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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 8:18

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Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

18 22. Fitness for Discipleship. Luk 9:57-62

St Luke names three instances, and places the scene of the incident in Samaria.

The instances are typical of the way in which Jesus deals with different characters. To one attracted by the promises of the Gospel and full of eagerness, Jesus presents the darker side the difficulties of the Christian life; the half-hearted discipleship of the other is confronted with the necessity of absolute self-renunciation.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Unto the other side – Jesus was now in Capernaum, a city at the northwest corner of the Sea of Tiberias, or Sea of Galilee. See the notes at Mat 4:18. The country to which he purposed to go was the region on the east of the Sea of Tiberias.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 18. Unto the other side.] Viz. of the lake of Genesareth, whence he proceeded to the country of the Gergesenes, Mt 8:28.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

When Jesus did these things before mentioned, he was in Capernaum, Mat 8:5; but the multitudes pressing him, he gave order to pass over the sea of Galilee, otherwise called the sea of Tiberias, Joh 6:1.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him,…. Who got together, partly out of novelty to see his person, of whom they had heard so much; and partly to see the miracles he wrought: some came to have their bodily diseases healed; few, if any, to hear the Gospel preached by him, and for the good of their immortal souls: the most part came with some sinister, selfish, and carnal views, wherefore

he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. Different were the reasons, which at certain times moved Christ to depart from the multitude; as that he might have an opportunity of private prayer, or to preach, to others, or to show he sought not popular applause, and to avoid seditions: his reasons here seem to be with respect to himself, that being wearied as man, with the work of the day, he might have an opportunity of refreshing himself with sleep; with respect to his disciples, that he might have a trial of their faith, when in danger at sea; and with respect to the multitude, because of their carnality, and sole concern for their temporal, and worldly good. The persons he gave commandment to, must be either the multitude, or the disciples; not the former, because he studiously avoided their company, and his concern was to be rid of them; but the latter, and so the Vulgate Latin and Munster’s Hebrew Gospel read, “he commanded his disciples”. The place he would have them go to was, the other side of the lake of Tiberias, or Genesareth; not over the river Euphrates, as says the author of the old Nizzachon y.

y Pesikta in Abkath Rochel, l. 1. par. 2. p. 205. Ed. Huls.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Christ’s Answer to a Scribe and Another.

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.

Here is, I. Christ’s removing to the other side of the sea of Tiberias, and his ordering his disciples, whose boats attended him, to get their transport-vessels ready, in order to it, v. 18. The influences of this Sun of righteousness were not to be confined to one place, but diffused all the country over; he must go about to do good; the necessities of souls called to him, Come over, and help us (Acts xvi. 9); he removed when he saw great multitudes about him. Though by this it appeared that they were desirous to have him there, he knew there were others as desirous to have him with them, and they must have their share of him: his being acceptable and useful in one place was no objection against, but a reason for, his going to another. Thus he would try the multitudes that were about him, whether their zeal would carry them to follow him, and attend on him, when his preaching was removed to some distance. Many would be glad of such helps, if they could have them at next door, who will not be at the pains to follow them to the other side; and thus Christ shook off those who were less zealous, and the perfect were made manifest.

II. Christ’s communication with two, who, upon his remove to the other side, were loth to stay behind, and had a mind to follow him, not as others, who were his followers at large, but to come into close discipleship, which the most were shy of; for it carried such a face of strictness as they could not like, nor be well reconciled to; but here is an account of two who seemed desirous to come into communion, and yet were not right; which is here given as a specimen of the hindrances by which many are kept from closing with Christ, and cleaving to him; and a warning to us, to set out in following Christ, so as that we may not come short; to lay such a foundation, as that our building may stand.

We have here Christ’s managing of two different tempers, one quick and eager, the other dull and heavy; and his instructions are adapted to each of them, and designed for our use.

1. Here is one that was too hasty in promising; and he was a certain scribe (v. 19), a scholar, a learned man, one of those that studied and expounded the law; generally we find them in the gospels to be men of no good character; usually coupled with the Pharisees, as enemies to Christ and his doctrine. Where is the scribe? 1 Cor. i. 20. He is very seldom following Christ; yet here was one that bid pretty fair for discipleship, a Saul among the prophets. Now observe,

(1.) How he expressed his forwardness; Master, I will follow thee, whithersoever thou goest. I know not how any man could have spoken better. His profession of a self-dedication to Christ is, [1.] Very ready, and seems to be ex mero motu–from his unbiased inclination: he is not called to it by Christ, nor urged by any of the disciples, but, of his own accord, he proffers himself to be a close follower of Christ; he is not a pressed man, but a volunteer. [2.] Very resolute; he seems to be at a point in this matter; he does not say, “I have a mind to follow thee;” but, “I am determined, I will do it.” [3.] It was unlimited and without reserve; “I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest; not only to the other side of the country, but if it were to the utmost regions of the world.” Now we should think ourselves sure of such a man as this; and yet it appears, by Christ’s answer, that his resolution was rash, his ends low and carnal: either he did not consider at all, or not that which was to be considered; he saw the miracles Christ wrought, and hoped he would set up a temporal kingdom, and he wished to apply betimes for a share in it. Note, There are many resolutions for religion, produced by some sudden pangs of conviction, and taken up without due consideration, that prove abortive, and come to nothing: soon ripe, soon rotten.

(2.) How Christ tried his forwardness, whether it were sincere or not, v. 20. He let him know that this Son of man, whom he is so eager to follow, has not where to lay his head, v. 20. Now from this account of Christ’s deep poverty, we observe,

[1.] That it is strange in itself, that the Son of God, when he came into the world, should put himself into such a very low condition, as to want the convenience of a certain resting-place, which the meanest of the creatures have. If he would take our nature upon him, one would think, he should have taken it in its best estate and circumstances: no, he takes it in its worst. See here, First, How well provided for the inferior creatures are: The foxes have holes; though they are not only not useful, but hurtful, to man, yet God provides holes for them in which they are earthed: man endeavours to destroy them, but thus they are sheltered; their holes are their castles. The birds of the air, though they take no care for themselves, yet are taken care of, and have nests (Ps. civ. 17); nests in the field; some of them nests in the house; in God’s courts, Ps. lxxxiv. 3. Secondly, How poorly the Lord Jesus was provided for. It may encourage us to trust God for necessaries, that the beasts and birds have such good provision; and may comfort us, if we want necessaries, that our Master did so before us. Note, Our Lord Jesus, when he was here in the world, submitted to the disgraces and distresses of extreme poverty; for our sakes he became poor, very poor. He had not a settlement, had not a place of repose, not a house of his own, to put his head in, not a pillow of his own, to lay his head on. He and his disciples lived upon the charity of well-disposed people, that ministered to him of their substance, Luke viii. 2. Christ submitted to this, not only that he might in all respects humble himself, and fulfil the scriptures, which spake of him as poor and needy, but that he might show us the vanity of worldly wealth, and teach us to look upon it with a holy contempt; that he might purchase better things for us, and so make us rich, 2 Cor. viii. 9.

[2.] It is strange that such a declaration should be made on this occasion. When a scribe offered to follow Christ, one would think he would have encouraged him, and said, Come, and I will take care of thee; one scribe might be capable of doing him more credit and service than twelve fishermen: but Christ saw his heart, and answered to the thoughts of that, and therein teaches us all how to come to Christ. First, The scribe’s resolve seems to have been sudden; and Christ would have us, when we take upon us a profession of religion, to sit down and count the cost (Luke xiv. 28), to do it intelligently, and with consideration, and choose the way of godliness, not because we know no other, but because we know no better. It is no advantage to religion, to take men by surprise, ere they are aware. They that take up a profession in a pang, will throw it off again in a fret; let them, therefore, take time, and they will have done the sooner: let him that will follow Christ know the worst of it, and expect to lie hard, and fare hard. Secondly, His resolve seems to have been from a worldly, covetous principle. He saw what abundance of cures Christ wrought, and concluded that he had large fees, and would get an estate quickly, and therefore he would follow him in hopes of growing rich with him; but Christ rectifies his mistake, and tells him, he was so far from growing rich, that he had not a place to lay his head on; and that if he follow him, he cannot expect to fare better than he fared. Note, Christ will accept none for his followers that aim at worldly advantages in following him, or design to make any thing but heaven of their religion. We have reason to think that this scribe, hereupon, went away sorrowful, being disappointed in a bargain which he thought would turn to account; he is not for following Christ, unless he can get by him.

2. Here is another that was too slow in performing. Delay in execution is as bad, on the one hand, as precipitancy in resolution is on the other hand; when we have taken time to consider, and then have determined, let it never be said, we left that to be done to-morrow, which we could do to-day. This candidate for the ministry was one of Christ’s disciples already (v. 21), a follower of him at large. Clemens Alexandrinus tells us, from an ancient tradition, that this was Philip; he seems to be better qualified and disposed than the former; because not so confident and presumptuous: a bold, eager, over-forward temper is not the most promising in religion; sometimes the last are first, and the first last. Now observe here,

(1.) The excuse that this disciple made, to defer an immediate attendance on Christ (v. 21); “Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Before I come to be a close and constant follower of thee, let me be allowed to perform this last office of respect to my father; and in the mean time, let it suffice to be a hearer of thee now and then, when I can spare time.” His father (some think) was now sick, or dying, or dead; others think, he was only aged, and not likely in a course of nature, to continue long; and he desired leave to attend upon him in his sickness, at his death, and to his grave, and then he would be at Christ’s service. This seemed a reasonable request, and yet it was not right. He had not the zeal he should have had for the work, and therefore pleaded this, because it seemed a plausible plea. Note, An unwilling mind never wants an excuse. The meaning of Non vacat is, Non placet–The want of leisure is the want of inclination. We will suppose it to come from a true filial affection and respect for his father, yet still the preference should have been given to Christ. Note, Many are hindered from and in the way of serious godliness, by an over-concern for their families and relations; these lawful things undo us all, and our duty to God is neglected, and postponed, under colour of discharging our debts to the world; here therefore we have need to double our guard.

(2.) Christ’s disallowing of this excuse (v. 22); Jesus said to him, Follow me; and, no doubt, power accompanied this word to him, as to others, and he did follow Christ, and cleaved to him, as Ruth to Naomi, when the scribe, in the Mat 8:19; Mat 8:20, like Orpah, took leave of him. That said, I will follow thee; to this Christ said, Follow me; comparing them together, it is intimated that we are brought to Christ by the force of his call to us, not of our promises to him; it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy; he calls whom he will, Rom. ix. 16. And further, Note, Though chosen vessels may make excuses, and delay their compliance with divine calls a great while, yet Christ will at length answer their excuses, conquer their unwillingness, and bring them to his feet; when Christ calls, he will overcome, and make the call effectual, 1 Sam. iii. 10. His excuse is laid aside as insufficient; Let the dead bury their dead. It is a proverbial expression; “Let one dead man bury another: rather let them lie unburied, than that the service of Christ should be neglected. Let the dead spiritually bury the dead corporally; let worldly offices be left to worldly people; do not thou encumber thyself with them. Burying the dead, and especially a dead father, is a good work, but it is not thy work at this time: it may be done as well by others, that are not called and qualified, as thou art, to be employed for Christ; thou hast something else to do, and must not defer that.” Note, Piety to God must be preferred before piety to parents, though that is a great and needful part of our religion. The Nazarites, under the law, were not to mourn for their own parents, because they were holy to the Lord (Num. vi. 6-8); nor was the high priest to defile himself for the dead, no, not for his own father,Lev 21:11; Lev 21:12. And Christ requires of those who would follow him, that they hate father and mother (Luke xiv. 26); love them less than God; we must comparatively neglect and disesteem our nearest relations, when they come in competition with Christ, and either our doing for him, or our suffering for him.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

1) “Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him,” (idon de ho lesous ochlon peri auton) “Then Jesus upon seeing the crowd around him;” They lingered out of wonder and gratitude for the miracles He had performed in making their sick folk well, from both physical and demonized afflictions, Mat 8:16.

2) “He gave commandment,” (ekeleusen) “He gave a command or order (to the disciples),” who went before to prepare transportation or clear the way for His movements from place to place, as His custom was, Luk 10:1.

3) “To depart unto the other side.” (apelthein eis to peran) “To go away (now or sail away) unto the other side,” the other (eastern side) of the Sea of Galilee, across from Capernaum in which area He had recently labored, Mat 8:5; Mr 4:35; Luk 8:22. It appears that our Lord’s desire to be alone, to have some privacy, was the priority motive of this move, to escape from the crowds, as in Mr 6:31.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Mat 8:18

And when Jesus had seen great multitudes about him. Matthew, I have no doubt, touches briefly what the others explain in a more ample and copious narrative. The other two state a circumstance, which is not noticed by Matthew that Christ withdrew privately, for the sake of retirement, into a desert place, before it was daylight. Mark afterwards says, that Peter informed him, all seek, thee; and Luke says, that multitudes came to that place. Again, Matthew says, that he passed over to the other side, while the other two say, that he passed through all Galilee, to preach in every place. But the other side, or, the farther bank, ( τὸ πέραν,) does not, I think, denote what was strictly the opposite side, but refers to that curvature of the lake, which was below Capernaum. In this way, he crossed over to another part of the lake, and yet did not go out of Galilee.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat. 8:18. To depart.Thus Jesus sought repose, and gave to the people time to bear fruit from His teaching, and kindled their interest in Himself for the future (Bengel).

