The costs of discipleship

As Jesus went about preaching, the crowds continued to follow Him. Seeing the crowds, He told His disciples to cross over the sea in boats. Crossing the Sea of Galilee would take his disciples eight miles across the water, but over a day's walk from home.

A scribe, an educated man who could read and write, came to Jesus saying that he would follow Him wherever He went. Jesus answered the man, saying that even though foxes and birds have places for the night, He did not have any set place to rest at night.

Another man, who had been following Him, asked Jesus to allow him to stay with his father until he died. Jesus answered this man, saying to let the dead bury their own dead.

Matthew does not record what choices these men made; neither does Luke. Matthew only records the brief interchanges. Whether these men chose to go with Jesus across the Sea, we do not know. We only know that they had to choose.

The scribe said he would follow, but his training as a scribe would indicate that he did not work outdoors. He may not have been rich, but he must have had some financial means to afford an education. Jesus chose to make it clear to him first that following may mean sleeping on the ground at night. Jesus did not try to convince the man to stay home; He simply wanted the man to willingly choose hardship, not just accept it later.

The disciple who asked to go back to his father did not communicate a pressing need, but rather a desire to hold on to family relationships. The answer that Jesus gave him implied that Jesus knew there were other family members to care for his aged father. Jesus wanted this man to willingly choose to leave family, not just try to be a disciple while holding on to family.

In both cases, Jesus wanted those who followed Him to have consciously counted the cost of discipleship. The scribe may have had difficulty on the road; the son may have had difficulty leaving family ties. But it was better to choose to follow wholeheartedly than to follow with misgivings.

Jesus did not answer these men out of a hard heart; He wanted these men to follow, but He understood that they needed to let go. Making their choice clear to them was a good thing to do.

These men may have been following Jesus, listening to what He said. In their own mind they may have seen themselves as disciples of this Jesus. But when Jesus wanted to cross over the Sea that evening, they had to choose to get in one of the boats or not. While Jesus was going about Galilee preaching, they could follow without getting in the boat. Most of those who were following were probably not fishermen; most would have been uncomfortable in a small boat on the sea at night. But Jesus was crossing the sea that night; they had to choose to get in the boat or not.

Jesus wanted to separate His disciples from the crowd. Using the boats to cross the sea made a distinction between those who would follow and those who came to watch. It turned out that Jesus did not stay on the other side very long; He soon returned to Capernaum. But He had separated His disciples from the crowd; they would know that they were disciples after crossing the sea that night.

Discipleship should come from a clear, conscious choice.