Matthew 8:18-22
“Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 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. And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.”
How many remember the story of Peter walking on the water with Jesus? (Matthew 14:22-33) I know I have heard it preached dozens of times, and each time I can’t help but be impressed with the boldness and tenacity of Peter to step out and grab the moment. I don’t know what his motivation was, but for some reason he felt compelled to leave the safety of the boat with all his fellow disciples and venture out on his own to be with Jesus. And for a while, he was a complete hero. But as the waves tossed and turned, Peter lost sight of Jesus, panicked and sunk into the sea. But here’s the interesting part. Jesus saved him, but instead of commending him for his initial bravery, he scolded him for not having enough faith. He asked him straight up, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Peter was on his way to an unparalleled victory and allowed it to be undone by a momentary lack of faith. He would eventually do better, but not that day. He needed a bit more toughening up.
Speaking of tough. Of all the tough saying of Christ, today’s discourse with two would-be followers has to be some of the toughest. Here we have two individuals seemingly willing to leave the comfort of home and familiar surroundings to jump up and follow Jesus to destinations unknown, only to be reminded that following Him isn’t for the faint of heart. To their credit, they appeared to have the right attitude. After all, Jesus was the Messiah, and they wanted a messiah sized blessing. However the Lord informed them, to receive something that special requires more than token appearances at convenient gatherings. Jesus was just letting them know what it takes to truly be His disciples. He gave them an all or nothing proposition.
Without reading anything additional into the text, we can easily conclude Jesus foresaw great hardships ahead for Himself and His followers. He clearly understood His calling and what was in store for Him. The prophets of old had already prophesied of the pains and agony He must suffer. There would be the testing and trying of His flesh. To receive the glory of His glorious end, the Father gave Him an all or nothing proposition. Consequently, anyone and everyone following Him needed to have the same disposition. Since He knew it was going to get tough, He sought disciples that understood the old adage, ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’!
But if I may take a bit of liberty this morning, I’d like to revise that old saying with, “when the going gets tough, the tough keep their eyes on Jesus”. We see what happened when Peter took his eyes off Jesus. We hear the admonition of Christ towards the two followers seeking to join the Lord’s inner circle. Jesus didn’t say no, but he warned them ahead of time what treatment they should expect. And let’s add to this list the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-27) who the Bible says Jesus loved, but still required of him to sell all the riches he had, give them to the poor and then follow Him.
We must conclude this morning that the Lord is expressing through His Word that it is not possible to truly serve Him and drag along those past issues, idiosyncrasies, attitudes, fears, traditions, trauma or self indulgences we so often harbor in our hearts. We are now entering a all or nothing phase of life. Either we are standing with the Lord, or we are sinking into the abyss. So let’s grab hold of some faith and step out into the deep. And remember, when the going gets tough, the tough keep their eyes on Jesus.
God Bless