Mat. 8:20. Nests = shelter, roosts, or lodging places (R.V. margin). The Son of man.The origin of this expression as a Messianic title is found in Dan. 7:13. Hence to the Jews it would be a familiar designation of the Messiahthe King whose everlasting dominion is described in the next verse (Dan. 7:14). The Hebraism may be considered in the light of similar expressions, sons of light, son of perdition, son of peace, etc., in all of which the genitive denotes a quality inherent in the subject. Sons of light = the spiritually enlightened, sons of wisdom = the wise. By the Son of man then is meant He who is essentially man, who took mans nature upon Him, who is mans representative before God, showing the possibilities of purified human nature, and so making atonement practicable (Carr).

Mat. 8:22. Let the dead, etc.Like all the other paradoxical sayings of our Lord, the key to it is the different sensesa higher and a lowerin which, the same word dead is used (Brown).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 8:18-22

A significant pause.This passage begins with a remarkable change. Instead of being ready, as before, to welcome and heal the multitudes, the Saviour deliberately goes away from them (Mat. 8:18). With equal deliberation He takes away His disciples (Mat. 8:23). His reasons for this double action may be gathered from what followsfrom the story of the scribe (Mat. 8:19-20); the story of the disciple (Mat. 8:21-22).

I. The case of the scribe.To understand this, see first what is said here about him. There came one who was a scribe as it may be translated (see R.V.). Evidently his position and office are of importance in the story. As a scribe he was more accustomed to lead than to follow. All the more is it to be noted that he addresses Christ here as a Teacher and offers to follow His lead, and offers to do so at this particular juncture, when the Saviour is preparing to leave. Let us go to the other side. I will go too, if you will let me. More than that, I will follow Thee, whithersoever Thou goest (Mat. 8:19). Does he not appear to be a disciple indeed? When we turn, next, however, to what was said to him, there is a great change in the scene. Instead of being welcomed, he is almost forbidden to do as he proposes. At any rate he is taught indirectly to count the cost of the step (Mat. 8:20). He is bidden to consider Who it is that he proposes to follow; what His lot will be, what His companionship means. Not even the irrational creation will be, at times, so without shelter as He. Also, if this is to be true of the Leader, what will be true of His followers? With so little for Himself, what can He bestow upon them? What all this implies, in the third place. About the man himself, on the one hand? That his real motive in wishing to follow was hardly known to himself. That he had been attracted by the Lords miracles and became desirous of being associated with such a Great One. Apparently, also, that he expected much worldly advantage from being permitted to do so (cf. Joh. 6:26; Act. 8:19). About many others beside, on the other hand. Ex uno disce omnes. There would be many others like him; persons ready to follow but not to be taught; glad to receive but not to labour; anxious to get but not to give. Non tali auxilio, nec defensoribus istis, tempus eget. All such followers would be to the Saviour rather a hindrance than a help (2Ti. 2:4, etc.). Therefore, at this juncture, in the most effectual way possible, He would be rid of all such. Let true disciplesand true disciples onlycome with Me to My work.

II. The case of the disciple.His original position was exactly opposite to that of the other. He was a disciple already. There came one who was a disciple (Mat. 8:21). He had been called to, and had not only volunteered for, that office and work. This is distinctly stated (if the account be the same, and it is quite the same in other respects, as Luk. 9:59-60); and follows from the fact that we find him expected here (as all disciples are) to follow and learn (Joh. 8:31). Hence, therefore, in the next place, the very natural character of the request he preferred. It was simply that he might be allowed to postpone doing what he had been asked to do then (Mat. 8:21). Postpone it only, not neglect it entirely. Postpone it on account of another duty which had great claims on him as a son; as great, in fact, in that direction, as could very well be. Who should bury a father if not his own son? What son, also, if he neglects that duty could make amends for it afterwards? Hence, finally, the great significance of the reply he received (Mat. 8:22). What did this mean to that disciple himself? Does it not mean that the duty even of burying a father could be fitly discharged by those other members of his family who had not been so called to, and so specially fitted for, Christs work as himself? Does it not mean, therefore, that, for himself, he should put no other work above that? No, nor even before that work, though but for a time. Was not this reply, also, though thus addressed to one, meant for others beside? Let all disciples there present understand from it what true discipleship means. Wherever may be the other side to which the Saviour asks them to go in His company, they must be ready to go with Him at onceall other persons, and calls, and duties, whatsoever, being left behind for His sake. Always a truth, this, of the highest importance, it was doubly so at that time.

See here in conclusion:

1. How much this Teacher thought of His work.When the presence of others with idle wonder and interested motives threatens to interfere with it, He at once leaves them behind. When the most pressing of other duties comes in competition with this, He at once leaves that other for this, and commands the same to all His. Nothing must hinder this paramount aim (Joh. 4:34; Luk. 12:50).

2. How much we ought to think of it too.Shall we neglect what was thus provided for us? Shall we despise what was thus valued by Him? Especially when we remember that it was so valued by Him because of its importance to us! Nothing is there, surely, that in our eyes should stand higher than this.

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat. 8:19-22. Too hasty and too slow.These words of our Lord seem to be stumbling blocks deliberately placed in the way of those who are anxious to become His disciples. Let us examine these two cases more closely. We may assume at once that they are not what at first they appear to be. The two cases are the antithesis of each other. They are specimens of two extremes.

I. The too hasty disciple.He is a scribea man of position and influence, of learning and intelligence, who, were he attaching himself to the new cause, could be of immense advantage to it, worth a dozen ignorant fishermen or boorish villagers. He has been attracted by Christs preaching and miracles, and all at once, without delay, or reserve, or conditions, he says unto Him, Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. It was a magnificent offer, and at first sight we should expect that Christ would at once commend the mans earnestness. But, on the contrary, what is Christs reply? Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His headas much as to say, You had better not follow Me, for nothing awaits those who become My disciples, but poverty and privation, and evidently this is not what you expect. Now, the reason of Christs forbidding reply is, that He rightly gauged this man, He read Him through and through, and knew that, notwithstanding his fair profession and liberal offer, he had not counted the cost, he could not stand the minimum test of ordinary discipleship. The character of the man may be summed up in a sentence. His profession of religious attachment was inspired by feeling and impulse only. His determination was formed under the influence of emotion, and not of the understanding, and a glance at the context reveals the secret of his zeal. Our Lord had just preached His peerless sermon, and performed some of His most wonderful works (Mat. 8:16). Wondering crowds had flocked to see Him; the excitement was intense. The scribe had caught the contagion; and while his wonder and enthusiasm were raised to the utmost pitch, all at once he formed the resolution to become a disciple, and broke out into the exclamation, Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. But he had neither considered the nature of the service nor the cost of the undertaking. We need to beware of that religion which is based on feeling alone.

II. The too slow disciple.The first offered himself as a disciple; the second is called by Christ, but asks for delay. He was already a disciple at large. He is now invited to become a regular disciple. The command which our Lord imposes upon him strikes us at first as being harsh and unreasonable, and many attempts have been made to soften the austerity or explain it away. The words to which the chief objection has been taken still remain in all their bluntness, Let the dead bury their dead, i.e. let the spiritually dead bury their own physically dead; let those ungodly brothers of yours look after your aged father; leave the world and the things of the world to mind themselves, but follow thou Me. What is the explanation of this apparently unfeeling command? For light on the subject we must refer to the circumstances. This man has been for some time a disciple at large, hovering around the outer circle of Christs followers; but there has been a slackness or backwardness about him indicating a disposition to fall away. At this particular time, owing to Christs preaching and mighty works, there has been a renewed enthusiasm among His followersa kind of revival of spiritual fervour. Our Saviour, conscious of this mans spiritual condition, urges him to take advantage of the occasion and come to a decision at once. It was now or never. Every moment was precious. Every delay and temptation might involve a relapse into worldliness. Therefore He must deal with the case sharply and decisively. There were elements of good about the man. He had desires and aspirations after a Christ-like service; but this was a critical moment in his history, when a postponement of the gospel call would virtually be its rejection; when a return into the midst of a peculiarly worldly circle of relatives, where he would be exposed to ridicule and opposition, would involve such danger to his soul that Christ must absolutely forbid his request.John Boyd, M.A.

Christ repelling and attracting.We have Christ:

I. Repelling the too willing.

II. Drawing to Himself the half-reluctant.A. Maclaren, D.D.

Impulsiveness and hesitancy.

I. The impulsive scribe.
II. The hesitating disciple.J. M. Gibson, D.D.

Precipitancy and procrastination.

I. The rash or precipitate disciple.
II. The procrastinating or entangled disciple.D. Brown, D.D.

Mat. 8:19. Following Christ.Whatever may have been the motive that prompted their utterance, these words considered in themselves, express the feelings of a truly devoted disciple. They are the true expression of a soul wholly consecrated to Christ. Taking them in this sense, let us ask what do they imply?

I. The recognition of Christs claims.It is possible to realise much of the benefits of His death, and yet but very imperfectly recognise Christs lordship over us. He must take the place of absolute supremacy (Act. 10:36; 1Co. 6:19; Act. 27:23). We are only safe as we recognise Christs claims. It is also because we fail to recognise Christs lordship that we often get burdened with anxiety and hampered with care.

II. Obedience to Christs commands.(See Joh. 2:5.) Christ claims our obedience, step by step, as He reveals to us His will, and gives us His commands. His commands are not grievous, i.e. they may be fulfilled. To follow Christ is not the same thing as to have a religion or a system of morality. It implies that we have come to a Person. It is the obedience of the heart.

III. Likeness to Christs character.Outward conformity to Christ can only come by union and fellowship with Him in the secret springs of ones being. The branch cannot bear fruit from itself (Joh. 15:4). As one has said, here is the imperative of a natural law, cannot. So is it also the imperative of a spiritual law, the law of true service. And because He had taken the place of a servant, He voluntarily submits to the same law which He bids us to observe (Joh. 5:30; Joh. 8:28; Joh. 14:10).Evan H. Hopkins, M.A.

Mat. 8:21-22. Spiritual evolution.He who follows Christ will be an example of moral and spiritual evolution. There will be progress of the whole nature to higher and higher planes. But that does not mean progress of every part and along every line. Only the nobler powers and capacities of his nature are to be nourished. Only the fittest will survive. If there is to be true progress of the whole man, there must be degeneration of certain parts. Let us take a few examples of this truth. We have to bury:

I. Dead hopes and ideals.There can be no true progress of man unless there be progress in aspiration.

II. Black days of the past.Days of mistake. Do not dissipate the energy of the present, and miss its golden opportunities through morbid pining for that which cannot be.

III. Great sorrows.The greater sorrows of life influence us differently. To many they have been an occasion of greater spiritual impulse. But with others they have had a paralysing effect. They have become self-centred. A sorrow may be great and mysterious, but let it not be overwhelming. On the death of the Prince Consort The Times of December 16th, 1861, stated that after the first passionate burst of grief was over, the Queen called her children around her and said that although she felt crushed by the loss of one who had been her life-companion, she knew how much was expected of her, and asked for their assistance in order that she might do her duty to them and her country. Our Queen has been true to her word. The wound has never healed and never will, till Gods love set her at his side again. But she has exemplified in her splendid career the very spirit of this passage.R. Baldwin Brindley.

Suffer me first to go and bury my father.The words Suffer me first to go and bury my father, probably do not mean that the man wished to bury his father who was already dead; but that he wished to put off becoming a follower of Jesus until he should have buried his father, who at that time was still alive. After the natural bond which still united him to his parents house was dissolved in the way of nature, he would devote himself to the new task in connection with the kingdom of God. I have been prompted to this interpretation by the following communication in the Feuille religieuse du canton de Vaud (1879, p. 476, ff.), to which Pastor L. Monod of Lyons, has called my attention. A missionary in Syria, M. Waldmeier, there relates that an intelligent and rich young Turk, whom he had advised at the close of his education to make a tour to Europe, had answered, I must first of all bury my father. As that father had hitherto been in the enjoyment of good health, the missionary expressed surprise at the sad intelligence of his death. But the young man hastened to set his mind at rest in regard to his father, and explained that he only meant that one must before all things devote himself to the duties owed to his relatives. If, in this same sense, the form of expression, would first bury my father, was used by the man who was called to be a disciple, the answer of Jesus loses the appearance of harshness which is otherwise attached to it, and gains a very striking and significant sense. When, in place of all the other considerations that bound him to his paternal home, the man mentioned the burying of his father, which, on the one hand, postponed to an indefinite future the required severance from his home, and which, on the other hand, indicated a duty apparently so weighty that all further contention in regard to his refusal appeared to be precluded, Jesus, however, did not, in the given circumstances, recognise the alleged duty to be one which gave the man a right to shirk the duty of preaching the kingdom of God to which he was now called. In the view of the speaker, the alleged reasonthat he should bury his fatherdirectly represented all the other reasons why he should not quit his home, and indirectly it made those other reasons appear as weighty duties of filial piety. Jesus, on the contrary, found it characteristic that the other specified a duty that was to be performed for the dead, and not for the living. The burying of the dead appeared to Him a figurative and comprehensive designation for all acts which have reference, not to the life, but to the death of men; not to their soul, but to the perishing body. In this sense He says, Let the dead (those who are destitute of true life) bury their dead.H. H. Wendt, D.D.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Section 15

JESUS CALLS TO DISCIPLESHIP

(Possible parallel: Luk. 9:57-62)

TEXT: 8:1822

18.

Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

19.

And there came a scribe, and said unto him, Teacher, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

20.

