

The Jews used the word dead often to express indifference towards a thing; or rather, to show that that thing has no influence over us. Thus, to be dead to the world; to be dead to the law Ro 7:4; to be dead to sin Ro 6:11; means that the world, law, and sin, have not influence or control over us; that we are free from them, and as as though they were not.

- Barnes, Albert, New Testament Commentary, Matthew 8:22

The omniscient Saviour saw that such a command was necessary to impress upon that disciple the supreme importance of his service, and the necessity of making every earthly feeling and interest subordinate to it.

- Family Bible Notes, Matthew 8:22

- Wesley, John, Notes Upon the New Testament, Vol. 1, on Matthew 8:22

Much of the concerns of politics, party tactics, committee meetings, social reforms, innocent amusements, and so forth, may be very fitly, described as burying the dead. Much of this is very needful, proper, and commendable work; but still only such a form of business as unregenerate men can do as well as the disciples of Jesus. Let them do it; but if we are called to preach the gospel, let up give ourselves wholly to our sacred calling. Let not the higher worker entangle himself with what worldlings can do quite as well as he can. “Follow me” is a precept which will need all our powers to carry it out; but by grace we will obey.

- Spurgeon, C.H., Spurgeon's Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 8:22

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