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

21.

And another of the disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

22.

But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me; and leave the dead to bury their own dead.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

On other occasions when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him He had compassion for them and helped them. Why does He on this occasion try to get away from them? Compare Mat. 8:18 with its parallels in Mar. 4:35-36 and Luk. 8:22.

Why do you think Jesus tested this scribe who offers to be a disciple? Did not Jesus say that any who came to Him He would not ever cast out?

What did Jesus mean by the Son of man hath no place to lay his head? First, what did He mean by it as, regards Himself and, then, how was the scribe to understand and apply it? Did He really mean to indicate that one who follows Him should not expect to have a roof over his head? Explain.

Should we try to obey Jesus order: Leave the dead to bury their own dead? How should it apply to us?

When or under what circumstances is someone turning back and, thus, not fit for the kingdom? (See Paraphrase and Harmony)

Have you ever wondered what kind of impact these blunt replies, Jesus made to these potential disciples, upon the mind, understanding and preparation of the men whom He had called to Apostleship? Certainly, they must have been listening as Jesus said this. How do you think they felt about what He said to each inquiring follower? How would you personally have felt about these high demands, had you been the Apostles?

How would you personally have felt about these high demands, had you been the potential disciple of Jesus? What if it were your religious respectability, your dying father, your dear ones at home, you had to leave for Jesus sake?

What do Jesus words envision as a future for His self-seeking, glory-grabbing disciples who, clear down to the end of Jesus ministry, struggled for prestige and priority in Jesus Messianic Kingdom? (Study Mat. 18:1-5; Luk. 9:46-48; Luk. 22:24-27)

Is was the father of the would-be disciple already dead? a necessary question to answer before being able to interpret Jesus command to leave the dead to bury their dead?

What is the one clear difference between Jesus and the Church that shows up immediately when someone comes to become a follower of Jesus? How does this difference between us and our Lord affect how we deal with would-be disciples?

Do you think it is possible for us to issue the same challenges of sincerity and commitment that Jesus gave to these men in out text? If so, how should this be done, in view of our fallibility of judgment, our ignorance of motives, etc.?

What is wrong with a man who finds Jesus requirements heartless and shocking?

How is it possible for us to become unfit for the Kingdom of God?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

Now when, Jesus saw great crowds around Him that day, after He had finished preaching the Great Sermon in Parables (Matthew 13; Mark 4; Luke 8), when evening had come He boarded a boat with His disciples. He then gave orders for the departure to the other side of the lake of Galilee.

But before they got under way, a man of letters, a scribe, came up to Jesus and said, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied, Foxes have their lairs; birds in the sky their roosts but the Son of man has nowhere to call His own.
To another man, Jesus called, Follow me.
But this disciple said, Lord, first give me leave to go bury my father.
Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead, was Jesus answer, but as for you, you go and preach Gods kingdom.
Another volunteered, I will follow you, Sir; but permit me first to say good-bye to those at home.
But Jesus told him, No man who regrets his decision, after beginning the life he had chosen, has the right understanding of Gods rule.

CONNECTION BETWEEN MATTHEWS NARRATIVE AND LUKES

There might be no connection whatever. Life is just unpredictable enough to make possible the repetition of two totally unconnected series of events so very much alike that anyone not immediately familiar with the connections and relationships, names and places, would almost swear that the two events, as narrated by completely competent eye-witnesses, are but two accounts of the same facts. But the two eye-witnesses, were it possible to recall them from the dead to testify, could verify the difference between the two similar incidents.
The problem before us is the practically verbal similarity between these two accounts, so verbally exact in the Greek text (with but minor variations) that these authors are accused of copying a third unknown author, of having made personal variations according to their personal style and taste, and of having completely forgotten the original circumstances under which these events actually transpired. Here are some of the facts of the difficulty:

Matthew located this account early in Jesus ministry quite some time before the feeding of the five thousand. (Matthew 14)

Luke locates this incident later in Jesus ministry after Peters confession, the Transfiguration and Sermon on Real Humility (Luke 9)

Matthew says the first potential disciple was a scribe, a fact that might be suggestive were the mans motives known. Some attribute to him selfish ambition in relation to Jesus rising political popularity. But Jesus answer does not necessitate this.

Luke omits this detail.

Matthew omits this disciple.

Luke adds the challenge Jesus placed before a third potential disciple (Luk. 9:61-62)

Matthew omits the whole ministry performed by the seventy in Perea.

Luke seems to connect Jesus response to the first potential disciple with His rejection of a Samaritan village; however this connection is tenuous. Luke points out that the second contact was actually commanded to follow Jesus to proclaim the Kingdom; Luke next mentions the mission of the 70. Does he intend any connection by it?

Plummer (Luke, 265) is probably correct in reminding us that, although Luke also lists these three stories together, he too may be editing, bringing them together, not because they all occurred the same day, but may be grouped together because they are similar in content.

Whatever is decided about the contrasting connections between Matthew and Luke, it is very clear that Matthew, as he arranges his own material, is giving some of the finest cases in point to Jesus words in the Sermon on the Mount. Each of these would-be disciples must decide whether he really wants to be pure in heart or not (Mat. 5:8), whether he is trying to serve two masters or not (Mat. 6:24), whether he is seeking earthly treasure and fulfilling merely secondary duties or whether his first interest is the spiritual joy of Gods kingdom regardless of the personal expense, suffering, privations or death for Jesus sake. (Mat. 6:25-34; Mat. 5:10-11). The logical sequence of Matthews chapters leads to this observation.

However, if Marks sequence is the chronologically correct one, then, chronologically, this section follows the great sermon in parables. Accordingly, if the scribe approached Jesus at the conclusion of that message, it may be that that sermon influenced him instead of anything Matthew includes immediately in this context. (Mar. 4:1-34 recorded by Matthew 13; Compare Mat. 8:18-19; Mat. 8:23-27 with Mar. 4:33-41)

WHAT IS THIS TEXT DOING HERE?

Would that more preachers of the Gospel ordered their material after the orderly style of this former publican, Matthew-Levi of Alphaeus! As pointed out earlier (Introduction to Chapter Eight), Matthew arranges the miracle stories in groups of three with a line or two recording the response of people to Jesus. This time, however, he puts two responses into the same text and masterfully throws OUR conscience into a crisis. Observe how he brings the two would-be disciples into their own crisis of faith: each must decide what he really thinks of Jesus. There may be other clear reasons why neither Matthew nor Luke record the final choices that each disciple finally made. But it seems as if by a deft use of silence these Gospel writers have thus brought into trial our motives for following Jesus. As would a persuasive preacher driving for decision, so Matthew too is not merely telling enjoyable miracle-stories with a happy ending; rather, he is leading the reader psychologically to DECIDE about Jesus. And, to be true to his task, Matthew must insist that we decide about Jesus in a manner that so deeply affects our lives that our whole reason for existence be altered. Many would follow Jesus, but on conditions! If they can remain king of their lives, they will follow Jesus to the end of the earth. But the basic principle behind these compact crises of conscience is this: the Kingdom of God is the rule of God that requires all there is to a man, not all of God that mans rule can require. (See Notes on Mat. 5:8; Mat. 6:19-34) May we paraphrase Matthews purpose, if we have correctly inferred it, like this: Friend, you have seen pictured the Son of God identifying Himself as the rightful authority to speak for God to you. You have seen His credentials through these miracles just recorded; He cleansed a leper, restored life and power to the centurions servant, rebuked the fever that had attacked Peters mother-in-law, and healed all of Capernaums sick, On the strength of this evidence, are you willing to turn your life over to His direction? Decide! But remember: your reasons for following Him must be pure, unmixed. Your commitment must neither be shallow and hasty nor reluctant and procrastinating. But you MUST decide!

NOTES

Mat. 8:18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him. This, Matthew says, is the explanation for Jesus departure. But why would Jesus deliberately try to get away from popularity at any time in His ministry? Mark (Mar. 4:35) definitely links this sentence with the conclusion to Jesus great sermon in parables, and consequently finds its explanation in that situation. (See Notes on Matthew 13) Matthews connection does not draw as much attention to the popular ministry of Jesus that had already developed, requiring that He keep a tight rein on the mistaken excitement of the crowds who would go to war at the indiscreet mention of the word: Messiah.

The day is over (Mar. 4:35) and Jesus is worn out after a hard day of preaching, arguments and miracles (cf. Mar. 3:19 b-35; Luk. 8:23), this being an entirely different day than that on which Peters wifes mother and many others were healed at sunset. (cf. Mar. 1:21-34) Hence, Matthew omits the mention of the time as being sundown, lest this different day be confused with that. At the conclusion of that day Jesus had remained in Capernaum overnight and next morning the crowds were ready to mob Him again almost before He hardly had begun to pray in private. This time He intends completely to escape the multitudes entirely.

He gave commandment to depart unto the other side of the Sea of Galilee by boat. (Luk. 8:22; Mat. 8:23) Peters former fishing boat may well be the one intended, since Zebedees boat may still be in service as a commercial fishing boat. (See Mar. 1:20) Since Jesus has just finished a day of ministry probably at Capernaum (Mar. 3:19 b), His command means to sail east across to the less populous eastern shore for some privacy and rest. The following section concerning the Gadarene demoniacs also confirms His intent.

To some, this deliberate escape ordered by Jesus may be surprising, for we would have expected Jesus to continue day in day out mercifully ministering to multitudes of needy people. But Jesus, we often forget, was every bit a Man who really tired, really hungered, really needed time to get away from the pressures of constant public attention to be alone with His disciples. (See Notes on Mat. 4:1-11 and special study on Jesus Temptations, Vol. I) Not only must Jesus have privacy to teach His disciples and privacy to seek the Fathers face, but He must also cool the ignorant zeal of the multitudes. He often used this tactic of unavailability to hold them where He could thus control them and keep His own schedule with as few interruptions as possible. (cf. Mar. 1:36-38; Luk. 4:42-43; Luk. 5:15-16; Joh. 5:13; Mar. 3:9; Mat. 14:22-23; Joh. 6:15; Mar. 7:24; Mat. 15:39; Mat. 16:4; Mar. 9:30)Jesus did not forsake the multitudes because He did not love, but precisely because He DID love them. He knew that their salvation depended upon their understanding His revelation of Himself, but they insisted upon His healing all their sick. This very insistent clamor drowned Jesus self-revelation to them. The irony of the situation lay in the fact that if Jesus kept healing their bodies, feeding their stomachs with miraculous bread and fish, raised their dead, if He kept serving their material needs, they would miss that very truth which would save their souls! Their attention must not be centered upon the earthly reign of a worldly messiah who can pamper everyones appetite and keep all men healthy, wealthy and worldly wise but ignorant of the Rule of God! At all costs, Jesus must concentrate their attention upon His real mission to earth.

THE LURE OF THE LEGITIMATE
A. THE LONGING FOR LODGING AND LEISURE (8:19, 20)

Mat. 8:19 And there came a scribe. As at the conclusion of a lecture some of the students crowd around the instructor to ply Him with questions or pursue a question further, so this scribe seeing that Jesus had dismissed the crowds and was immediately preparing to embark for some unknown destination, elbowed his way through the group bustling around him in all directions till he found himself at waters edge where the Lord was just hurrying the last of the Apostles into the boat for the lake crossing.

The scribes, as a class in Jesus time, had grown from careful students of Mosaic legislation among the priestly class into an honored upper-class occupation of professional lawyers, zealous defenders and teachers of the Law beyond the bounds of the priestly group of earlier days. As experts in OT Law and exposition, application and instruction to the people, they were classed as professional rabbis with nobility. (See ISBE, 2704 and Bible dictionary articles on their origin and position in the nation.)

Hes grammates (one scribe) is said to be emphatic, practically stating that this is the only scribe that ever followed Jesus, a fact which is undoubted insofar as the record shows. Perhaps so, but hes, one is also equivalent to the indefinite article, a scribe (Arndt-Gingrich, 230). Or, regarded as equivalent to the indefinite pronoun tis, there being no definite articles, hes is the real subject of the participle and grammateus is a noun in apposition with hes: Now there came a certain man to Him, a scribe, . . .

These texts indicate Jesus relations with the scribes: Mat. 22:35; Mat. 23:1-36; Mat. 15:1-20 (See Notes); Luk. 5:17; Luk. 10:25-29; Luk. 11:45-52; Luk. 14:3; Act. 5:34) This scribe may already have been a disciple, since the next man Matthew mentions is another disciple. He is possibly a secret disciple, like Nicodemus, now coming out into open confession of his willingness to follow Jesus. (Note Joh. 12:41-43) But, considering the almost universal condemnation of the scribes as a class by Jesus, and their monolithic rejection of His message and ministry, we may well ask what caused this particular man to flaunt tradition, throw away his friends and brave the censorship of his former colleagues?

It may be that this scribes own inadequate or selfish motives were not yet clear to himself. So Jesus drives straight to his hearts motivations, causing him to examine his real purpose for following.

McGarvey (Matthew-Mark, 79) argues that this scribe seems to have desired to go along with Jesus as a guest, but Jesus gently declines his company since he has no shelter and can not entertain His friends. But does it seem likely that a scribe would be so frivolous as to identify himself with this uncertain, popular movement led by one who so persistently contradicted the assured results of modern rabbinical thinking, without thus cutting himself off from all that he held dear among the other rabbis as a class?

We may be seeing here the sheer impact of Jesus upon the life of this Jewish doctor. This man, thoroughly educated in the method of the rabbis, must have seen in this itinerate rabbi from Nazareth an Authority and excellence that went far above and beyond that of all scribes that he knew about. (cf. Mat. 7:28-29; Mar. 1:22) Jesus miracles had identified Him to THIS scribe at least, as a Teacher come from God (cf. Joh. 3:1-2) and His message had the ring of true authority in it. This Jewish rabbi, wealthy in the memory of hundreds of OT Scripture texts, heard in the voice of Jesus exactly that kind of doctrine that might be expected from a spiritual Messiah predicted by the prophets. Had he gone this far?

If we reason backwards from Jesus answer, we shall be better able to see the man as Jesus saw him.

Was this scribe unconsciously but clearly compromised by his station in life and preconceptions about the messianic kingdom? And this, even though he be completely sincere, insofar as he is aware of his motives? Perhaps, as Foster suggests, he expected a great earthly messianic kingdom, is now thoroughly convinced that Jesus can bring it about, and now comes forward to assure himself a glorious position and honor when that kingdom becomes reality. And yet, in his own mind, this is the right move to make, consonant with his own understanding.

Teacher I will follow thee withersoever thou goest. His approach is all the more remarkable when it is remembered that he was himself an accepted teacher among the Jews. Teacher speaks of function but, as a word addressing Jesus, does not necessarily mean it was spoken in sarcasm or loaded flattery, as at other times. (See Mat. 22:16; Mat. 22:23; Mat. 22:36) Here is the honest confession of one rabbi who was literally overwhelmed by the supernatural wisdom of this REAL Rabbi to whom he now enthusiastically offers himself as willing follower.

I will follow thee withersoever thou goest. Rereading this sentence, we see in it the perfect expression of that unconditional commitment Jesus really sought from every disciple. And no man can come to Christ until he is ready to make this declaration. And yet, Jesus sees something in this particular disciple that is hidden from many:

The danger of momentary enthusiasm. (Mat. 13:20-21) How would this confession sound when the going got rough, as Jesus tangled more and more bitterly with the scribes?

The danger of rash over-confidence: Without knowing precisely where you plan to go, Jesus, I am prepared to travel that last mile with you! (Cf. Mat. 26:31-35; Luk. 22:33; Joh. 13:37)

The danger of deep ignorance of the issues involved. This man will probably be shocked to learn the real future of Jesus and His disciples. (cf. Mat. 16:21-28; Mat. 17:22-23; Luk. 9:45)

How would we have reacted to this mans generous offer of his life and influence to our movement, were we Jesus? The man is one of the finest prospects for church membership we have seen in a long time; he has influence, position, learning and, best of all, a willingness to cast in his lot with us in the service of God. The measure of difference however, between our response to him and Jesus response indicates how little we really understand our mission to bring men to Christ.

Mat. 8:20 Jesus saith unto him. Tired as He was and anxious to get away from people for awhile for various reasons, still Jesus did not treat this excited scribe as a troublesome nuisance interfering with His plans. The Lord may have well known that this scribe had wrestled with his conscience and emotions before, to decide whether to link himself with Jesus at all. Now he rushes up to Jesus at the conclusion of a trying day for Him, right at the very moment after He made the psychological break with the crowd. Having dismissed them, He is busy hurrying the disciples into the boat for immediate departure, when before Him stands a man whose spiritual crisis had reached its zenith, whose eternal salvation was at stake. Besides, this generous enthusiast has bared his heart and life to Jesus. Undoubtedly, Jesus cannot but be moved by this offer. On the other hand, He could not compromise His honesty even to gain this disciple.

The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests: even the simplest animals of Gods creation are provided with more or less permanent homes, but the Son of man hath not where to lay, his head. This mercifully homely response shows Jesus baring a secret of His heart to His would-be disciple that He did not talk about with others. However unworthy his real motives might have been, Jesus does not scold him or crush his zeal. Still, in view of so sweeping a proposal, Jesus must challenge the scribe to consider the cost of discipleship. He will have no unrealistic disciples who have never heard what it is they must confront in His service. Jesus did this over and over:

To this scribe: Do you really want to follow me? Listen, it will cost you more than you dream! My service will not be comfortable to say the least, but come along if you think you can take it.

To the rich young ruler: (Mat. 19:16-22; Mar. 10:17-22, esp. Mar. 10:18) Do you really mean Good Teacher? Only God is good: do you really mean to call me God? Are you then willing to sell all and follow me as God?

To Nicodemus (John 3) Do you really think I am a teacher come from God? Good, then why argue with me about the possibility of new birth, as if I were but a rabbi on your level? I am not discussing this with you, Nicodemus; I am telling you! (Joh. 3:9-12)

James and John (Mat. 20:22)

An enthusiastic woman (Luk. 11:27-28)

Peter (Luk. 22:31-34)

Why did Jesus cool mens enthusiasm? In order to deepen their understanding.

They must count the cost of discipleship; (Luk. 14:25-33)

They must learn to live with the fact of Jesus Lordship; (Mat. 7:21; Luk. 6:46)

Then, having made them fully aware of the sacrifices involved, He would call forth the heroic in them that would drive them to offer seemingly impossible sacrifices for Him.

Jesus HAS to offer blood, sweat and tears to get these excited people to grasp even the smallest conception of where Jesus is going, i.e. to suffering and death. He fully knows how shocking to this scribe would be a full revelation of His future opposition by the scribes own colleagues, suffering the misunderstanding of His own disciples and horrible mockery of justice and criminal crucifixion that would be His. Rather than destroy this scribes glimmer of real faith by baring these horrifying facts, Jesus considered it enough to say: the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. But what does this mean?

Literally, this was not true, because, undoubtedly, Jesus and the Twelve rested somewhere ever night. Further, He would be welcome in hundreds of homes across the country on any night He chose to visit. (cf. the oriental hospitality of Luk. 24:29) Again, He seems to have had a fixed dwelling at Capernaum to which He returned from His evangelistic trips. (cf. Mar. 2:1) Add also the fact that at different times and in different ways, Galilean women contributed to the financial expense of His life and ministry (Luk. 8:1-3). His group also had a treasury with enough money in it to help others and tempting enough to steal from (Joh. 12:4-6; Joh. 13:29). Admittedly, there may have been several occasions when Jesus and His closest followers were probably too many guests in homes every night, and so must have camped out. This leads us to ask: exactly what was Jesus emphasis and intention for saying this then?

Figuratively: Jesus deliberately exaggerated His case for emphasis to impress the scribe with the nagging uncertainty and constantly moving character of Jesus service. The scribe, accustomed to the comforts of a fine home, needs to realize that, if he would follow Jesus, these must be sacrificed at once, Jesus is saying: Because of the demands of my unsettled, wandering ministry, I have no time for regular home life.

In this text Jesus is confessing to a poverty equal to the poorest of His day and yet claims allegiance like the most autocratic oriental despot over the tenderest, dearest sentiments of man! Only a Jesus can unite these extremes, for His relative poverty was self-chosen, that none of us may ever despair of His comprehending our sorrows, even though Jesus now reigns at the right hand of the Father that none may presume to believe His Lordship can be lightly dismissed. Every tie that binds us and hinders our service to Him must be crucified! Jesus would have us all see the sinful lure in legitimate things, things that are right, good and often necessary. So He contrasts in this vivid way the sheer uncertainty of His earthly existence with the normal human desire for roots and security.

The Son of man is a title that Jesus used to indicate Himself more than any other that He might have chosen. But where did He find this title and why did He use it, as opposed to better-known expressions of Messiahship? Attention is called to James Stalkers article Son of Man (ISBE, 2828) which summarizes the answers to these questions:

Jesus used this title in full consciousness of His Messiahship, even as Daniel had used it (cf. Dan. 7:13-14 with Mat. 24:30; Mat. 26:64. See also Rev. 1:7; Rev. 14:14. Note Keil, Daniel, p. 269275 on Dan. 7:13-14)

Keil: He thereby lays claim at once to . . . a divine preexistence, as well as to affirm true humanity of His person, and seeks to represent Himself, according to Johns expression, as the Logos becoming flesh.

This is most startlingly clear from the form of the oath by which the high priest bound Jesus to commit Himself to say if you are the Christ, the Son of God (Mat. 26:63). Not only did Jesus respond in the affirmative, but added the promise that pointed directly to Dan. 7:13 : You will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.

But Jesus did not merely use this title of Messiahship as an overt revelation of His true character, since this title apparently was not commonly used among the Jews for the Christ, even though they had some understanding thereabout. (See Joh. 12:34)

That the Jews did understand the words the son of man to be messianic is proved by the nature of their question for clarification of Jesus cryptic declaration that the Son of man must be crucified: We have heard from the law that the Christ remains for ever. How can you say that the Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man? (Joh. 12:33-34; see notes of Hendriksen, John, Vol. II, p. 203ff)

In this true messianic title lay half-concealed, half-revealed His identity, and as a term, would not expose His ministry, so readily as would other terms, to the excesses of nationalistic messianism, giving Him time, thus, to develop in the minds of His closest followers the true character of the suffering Christ. Since son of man was also a title with which both Ezekiel and Daniel are addressed in their prophetic office, Jesus application of the term to Himself, without clear and obvious christological intent or explanation, might suggest no more to the uninformed listeners than that Jesus was speaking of Himself as belonging to the same prophetic line. Or else, since son of man related the bearer of this title most intimately to the human race (cf. Psa. 8:4), the uninformed hearer could well be held at a distance by its use. However, as indicated before, Jesus intention was ever to indicate His Messiahship almost as eloquently as if He had said, I am the Christ. Yet He does this without unnecessarily exciting the wrongheaded political ambitions of national messianism.

A third suggestion why Jesus should make use of this title rather than so many others by which to characterize Himself, is His identification with the human race. While His title Son of God emphasizes His unique and unshared relationship with the Father, this title, even though messianic and specifically originating in a context that unquestionably establishes His divinity, still speaks of the human form in which His ministry to man took place (See on Mat. 9:6; Cf. Heb. 2:5-18 as commentary on Psa. 8:4-6; Joh. 5:26; Mat. 20:28; Php. 2:5-8)

But which of these views indicates best what Jesus was saying to this excited scribe? Any one of the choices is fair enough, although the irony involved in thinking that the Messiah of God is so reduced as man as to have no place to call home, is as heart-breaking as it is tremendous!

Before we feel too much pity for Jesus who had no comfortable, permanent home or earth, we must ask ourselves who is really to be pitied: Him who knew how to detach Himself from home so as to be free to prepare Himself and men for Gods eternity, or us who are so attached to the loved and known, to home and family that we cannot respond to Jesus call to service as we ought? So in the long run, Jesus answer is less cruel because He will not let this scribe be disappointed after rushing in where he did not understand what he would have to suffer. Still Jesus does not refuse the man. He is now left to decide whether he too is free from earthly attachments to follow the Master, in such unhesitating, whole-souled service as he had at first offered. He must decide whether he will cast in his lot with this homeless Rabbi whose Words alone led men home.

B. THE LATENT LAWLESSNESS OF LEAVING THE LORD TO THE LAST (8:21, 22)

Mat. 8:21 Another of the disciples said to him. This phrase seems to clarify two points: one, that the scribe before him was actually a hidden disciple who was coming out into open commitment to Jesus, and, second, that this follower is already numbered among the openly committed disciples of Jesus. This gives point to Lukes account of this mans call: To another he said, Follow me. (Luk. 9:59) For what special purpose did Jesus wish this known disciple to enter His special compassionship? This is precisely the same wording used by Jesus to call Matthew to apostleship (Mat. 9:9), the fishermen-Apostles (Mat. 4:19) and Philip (Joh. 1:43). Did Jesus want this man to enter some special service like that of the Apostles? Was he to become one of the evangelists who would later evangelize Perea? (See Luk. 10:1-23) If so, it is not surprising that Jesus would need considerable manpower to stir up popular interest in His message among the many cities of Perea and Judea where He had not previously labored with the intensity with which He had practically mobilized all Galilee behind Him. Maybe this invitation was but a general mission to which Jesus called this man, as He had so done with others. (See Mat. 10:38; Mat. 16:24; Mat. 19:21)

Here is the tragedy of the unseized opportunity: Lord, let me first go and bury my father. This mans excuse is reasonably valid within itself, so reasonable in fact that any further argument about his refusal seemed to be eliminated. Not only is his reason normally quite justifiable, but beautiful and honorable, if anyone else but Jesus were calling him.

What was the actual condition of the father?

Perfectly well? Then this declaration of the son may be interpreted as an oriental expression of dependence upon the father until the son becomes his own master at his fathers death. Nothing is clearer than this fitting exhibition of oriental filial duty. If this is the case, perhaps the young man is bargaining for time.

Sick unto death? Then this plea is to be interpreted as requesting perhaps months of delay before taking up Jesus service.

Actually dead? This again is oriental filial duty to give proper respect to his departed ancestor.

Some might feel that it would make some great difference were we to choose one of these interpretations as against another. But the fault of the request is still present in all three possibilities: Let me put anything else first, before serving You, Further, Jesus refusal is applicable to all three situations. This is proof that the actual death of the father makes no difference: following Jesus is our duty higher than duty to family alive or dead!

Why should the young man wish to remain with his old father, instead of following Jesus immediately?

His father was probably an unbeliever in Jesus: a believing father who understands Jesus ministry would have insisted that the son serve Jesus. Apparently the young man did not wish to be rejected by his family who would misunderstand his higher calling to serve Christ. They would be too blind to understand what he was doing. Probably, he had every intention of entering Christs service later when he became master of his own destiny at the death of his father.

The young man himself did not recognize that his reluctant or hesitating request contained a deadly principle, which, if. admitted, would prohibit any further effectiveness as a disciple, if not his very discipleship itself: any other duty may be put first.

Mat. 8:22 But Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead. Jesus refused his request in the most imperative language. (cf. Joh. 21:19-22) Jesus knew the human hearts desire to procrastinate, to put the hard duties off until later. In the strongest terms, Jesus urges His disciple: My friend, it is now or never: be mine!

By the time the mans fathers funeral was over Jesus would be gone on more important evangelistic activity and this disciple will have missed his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be the personal colaborer of Jesus of Nazareth! Worse yet, the man, having not taken this one great opportunity might be convinced by his own complacency or by unbelieving relatives not to return to help the Master.

Leave the dead to bury their own dead. This interesting figure used by Jesus has but one point but many applications. Without mentioning the emotionally touchy word your dead father, Jesus makes the highest demand upon this young man: let those who are spiritually insensitive to the high call of the kingdom of God take care of those things that might be called the highest duties of human life. There are people enough who have not caught your vision of Gods service: let them attend to those affairs which, in comparison with my service, are clearly secondary.

Jesus does not intend for us to neglect normal human responsibilities. (See Notes on Mat. 15:1-20; cf. 1Ti. 5:8; Eph. 4:28; Eph. 6:1-4) Jesus Himself went to the funeral of Lazarus, but He did not require that Mary and Martha leave the tomb to began an evangelistic journey with Him. Of course, it might be objected that, in all the connections Jesus had with the dead, He intended to raise them. But this is not true, for He did not raise John the Baptist. Raising some of the dead people in scattered parts of Palestine was the least often repeated of His miracles, if the few instances we have is any indication.

Note that Jesus does not mention great sins that cause our hearts to be polluted with hatred, malice, jealousy, dishonesty, selfishness, falsity, murder and the like. Rather He raises the standard: He regards only total commitment to Him as righteousness. Any other reasonable, useful, justifiable, good duty that is used to keep a man from following Jesus is SIN! (Mat. 10:34-38; Mat. 16:24-26; Luk. 14:26-33) Jesus does not intend nor does He insist on our denial of some things. Rather, He insists on our total commitment to Him that will sacrifice anything to be free to do His bidding. (See Notes on Mat. 5:29-30) No man, having heard the direct call of Christ to any work and is sure that Jesus means him (and not merely infers that he is meant on the basis of reasoning based upon Jesus words), has a right to make reservations or limitations on his service. Jesus wants the whole man. Too often we are none of us all of one piece. More than one man dwells within us, often in uncomfortable association with his fellows. We are walking civil wars. Thus, anyone who commits himself to follow Jesus and delays, temporizes or reminisces about the desirability of the life or relationships he is leaving behind, is not fit for the kingdom. His heart is still tied to the world. (cf. Luk. 17:32) No family tie or social relationship may have any competitive compulsion over a disciple of the Lord. (Mat. 10:36-37) And yet, tragically, some do go home to discuss their conversion with unbelieving relatives and never return. Jesus demonstrated what He meant by this principle. (Mat. 12:46-50; Joh. 2:4) Did He love Mary and His brothers any less than when He walked out of Nazareth never to return home again? That higher ministry, for which He left them behind in Nazareth and refused to let their fleshly relationship hold Him or influence His ministry (cf. Mar. 3:21), revealed a higher, deeper love for them than all the remaining at home and serving them there could have ever shown. Paul too understood Jesus meaning. (Php. 3:5-10)

Luk. 9:60 But as for you . . . Jesus recognizes in this man a true disciple in spite of his hesitations: You are not a dead man you are sensitive to the needs of Israel, you have heard the call of God. The ministry to which I have called you is so important and this discipleship so holy that you have as much reason as any high priest to leave the burial of your family to others in order to do your duty to me! (See Lev. 21:11; Num. 6:6-7) The ministry to which I have called you is no less than the proclamation of the kingdom of God! Foster (Middle, 101) points out that, once a man is dead, there is little more that can be done for him, while there are living souls in eternal danger for whom much can be done by urgent preaching. He sees Jesus words as implying a contrast between the relative unimportance of funerals when compared with the urgency of saving the living.

Why did Jesus give different people different answers? Because they were different people. His admonition depended upon the situation, the circumstances and the persons hearts:

To one He says, Follow me (Mat. 8:22; Luk. 9:59; Joh. 1:43 etc.)

To another He says, Return home to friends and declare how much God has done for you. (Luk. 8:39)

To cleansed lepers: Go show yourselves to the priests and offer the gifts . . . (Mat. 8:4; Luk. 17:11-19)

To an enthusiastic scribe: Consider the hardships. (Mat. 8:20)

To a rich young ruler; Sell what you possess and give it to the poor, and come, follow me. (Mat. 19:21)

To a compromiser: I accept no lukewarm service. (Rev. 3:16; Luk. 9:62)

This hard saying of Jesus is perfectly in harmony with the hard terms of discipleship He set before the multitudes. Plummer rightly gives us pause with the question (Matthew, 130): Who is this One who with such quiet assurance makes such claims upon men? Unless we are willing to answer this question and unflinchingly surrender even the most justifiable, and most useful occupations that hinder obedience to Jesus, we cannot properly call ourselves His disciples!

C. THE LIABILITY AND LOSS OF A LAST, LINGERING LOOK AT THE LOVED AND A LAMENTATION OF WHAT IS LEFT (Luk. 9:61-62)

Even if the two accounts of Matthew and Luke are not the same, let us study Lukes third man as additional commentary on Jesus attitude toward shallow commitment. Here is a disciple facing the danger of unfinished commitment. Hear his dallying temporizing: I will follow you, Lord, but let me first . . . It does not really matter what words follow for he has already pronounced those two words that may NEVER be used in the same sentence when addressed to Jesus: But Lord . . . If Jesus is LORD, then there can be no buts, ifs, ands or maybes.

Permit me first to say farewell to those at my home. In contrast to the man just before him, who might have been requesting much time, this disciple assures Jesus of his willingness to take up His service, with the very small request, the very small proviso, that he be permitted to take leave of his loved ones. What could be more reasonable? Is this not a proper respect for those whose society has been our familiar environment and for whom we have been pleasurable companions? Yet, Jesus sees in this mans plea a mind, a heart that is still on the past, the loved, the dear. He must enjoy them once more before giving them up permanently. He had a Lots wife mentality. (cf. Luk. 17:32) Jesus service was not yet for him his highest joy, nor was Jesus yet dearer than the home folks. We can best understand Jesus attitude toward this mans weakness by studying contrasting illustrations of men who grasped this truth:

Compare Elishas call to the prophetic ministry (I Kg. Mat. 19:19-21)

See Pauls attitude toward the relative value of ALL ELSE (Php. 3:8 f.)

Contrast Matthews attitude when he gave a farewell feast. Rather than enjoy the company of his former associates a little longer before making the final break, he apparently intended the occasion to be used to introduce his old cronies to the new Lord of his life. It was obvious to Jesus and to Matthews friends that he had already, permanently and unequivocally broken his emotional ties with the publican life from which Jesus had called him. (See on Mat. 9:9-13)

Luk. 9:62 Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. This dreadful warning of JesusNone who begin my service and look back are FIT!must cause us to sense the lofty, imperative character of Christs call. We must learn to live with the FACT of His Lordship.

Put his hand to the plow, taken as an expression, probably has nothing at all to do with plowing, as if in the act of looking back, the plowman should be thought to fail to plow a straight furrow. Jesus is not discussing plowing at all, but ENTERING INTO DISCIPLESHIP. If Jesus words in the first part of this conditional clause are considered metaphorical as well as those in the conclusion, why should the intervening words be taken literally? What are we to suppose the plowman to be looking at? It is just better not to regard this admonition as a parable of the plowman, and, instead, take His words simply in a metaphorical sense. The point Jesus is making, i.e. undivided loyalty and concentrated, committed attention to the tasks of the Kingdom, can be understood from His words without first reducing them to a parable. This is but a proverbial expression meaning: anyone who begins the task.

And looks back. If you take your allegiance to the Christ as a settled matter, do not die a thousand deaths struggling to decide whether you will do what He wills or not. (Cf. Php. 3:13; Joh. 6:66-67; Heb. 10:32-39) The reason Lots wife was destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah is that her look back revealed that her heart, her life, her love lay with the cities that God had determined to destroy, Her act of looking back unveiled an unwillingness to forsake all for Gods sake, not even if her life depended upon it.

This passage is no reference at all to those who, having become Christians, engage in secular work for their living, for so-called secular work may enable one to publish the gospel much more effectively from a standpoint of financial independence. At the same time, such secular work can give power to ones preaching, not only by personal example on the job, but also as proof that we seek not yours, but you! (Cf. 2Co. 12:14)

WHO ARE THESE MEN?

There have been commentators that have sought to identify these men willing to follow Jesus under certain conditions. (See Plummer, Luke, 266, for illustrations.) The most notable suggestions are usually Apostles, who, out of deference for their later office, remain anonymous, according to the view of those who search for the identity of these totally unknown men. It is certainly useless to waste time trying to learn what the Bible did not say.

But it IS of profound importance to remember that the lives of the apprentice Apostles was not all light and beauty. They struggled with real prejudices. (Cf. Mat. 16:21-23) They wrestled their misinformed consciences while Jesus requirements and views continued to batter their own cherished notions. Foster (Middle, 98) provokes imaginative thought by asking: what kind of impact did Jesus blunt challenges to these would-be disciples make upon the mind, understanding and preparation of the men whom He had called to Apostleship? They would yet, even until Jesus last hours, debate their own relative merits for high positions in Jesus Kingdom. (Cf. Mar. 9:33-37; Luk. 22:24-27) How must the Apostles have understood these hard-line answers Jesus gave these other men? They could not remain unaffected by the shocking treatment Jesus gave the others. (Cf. Mat. 15:12) His words could not but affect their later judgment regarding the relative value of social position, wealth and family.

As for these would-be disciples, we know nothing about what decision they made when their conscience was thrown into crisis, But we do know and thank God for what the Apostles decided. Thus is our own conscience faced with the burning question of Jesus Lordship. How shall we respond?
Jesus is endeavoring to impress, sift and confirm His disciples. He had already arrested their attention by so vividly describing the nature and conditions of His service, that they might be clearly aware of what they would face if they follow Him. These words sift and eliminate some who are too unwilling, or too fearful to undertake His service. These words inspire and confirm the determination of those who, though also frightened, desire service under Jesus above all else. His words stir the hero in their hearts and call him forth.

FACT QUESTIONS

State the problems involved in trying to harmonize Matthews account and the circumstances to which it was related, with that of Luke in the circumstances in which this latter tells us this same basic story.

Do you conclude that these are two accounts of the same event or two separate events? Upon what basis do you decide this?

If you have not already done so, in answer to the previous questions, state the different circumstances which precede Matthews account, and then those which Luke states as immediately preceding this event. These must be known, since our understanding of the authors intent for including them will certainly affect how they are to be interpreted. Where was Jesus going just as the scene begins, according to Matthew? According to Luke?

According to Matthew, who was the first disciple to approach Jesus requesting permission to accompany Him in His ministry and travels? What is so significant about this mans offer? Describe his social position which makes his offer so unusual.

State and interpret Jesus answer. Was Jesus answer strictly true? Did Jesus have a home, whenever He was at home, to return to?

Is it known whether the father was dead, for whom one invited disciple desired to delay his service?

Who are the dead who must be left to bury their own dead? Explain Jesus use of the word dead in each case.

What does Luke report as Jesus antithesis of His command to leave the dead to bury their own dead? That is, what does Jesus state as being the direct opposite, in this case, to ministering to ones dying or dead relatives?

Did Jesus regard the disciple, whom He ordered to leave the dead to bury their own dead, as being dead too? How do you know?

10.

What is meant by the expression: Go and proclaim the kingdom of God? What is this kingdom of God that Jesus wanted proclaimed by that disciple? How does that concept differ (if it does) from the kingdom of God realized in the Church today?

11.

What additional situation does Luke record in connection with these challenges Jesus gave others to count the cost of their discipleship to Him?

12.

Was the third man committed to Jesus? If not, why not? If so, in what way?

13.

What did Jesus think was wrong with saying farewell to those at home?

14.

What is meant by Lukes expression: put ones hand to the plow?

15.

In Jesus warning, what does He mean by the expression: look back?

16.

Does Jesus mean these expressions literally or figuratively?

17.

In what way is one, who begins service in the Kingdom of God, accepts the responsibility to follow Jesus and then tempts himself to reconsider his decision by evaluating all he is giving up for this service, so particularly unfit for the kingdom of God? What does Jesus mean by the expression: not fit for the kingdom?

18.

Is Jesus using the expression kingdom of God in this admonition exactly with the same force or meaning as earlier when He charged the other disciple to go and proclaim the kingdom of God?

19.

Explain the absolute necessity for Jesus challenging of the Sincerity and commitment of these enthusiastic followers. Show the contrast between the open-arms reception we feel constrained to give any contact who manifests an interest in Christ, and the blunt, almost stand-offish approach actually used by Jesus Himself here.

20.

List other cases where Jesus cooled the enthusiasm of a would-be follower, in order to deepen his understanding and strengthen his commitment.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(18) To depart unto the other sidei.e., the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Here, too, though less conspicuously than in the other Gospels, there is indicated the yearning for a time of rest and retirement.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

50. FOURTH MIRACLE STILLING THE TEMPEST, Mat 8:18-27 .

18. Now when Jesus saw Matthew now selects a miracle which took place much later in his ministry than the last, (see Hist. Synop.,) and of which the peculiarity is that it manifests our Lord’s command over the elements. He here rules as Lord of external nature. The other side Of Lake Gennesaret. He crossed from west to east.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Now when Jesus saw great crowds about him, he gave commandment to depart to the other side.’

Jesus’ ministry had begun with ‘great crowds’ (Mat 4:25) from which He had entered the mountain in order to teach His disciples. But when He had descended from the mountain it was again to be met by ‘great crowds’ (Mat 8:1). Now He determines once more to avoid them (as He had in Mat 5:1). He considers that they have seen and heard enough to be going on with, and is probably exhausted. But having already learned that the refuge of a mountain had proved not to be sufficient to totally avoid the crowds, He determined this time that He would cross the sea of Galilee in order to avoid them. It is quite probable that Jesus was physically exhausted. His healings were physically draining as ‘power went out of Him’ (Mar 5:30), and the continual preaching and attention of the crowds would have added to the strain. That is presumably why He would shortly fall into a deep sleep in a boat in circumstances which were far from congenial. There was a limit to what even His body would take. And this period apart from the great crowds would also give some of the inner group of His disciples time to speak with Him, and would lead to further revelations which were meant for them, before He once more took up His ministry in Galilee. For consideration had to be given to all.

‘He gave commandment to depart to the other side.’ This introduces a new subsection, and this indication of His imminent departure is depicted as sparking off moments of decision for two particular men who were possible additions to His growing band. It may well be that neither Jesus nor they knew at this stage how long it would be before they returned to Galilee. Thus this had become a crisis point for all as to whether they would return home, or follow Him.

These two men are probably intended to be seen as two out of a number who would have to make rapid decisions as a result of His departure, for the response to this situation would separate the ‘followers’ from the less committed. There would in fact be quite a number of such followers for other boats went with Him (Mar 4:36), but neither Mark nor Matthew tell us what happened to them, for theirs is a selective history. The concentration is on Jesus and His acts, not on the detail.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Two Disciples Are Faced Up With The Cost Of following Jesus (8:18-22).

Jesus’ command to His disciples to prepare to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (Mat 8:18) sparks off the need for some of His followers to face up to the question of discipleship. The question now is, are they going to follow Him all the way? We are given two as an example. The first is a Scribe, an interpreter of the Law (although not necessarily a Pharisee), and the second is one on whom Jesus has His eye, but who is wavering. Luke tells us of the same incidents but without putting them in a particular context.

Analysis.

a Now when Jesus saw great crowds about Him, he gave commandment to depart to the other side (Mat 8:18).

b And there came a scribe, and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go’ (Mat 8:19).

c And Jesus says to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests” (Mat 8:20 a).

d “But the Son of man has not where to lay His head” (Mat 8:20 b).

c And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father” (Mat 8:21).

b But Jesus says to him, “Follow me” (Mat 8:22 a).

a “And leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Mat 8:22 b).

Note that in ‘a’ Jesus is leaving the country, and in the parallel He tells the disciple to leave the country with Him, and leave the dead to bury their own dead. In ‘b’ the Scribe declares that he will follow Jesus wherever He goes (even into Gentile territory) and in the parallel Jesus calls another to follow Him. In ‘c’ the foxes have holes and the birds of the air nests, each has its home, and in the parallel the disciple wants to cling on to his home. Centrally in ‘d’ is the fact that the Son of Man has come in humility and suffering.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Is Revealed As Lord Over Nature, Lord Over The Spirit World, and Lord Over Sin and Forgiveness (8:18-9:9).

This subsection from Mat 8:18 to Mat 9:9 can be seen as united around a series of travel descriptions deliberately used in order to unite them together:

a It commences with Jesus command to go to the other side (Mat 8:18)

b That is followed by their entering into a boat and setting sail (Mat 8:23).

c They arrive at the other side (Mat 8:28).

b They cross back over to His own city (Mat 9:1).

a The subsection then ends with His ‘passing from there’ (Mat 9:9).

The whole subsection is probably brought together by Matthew in order to vividly portray the future for the followers of Christ. What follows will depict the problems and encouragements of discipleship. Having depicted how as the Suffering Servant Jesus has brought deliverance and healing for all who are unclean (Mat 8:1-17), He now goes on to depict the future for those who will follow Him.

First we have the calling of disciples to follow Him with a warning of what the future holds for them of discomfort, sacrifice and self-dedication as they seek the way of eternal life through the Suffering Servant.

That is then followed by His entering a boat and their ‘following Him’, which results in their experiencing the greatest storm that they had ever faced in their lives. This may be seen as an indication of the storms that lie ahead for the followers of Jesus, but with the promise that He will protect them from them. (It was only they who could expect special protection).

This is then followed by the recognition of the powerful spiritual forces that they will have to face in the future. They learn that not only will He keep them from the depths of the sea and from ‘perishing’ (Mat 8:25-26), but that through Him they need fear no forces of evil (Mat 8:28-34). The authority of Jesus is more than sufficient to deal with all. Their spiritual adversaries, however, will not be so fortunate (Mat 8:32). They will be driven into the sea from which Jesus had delivered His disciples, and will perish.

And then finally comes the indication of what the benefit is of following Him. He grants forgiveness of sins, and this is linked with the healings that He performs. He Who bore their sicknesses and carried their diseases (Mat 8:17) has also come to bring the forgiveness of sins, a forgiveness linked with and demonstrated by those healings and His bearing of their afflictions and diseases, as well as their sins (Mat 9:1-8).

And all this also reveals to the disciples their own future mission, that facing storms and spiritual forces of darkness, they too are to take out to men in His Name the forgiveness of sins (Mat 9:6; compare Luk 24:47; Joh 20:23).

However, in the story of the paralytic another idea emerges, and that is the idea that while the men of faith (the paralytic and his bearers) experience forgiveness and healing, those deceived by Satan will arise in opposition to Jesus. The former will be thus be delivered, as the disciples had been, while the latter will finally perish along with the demons. We have here the first indication in Matthew of the opposition of the religious authorities of Judaism. This opposition must have come as something of a shock to the disciples. They had always been taught how godly these men were. And now they were learning differently, something which will come out further in Mat 9:10-17. And meanwhile all this is finally sealed by the calling of Matthew (Mat 9:9) so that he might have his part in it.

There are interesting connections between the initial account of the approach of the would be disciples, and the events that immediately followed. The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head, and so when He snatches sleep it will be in the stern of a boat at sea. The dead are to be left to bury their dead, while the living who follow Him are to be delivered from death at sea, so as to be brought to recognise that they have eternal life.

Note that central to all these incidents is their arrival in Decapolis. It may be that we are to see from this sequence that Jesus had a specific aim in going to the other side, quite apart from just to avoid the crowds, namely to pin down a particularly dreadful manifestation of the power of the Devil, and to establish a preparatory witness in the area with the future in mind. (We can compare how He had previously established a preparatory ministry among the Samaritans – Joh 4:3-45). It is quite possible that news about these two demon-possessed people who were in such a dreadful condition had been brought to Jesus by Jews from Decapolis who had come to hear Him. The incident will also indicate that the Gentiles are not yet ready to receive Him. They cannot yet cope with His extraordinary powers. For originally it may well be that Jesus’ aim had been to stay there much longer, ministering among the many Jews who were there.

A more in depth analysis of this subsection is as follows:

a Two would be disciples are challenged concerning the cost of following Him and He reveals Himself as the suffering SON OF MAN (Mat 8:18-22).

b Jesus calms the Tempest and reveals His power over nature, resulting in His disciples marvelling, and calling Him ‘LORD’, and saying ‘What manner of man is this?’ They are delivered from the sea and from ‘perishing’ even though their FAITH is little (Mat 8:23-27).

c A host of devils who call Him THE SON OF GOD are cast out of two demoniacs, at which all the inhabitants in concert beg Him to leave. These demons are driven into the sea and do ‘perish’ (Mat 8:28-34).

b Jesus forgives the sins of a paralytic because of their FAITH and then heals him revealing that as the SON OF MAN He has the power on earth to forgive sins. This results in the crowds being filled with awe and glorifying God Who had given such power to men (Mat 9:1-8)

a Jesus calls Matthew to follow Him, and Matthew immediately does so. (Mat 9:9).

Note that in ‘a’ two disciples are challenged to follow Jesus, and in the parallel one disciple is called and does follow Him. In ‘b’ Jesus acts in such demonstrative power that His disciples marvel and ask what manner of MAN He is, and in the parallel He acts in such demonstrative power that the crowds give glory to God because He has given such power to MEN. Centrally in ‘c’ we find the great expulsion of the demoniacs, and Jesus’ own expulsion from Gentile territory.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Discipleship of Christ.

Preparations for departure:

v. 18. Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave commandment to depart unto the other side. It was getting late in the evening. Jesus had spent a very busy day teaching and healing. And still great multitudes pressed about Him.

He was now on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. To escape the importunity of the crowd and to avoid an outburst of false enthusiasm which might spoil the work of His ministry, Joh 6:3-15, He ordered departure unto the other side. An interruption:

v. 19. And a certain scribe came, and said unto Him, Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.

v. 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.

There were others besides His disciples in His immediate vicinity. One of these, a scribe, plucked up enough courage to speak to Him. A strong testimony for the power of Christ’s preaching and of the magnetism of His personality that one of the scribes, who, as a class, were utterly opposed to the ways of Jesus, could be carried away by his enthusiasm and ask to be admitted to the inner circle of the apostles. But it is ignorant presumption to think of being able to follow Christ in any way which he should choose or be obliged to go. He had no conception of the cost of being a disciple of Christ. So the Lord shows him the true meaning of discipleship, what it implies and what it demands. The foxes have dens, where they may rest in safety, the birds of the heaven have roosts, most of them resorting to the same tree night after night for shelter, but the Son of Man, Jesus, in His state of humiliation, is burdened with a poverty, with a homelessness, which to Him is a willing burden, but which might become a galling irritation to one that does not realize what might be demanded of the followers of the lowly Nazarene. Under certain circumstances poverty, privations, persecutions may, by God’s permission, be the lot of the Christians. “So all true Christians do: They use their goods, they have nests and dens; but when necessity demands leaving them for the sake of Christ, they do it, and gladly even move from the place where they may lay their head, as on their possession. And they are glad to be foreigners in the world and say: I am a guest upon earth; and again: I am a pilgrim, as were all my fathers.”

The “Son Of Man.”

This expression, which occurs eighty-four times in the New Testament, has almost become a touchstone, or shibboleth, by which the attitude of a theologian toward the person and work of Christ may be characterized. The many commentaries and books on the person of Jesus reflect, in a most remarkable way, the personal faith of the writers.

In the majority of cases, critics have reached the point at which they deny any special significance in the peculiar phrase. The “Son of Man,” in their opinion, simply means the ideal man, the original man, the normal human being, the man in whom the entire human history and destiny is realized. It is used, according to the idea of many, merely to express the weakness and humility of Christ, or to designate the second or heavenly man, the Pauline second Adam, the preexistent heavenly type of humanity, the ideal of the beyond. Its definition is said to be simply man, the unprivileged Man: not only no exception to the rule of ordinary human experience in the way of being better off, but rather an exception in the way of being worse off.

Other critics there are that earnestly endeavor to give the expression, as found in the gospels, its full value and strength. “In all probability, Jesus chose this particular Old Testament designation of the Messiah, Dan 7:13, because, unlike the others, it had not been grossly perverted to foster the carnal expectation of the Jews. Thus our Lord met the morbid and fantastic expectations of His contemporaries and among them, apparently, those also of the scribe in the text by laying emphasis on His genuine and true humanity as the Messiah. His great aim was that the people should view Him as true man in the lowliness of His outward appearance, but also at the same time in His high character, as the Son of Man, that is, the ideal man, the second Adam from heaven (1 Corinthians.”

But these explanations are either entirely beside the mark, or they do not go far enough; they do not cover the full significance of the expression. A mere ideal man is surely not the Lord of the Sabbath, Mat 12:8. If any one assumes the right to change the Old Testament institutions according to His will, as Lord in His own right. He must have divine authority. A mere ideal man cannot usurp the exclusive right of God to forgive sins on earth, Mat 9:6. To forgive sins is God’s prerogative, and if Christ assumes this power, He is arrogating to Himself a divine right, as “the Son of Man. ” A mere ideal man could not speak of the last days of the world as the days of the Son of Man, Luk 17:22-30. But it is said of the Son of Man that He will come in the clouds of heaven to hold judgment, with all the majesty of the Father and accompanied by all the holy angels. And a careful comparison of the other passages containing this expression will only serve to strengthen this impression that more than mere humanity, more than mere ideality, is implied.

Jesus is “the Son of Man in an extraordinary and singular sense. He evidently intends, with this name, to distinguish two forms of existence, His existence before the beginning of time as the eternal Word of God, and His form of existence in time as Jesus of Nazareth. He confesses and means to convey with this appellation the fact that He, the eternal Son of God, became flesh, entered into a true humanity, for the sake of redeeming mankind. It is a description of His wonderful, mysterious person according to His divine and according to His human nature. ” “It is not from mere humility that He calls Himself the Son of Man, as though the name Son of God did not pertain to Him in His present state of humiliation, and that He would adopt that title only by and through His exaltation. Indeed not; but He wants to lead to the mystery of His person, that the Son of Man in His humiliation is at the same time the true Son of God, as Peter formerly made confession of Him, Mat 16:13-16. And it behooved such a person also to be the Mediator between God and men. It was necessary that He be a man in order to suffer, and God, in order to transmit to His sufferings an eternal value; a man, in order to humiliate Himself to the earth, and God, to lift us up into heaven; a man, in order to become a substitute for men, in their stead, and God, in order that He might reconcile and satisfy the outraged righteousness of God by a proportional satisfaction; God and man in one person, in order to unite God and men into one spirit.”

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 8:18-20. Now when Jesus saw, &c. Now Jesus, perceiving the crowd about him, gave orders to depart, &c. Though our Saviour had retired into the wilderness after the cure of the leper, mentioned Luk 5:12 the people, excited by the fame of that miracle, came to him from every quarter; wherefore, that he might effectually avoid them, he resolved to go to the other side of the lake, and commanded his disciples to accompany him. Upon this, a scribe, who happened to be present, offered to follow him, Mat 8:19 but Jesus, knowing that he had nothing in view but the pleasures and profits of the supposed kingdom, would not accept of his service; telling him, that he was quite mistaken if he proposed to better his worldly circumstances by attending him. The phrase Son of man is found in Dan 7:13 where the universal dominion to which the Messiah, in quality of the Son of man, was to be raised, is described. It is the appellation which the Lord Jesus Christ commonly gives himself; and as he was called so by none but himself, it is plain that he chose the title out of humility, as having some relation to his mean and humble appearance in this world. Son of man, in the prophets Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah, does not so much denote the human nature, as the frailty and weakness of man; and in this sense undoubtedly the expression is used, Psa 8:4; Psa 146:3. The Lord Jesus Christ takes care indeed to lay a stress upon it, when he would make his power and authority known. See ch. Mat 9:6 Mat 12:8. &c. but he certainly made use of it for this end, that he might rectify the mistaken notions which they had formed of the nature of his kingdom, and to give them to understand that the way he was to enter into glory was through sufferings and the cross. See Beausobre and Lenfant. Instead of lay his head, Mat 8:20 we may read, rest his head.

To depart unto the other side Let it be remarked, once for all, that passing or crossing this lake or sea does not always denote sailing from the east side to the west, or inversely; though the river Jordan, both above and below the lake, ran southwards. The lake was of such a form, that, without any impropriety, it might be said to he crossed in other directions, even by those who kept on the same side of the Jordan.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 8:18 . ] from Capernaum across to the east side of the lake of Tiberias. He wished to retire. Instead of putting the statement in the pragmatic form (it is different in Mar 4:35 ) adopted by Matthew, Luk 8:22 merely says, . According to Baur, it is only the writer of the narrative who, in the historical transitions of this passage (here and Mat 8:28 ; Mat 9:1 ; Mat 9:9 ; Mat 9:14 ; Mat 9:18 ), “turns the internal connection of all those events into an outward connection as well.”

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

III
Miraculous works of Jesus on His missionary journey: The troubled disciplesthe troubled sea

Mat 8:18-27

( Mat 8:23-27, the Gospel for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany.Parallels: Mar 4:35-41; Luk 8:22-25; Luk 9:57-60.)

18Now, when Jesus saw great multitudes11 about him, he gave commandment to departunto the other side. 19And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I willfollow thee whithersoever thou goest. 20And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests;12 but the Son of man hath not where to layhis head. 21And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go andbury my father. 22But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

23And when he was [had] entered into a13 ship, his disciples followed him.24And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch [so] that the ship wascovered with the waves: but he was asleep [sleeping]. 25And his disciples [they]14 cameto him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us [save]:15 we perish. 26And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked thewinds [wind]16 and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man17 is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat 8:18. Now, when Jesus saw great multitudes.In this instance a motive for withdrawing, as in Mat 5:1; Joh 6:3; Joh 6:15.There were seasons when the multitude would have proclaimed Him King: sudden outbursts of carnal excitement, from which the Lord withdrew. That such was the case in this instance, we gather from the profession made by the scribe in Mat 8:19.

, to the opposite side of the lake.

Mat 8:19. And one, a scribe, came.The refers to the in Mat 8:21; from which verse we also gather that this scribe was already one of Christs disciples, in the wider sense of the term, and that he now proposed henceforth to follow Jesus continuously. When the Evangelists mention these calls to follow the Lord in a particular sense of the term, they seem always to refer to the apostolic office, not to discipleship. But as Andrew, John, Peter, James the Elder, Nathanael or Bartholomew, and Philip, had been previously called, and as the persons here addressed could not have been any of the brothers of the Lord (James the Younger, Joseph, Judas Lebbeus or Thaddeus, and Simon), we conclude that they must have been either Judas Iscariot, Matthew, or Thomas. From the peculiar characteristics which appear in the narrative, we venture to suggest, that the first of the two scribes was Judas Iscariot, the second Thomas, and the third individual (who is only mentioned by Luke) Matthew. This is, however, merely a hypothesis made more or less probable by the nexus of history (comp. Leben Jesu, ii. 2, p. 651).In the Gospel of Luke, this event is introduced at a later period, when Jesus prepared for His last journey to Jerusalem (Luk 9:51-62). A superficial investigation will serve to convince us that the transaction between Jesus and the sons of thunder, recorded in Luke, had led to the introduction of this history in that connection. It seems like a psychological combination designed to exhibit Christs mastery in dealing with different dispositions (say the four temperaments). Schleiermacher, Schneckenburger, Gfrrer, and Olshausen, adopt the chronology of Luke; Rettig, Meyer, and others, that of Matthew.

Mat 8:20. , Dwelling-places, not nests, as birds do not live in their nests. De Wette.18

The Son of man.Jesus adopted the name no doubt with special reference to the prophetic vision in Dan 7:13, where Messiah is seen coming in the clouds of heaven, . (Comp. Hvernicks Daniel.) Hitzig imagines that the Son of man seen by Daniel in the clouds was not the Messiah, but the whole people of Israel;an absurd hypothesis, refuted by Ewald (in his Jahrbcher for 1850). Daniel say only the image or likeness of the Son of man, who appeared in the full sense in Jesus of Nazareth. In all probability, Jesus chose this particular Old Testament designation of the Messiah, because, unlike the others, it had not been grossly perverted to foster the carnal expectations of the Jews. Thus our Lord met the morbid and fantastic expectations of His contemporariesand among them, apparently, those also of the scribe in the textby laying emphasis on His genuine and true humanity as the Messiah. His great aim was, that the people should view Him as true manin the lowliness of His outward appearance, but also at the same time in His high character, as the Son of man, i. e., the ideal man, the second Adam from heaven (1 Cor. xv.). The bold supposition of Weisse, that the term, Son of man, is used in opposition to the name of Messiah, deserves no refutation. It is remarkable that John had similarly avoided the title of Elijah, under which Malachi had predicted his advent, while he chose the designation given him by Isaiah: The voice of one crying in the wilderness. The reason of this was, that carnal notions concerning the Messianic kingdom were connected with the former, but not with the latter expression (Joh 1:19, etc.). Meyer conceives that there is an antithesis implied in the term, Son of man, as opposed to Son of God, and denies the conception of ideal humanity (p. 82).19 According to Augustine, there is a faint allusion to the boastfulness of the scribe in the expression, birds of the air. But this seems strained; and we would rather apply the term to the unreliable and fugitive character of his enthusiasm, while the word, foxes, refers to cunning.

Where to lay His head.A picture of a homeless pilgrim: hence, not of want in the ordinary sense, but of voluntary poverty. The answer of Christ implied, not a positive refusal of the overture of the scribe, but a solemn warning. He who saw not as men do, perceived, under that excessive profession of this man, an amount of unreliableness and insincerity which called for such caution.

Mat 8:21. Another of His disciples.In the stricter [rather in the wider] sense of the termsuch as the scribe had been. Clement of Alexandria (Stromat. iii. 4) suggests that this disciple was Philip; but he had been called at an earlier period.

Bury my father.The father had died. According to some critics, his old father was still alive, and the expression, to bury, meant to take care of him till his end, and then to commit him to his last resting-place. But the call to follow Christ immediately, evidently implies, that at the time the father was actually dead. Burial was the most ancient mode of disposing of the dead (Cic. Legg. 2:22; Plin. 7:55), and was always practised by the Jews, in opposition to the Greek custom of burning the dead, which was quite exceptional among the Jews. It was considered the duty of sons to bury their parents, Gen 25:9; Gen 35:29, etc. Tobith 4:3. Comp. Winer sub voce: Begraben, Schttgens Hor [W Smith: Bibl. Dict. sub Burial, vol. 1:233].

Mat 8:22. Let the dead bury their dead.Artificial explanations see in Meyers Commentary. The sentence is an Oxymoron, by which the burial of the dead is assigned to those who are spiritually dead.20 The expression conveys to the hesitating disciple that there were more urgent duties in the kingdom of heaven than that of burying the dead, and particularly, of going through all the ceremonies connected with a Jewish burial. At the same time, it also alludes to the goal and end of those who are spiritually deadtheir last and highest aim here is to bury one another. Death of the soul is connected with death of the body.Celsus (according to Origen) founded on this passage the objection, that the Saviour demanded what was inconsistent with duty to parents. But He only subordinates the duty of a Christian toward his own household and family, especially when another could take his place, to the highest of all dutiesthose of his spiritual calling, and to his Master.21 Lastly, we infer from this trait, that this and the former reply were addressed to disciples in the narrower sense of the term.

Mat 8:23. The ship, .With the article, meaning a definite ship, which waited to take them across the lake; the words of Jesus having induced His disciples (in the narrower sense) to follow Him implicitly.22

Mat 8:24. ,indicating the effect, of which the cause (the winds, Mat 8:26) is afterward mentioneda violent commotion of the sea. On the sudden storms occasioned by the situation of the Lake of Galilee, comp. Schubert 3:237; Robinson 2:416.

Mat 8:25. Save! we perish! , .Asyndetic (disconnected) language of intense anxiety.

Mat 8:26. Why are ye fearful?The word afraid would be too weak, and cowardly too strong. At any rate, it was a fearfulness which the Lord censured. It is worthy of special notice, that, according to Matthew, the Lord first rebuked the disciples, and after that the sea. See , Psa 106:9. (Mark and Luke reverse the order.)

Mat 8:27. The men, .The men in their human nature,more particularly, in their rapid transition from extreme anxiety to boundless admiration. Hence we infer that it applied to the disciples, and not, as Meyer supposes, to other parties accompanying Jesus. According to the account given by Mark, other vessels went along with that which bore the Lord; so that He must have been followed by a numerous company of disciples.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. In dealing with the different characters of the disciples, and adapting Himself to their natural dispositions, the Lord showed how closely He read, and how wisely He directed, the hearts of men. (Leben Jesu, ii.2, 651; iii.422.)

2. The Son of man. The description furnished by Daniel of the appearance of Messiah, under the form of the Son of man, indicates a very advanced stage of the prophetic doctrine of the Messiah. But, in order clearly to perceive its import, we must compare this term, as used by Daniel, with the passage about the seventy weeks (Daniel 9). [In the sixty-third week, the Messiah who was not a prince, was to be set aside by the advent of the people of the Prince who was not Messiah.] After seven weeks, i. e., at the close of the seventy weekscometh the Messiah, who, at the same time, is also a Prince. Hence the figure of the Son of man combines the two ideas of the suffering and the glorified Messiah. As the Son of humanity to which the curse attaches, He is humbled and rejected; while, as the Son of humanity on which the blessing is bestowed, He is exalted and declared Lord of an eternal kingdom. Gerlach: The first man was simply called Adami. e., man, and every descendant of his is called a son of man; but Christ is called the Son of man, as being derived from Adam, and yet the Head of a new race, 1Co 15:47.

3. The import of the miracle of stilling the tempest has frequently been misunderstood. Paulus (of Heidelberg) resolves it into a natural phenomenon; Ammon regards it as an allegory or symbol; while Strauss treats it as a myth.23 It may also be turned into magic,24 if, with Meyer, we were to overlook the connection between the tempest in the hearts of the disciples and that on the lakebetween sin in man, and the convulsions and throes of nature (Olshausen)and regard this history as merely a direct act of power exercised upon the elements, and nothing else. In this respect, it is sufficient to remind the reader of Rom 8:20. Not that we thereby explain the miracle, but that we present its Christian aspect. The Lord rebukes the storm in the minds of His disciples; thus preparing for calming the tempest on the sea.He takes away the sin of the microcosm, in order then to remove the evils of the macrocosm. Hence this event has frequently been regarded as a symbol of the passage of the Church of Christ through the world. There is another aspect of it which deserves attention. In this miracle, the operation of the Son and of the Father coincide; as the New Testament completion of the Old Testament miracles upon nature, it is at the same time a prediction and a miracle, and thus a sign that the Son had, in the name of the Father, entered upon the government of the world.

4. Our modern degenerate and false philanthropy fails to perceive the difference between a soul that is mourning and one which is fearful or desponding. It is altogether erroneous, and must fail of its desired effect, if we administer to the fearful the comfort which is only appropriate to the afflicted. The latter, Christ ever upheld with words of kindness; while He rebuked the fearful, by setting before them the terrors of His word, and thus recalling them to a better state of mind. Thus He rebuked those who were possessed, who by their cowardice had become the prey of unclean spirits; and similarly He rebuked the disciples, when from want of faith they were desponding or fearful. Thus also He rebuked the fever which weighed down the mother-in-law of Peter; and, in the present instance, the sea and the winds. Such a rebuke must, of course, be regarded as symbolical, since neither sea nor tempest had personal consciousness. The ultimate ground of this rebuke lay in the fact, that the disturbances of nature were caused by unclean spirits. Christ apparently regarded those sudden outbursts in nature not as manifestations of healthy and regular force, but as manifestations of weakness; just as the fever was the consequence of inherent weakness, or of a germ of death, against which nature employed her utmost efforts in convulsive struggle.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Jesus sees the multitude and approaches them; Jesus sees the multitude and retires from them. 1. The fact itself,(a) in the Gospel history; (b) in that of the Church; (c) in individual Christian communities. 2. Explanation of the fact: (a) He approaches when He sees multitudes longing for His salvation and waiting upon His word; (b) He retires at the first appearance of fanaticism, which would have confirmed the carnal expectations of man, and not the word of God.The Lord eschews the sinful obtrusion of worldly men, in order to seek out the poor and the needy, afar off.The watchword of Christ: To the other side! 1. A watchword of faith, breaking through all narrow boundaries; 2. a watchword of love, overcoming all selfishness; 3. a watchword of courage, overcoming all dangers.The Saviour and the spiritual distemper of His disciples: 1. Spurious enthusiasm in our own strength (I will); 2. spurious scruples and spiritual hesitation (Suffer me).Jesus the great model of pastoral work.Jesus warning superficial enthusiasts to count the cost of following Him.If we are willing to follow the Lord, we must become homeless wanderers, and be ready to renounce all our comforts.The Son of man has not where to lay His head. 1. The fact: at the commencement, the manger; at the close, the cross; during His pilgrimage, a bench on the ship. 2. Its import,(a) so far as He is concerned; (b) so far as we are concerned.The nests and caves of professing disciples who are not ready to yield their all to Christ. They seek,(a) high places (nests) in time of prosperity; (b) places of concealment (caves) in the hour of adversity.Jesus teaches His faithful disciples to get quit of their scruples and hesitation by considering the final aim of life.Let the dead bury their dead: 1. Compared with following Christ, which he had undertaken, this was the lesser duty; 2. others were able to take his place; 3. the disciple seemed to hesitate between two duties, while yet he had taken upon him the yoke of Christ.Is a collision of duties possible? As little as,(a) between the commandments of God; (b) between the angels of God; (c) between the ways of God; for such, indeed, are all duties, so far as we are concerned.It is characteristic of the spiritually dead, that they busy themselves with special affection about the ceremonials of life.The dead bury their dead: such is the end of all unbelieving lives.Symbolical import of the passage of Christ with His disciples across the sea. It is a figure of all His leadings,(a) of the people of God (the ark, etc.); (b) in the history of the Church; (c) in the experience of believers.The unexpected tempest: 1. After so glorious a day, and on the beautiful, tranquil lake; 2. in company with the Lord Himself.We read only once of the Lord being asleep,a sleep full of majesty: (a) a sabbatic rest after His labor at Capernaum; (b) a sign of deep calm in the midst of the dreadful tempest; (c) a preparation for the most glorious awakening; (d) a type of His rest in the grave.The cry of despair becomes a prayer when in proximity to the Lord.How the Lord purifies even the supplications of the helpless.All fearfulness or despondency in life springs from want of faith.The little faith of the disciples: 1. A want of faith in what it forgot (Christs presence in the ship; the hope of Israel, the salvation of the race); 2. still faith in that they took refuge to Christ.Jesus calms every storm.What manner of man is this!The admiration of Jesus a transition to praise and adoration. Our gratitude for deliverance and salvation should ever end in praise.

Starke:We should occasionally retire into solitude, Luk 6:12; Luk 5:16.Much preaching wearies the body, Ecc 12:12; Mar 6:31.Sudden fervor and good inclinations are not equivalent to following Christ.Many would like to be pious, but at the same time to retain their nests, houses, riches, honor, and comforts, Mat 16:24.We must not run before God calls, Rom 10:15.Christ rejects none who come to Him, Joh 6:37; but he who desires only earthly things from Him, receives a solemn warning. Cramer.Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth, became poorer than the beasts that perish; yet His poverty is our riches, 2Co 8:9.The poor, who have nothing of their own, may well derive comfort from the voluntary poverty of Jesus. Quesnel.2Co 11:27.Man is always opposed to the will of God: he either lags behind, or is determined to run before. The right way is, to wait till God speaks, and then not to delay a single moment following Him, Isa 55:8.The spiritually dead, Heb 11:6; Jer 5:3.They who accompany the dead, are themselves subject to death.A seafaring life affording striking signs of Gods wisdom and power (Psa 107:23), but used for merely selfish purposes. Zeisius.God leads His own wondrously, but well, Psa 41:4.Through fire and water, Psa 91:14; Isa 43:2; Isa 42:16.Genuine Christians follow their Saviour through storm and tempest, even unto death, 2Co 6:4; Psa 73:23.If Christ do not immediately come to our help, we are prone to imagine that He is asleep; but He never oversleeps the hour of our deliverance.United prayer is the most effectual.Prayer the best anchor in danger.Let Christians beware of cowardice: His Church will continue so long as He endures. Bibl. Wirtemb.In seasons of extreme danger, the omnipotence and mercy of the Saviour is most fully and gloriously displayed, 2Ch 20:12; Isa 33:10; 2Co 1:8.Weak faith is nevertheless faith, only it must increase.After the tempest, sunshine.The works of God, and His marvellous power in our deliverance, call for praise and thanksgiving.Under the cross we learn what wonders our Lord worketh.Gratitude, Psa 14:7; Rom 11:20.

Gossner:Christ taught His disciples in a wandering school. Here He led them to the stormy lake to teach them fearlessness.Fearlessness great happiness.

Heubner:Our whole life may be compared to a sea voyage, in which we make for the heavenly haven.Christus habet suas horas et moras.Christ the Lord of nature.The passage across the lake, a figure of our lives: 1. The commencement; 2. the progress; 3. the end.

LiscoLuther: Some make a pretext of good works for not following Christ; but the Lord shows that these are dead works.Almighty power of Christ, by which He overcomes the world, and renders everything subservient to the kingdom of God.

The pericope, the calming of the tempest, Mat 8:24-27.

Drseke:The passage across the lake, a figure of spiritual calm: 1. In reference to its character; 2. in reference to its origin; 3. in reference to its effects.Marheineke:How we may courageously meet every danger, when near to the Lord.Harms:This narrative a pictorial representation of the Christian life: The vessel which carries believers; the sea, or the world, with its tempest and waves, and the sufferings of the children of God; Christ asleep, or delaying His succor; then follow prayer, His rebuke, His word of command, and the exclamation of marvel.Hagenbach:Christ our refuge in the tempests of life.Greiling:The inner calm of the soul in the midst of the raging storm.Hffell:God is always and everywhere near us.Kraussold.Lord save! we perish! 1. The distress; 2. the cry for help; 3. the deliverance.

[Alford:The symbolic application of this occurrence (the calming of the tempest) is too striking to have escaped general notice. The Saviour with the company of His disciples in the ship tossed on the waves, seemed a typical reproduction of the ark bearing mankind on the flood, and a foreshadowing of the Church tossed by the tempests of this world, but having Him with her always. And the personal application is one of comfort and strengthening of faith in danger and doubt.Hilary:Those churches where the Word of God is not awake, are in danger of shipwreck, not that Christ sleeps, but He is slumbering in us by reason of our sleep. But where faith watches, there is no fear of wreck from the powers of this world.P. S.]

Footnotes:

[11] Mat 8:18.Lachmann with B. only: for . [Cod. Sinaiticus sustains the pluralP. S.]

[12] Mat 8:20.[Dr. Lange translates: Wohnnester, Zelte, Horste, dwelling places, tents, which is more literal for , but not so popular as nests.P. S.]

[13] Mat 8:23.[Lange translates the ship, , agreeing here with the Received Text and with Tischendorfs edition. But Codd. B., C. and other ancient authorities, and the editions of Lachmann, Tregelles, and Alford omit the article.P. S.]

[14] Mat 8:25.Recepta: . Various authorities [and Dr. Lange] omit . [Lachmann, Tregelles, Ewald, and Conant omit also . So does Cod. Sinait.P. S.]

[15] Mat 8:25.Us, is omitted in Codd. B., C. al. [Cod. Sinait.] The speech is more lively and dramatic without . [Tischendorf, Lachmann, Tregelles, Lange, Conant, all omit .]

[16] Mat 8:26.[Cod. Sinait reads the singular for .P. S.]

[17] Mat 8:27.[Conant: What manner of man belongs to the best English usage. What kind of man, or what sort of man, is not a suitable expression here. A. Norton (Translation of the Gospels with Notes, Bost, 1855) translates: Who is this. But is not simply , but the interrogative of disposition, character, quality, i. q. .P. S.]

[18][Meyer to the same effect: Places of abode where the birds are used to live, to sleep, etc. comp. Mat 13:32; not specifically nests]

[19][Not, however, in a rationalistic sense, but as contrasted with His former . Meyer correctly sees in the term: the Son of man an expression of the , which implies the consciousness of a purely divine and eternal preexistence (in deren Hintergrunde dus Bewuss etsein der rein gttlichen Ureistens liegt).P. S.]

[20][The key to this and all the other paradoxical sentences of Christ is the different sensesa higher and a lower, a spiritual and a literalin which the same word is used. Let those who are dead in spirit (in trespasses and sins) bury their kindred and friends who are dead in body.P. S.]

[21][Chrysostom: Jesus forbade him to go, in order to show that nothing, not even the most important work of natural duty and affection, is so momentous as care for the kingdom of heaven; and that nothing, however urgent, should cause us to be guilty of a moments delay in providing first for that. What earthly concern could be more necessary than to bury a father? a work, too, which might be done speedily. And yet the answer is: Let the dead bury their dead. Follow thou me. If, then, it is not safe to spend even so little time as is requisite for the burial of a parent, to the neglect of spiritual things, how guilty shall we be if we allow slight and trivial matters to withdraw us, who are Christs disciples, from His service! But rather let us endeavor, with Christs aid, to raise those who are spiritually dead and buried, from the death of sin to a life of righteousness, as He raised Lazarus from the tomb, then we shall be His disciples indeed.P. S.]

[22][Wordsworth likewise presses the def. art. , and quotes from Bengel: Jesus habebat scholam ambulantem; he sees in this ship an emblem of the church. But, unfortunately for this interpretation, the article is of very doubtful authority, see our crit. note above.P. S.]

[23][In German: Von Paulus naturalisirt, von Ammon allegorisirt, von Strauss mythisirt (better: mythificirt).P. S.]

[24][Not: presented in a material light, as the Edinb. trl. has it, misled by a printing error of the first edition. The third ed. reads: Es kann freilich auch magisch gemacht (not: materialisirt) werden, etc.P. S.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

As this is the first place in the Gospel we meet with the phrase Son of MAN, in reference to the person of CHRIST; and especially as it is a phrase the LORD JESUS was pleased frequently to make use of, and delighted in; I beg the Reader not to pass it by hastily. I do not presume to speak decidedly upon it, but yet I would humbly ask, Did not the SON of GOD take pleasure in shewing thereby his wonderful condescension, and his wonderful love to our nature? Think, Reader! what an endearment of character it is in JESUS. You and I might well exceed Solomon’s surprise. He thought it a matter, as well he might, of infinite surprise, that the LORD should condescend to dwell by his gracious presence in the temple. But had Solomon lived to see, as you and I have done, GOD tabernacling in substance of our flesh, what would he then have said! Precious JESUS, dwell in me, and reign and rule in me, and be my GOD, and cause me to be thy servant! Amidst this great multitude, and amidst the forwardness of one, and the backwardness of another, how few truly followed CHRIST? The dead in trespasses and sins, do indeed bury their dead; for to be carnally minded is death. And all that are Christless and unregenerate, are dead while they live. 1Ti 5:6 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 32

Prayer

Almighty God, we come to thee in the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and our Priest, our only answer to thy law. We live in thy remembrance of us: when thou dost forget us, we shall die in the darkness of thy frown. Who can stand the neglect of God? Thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. That thou givest them, they gather; thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good thou turnest away thine eyes and they die in the infinite darkness. Who can stand against the Lord, or fight against his almightiness and prevail? Thy chariots are as the whirlwind and thy horses are swifter than eagles, and our hand is lifted up in weakness only to fall down again in utter failure and distress. Truly we live because thy compassions fail not; thy pity is the explanation of the continuance of our days; because thine heart is moved towards us with all the tenderness of yearning love, therefore is our life not yet cut off we are the living, the living to praise thee, we stand as memorials of thy goodness; our very breathing should be a song of thy care and love, yea our whole life should be a sacrifice unto thee because of thy patience and long-suffering.

Thou hast written thy book for our guidance: thou hast not left us without witness and memorial in the wilderness; thou hast declared thy counsel concerning us in many simple and tender words. Give us the seeing eye, the hearing ear, the understanding heart, and may thy will, revealed in plain letters, be the man of our counsel and the guide of our life. May we have no will of our own, may we live in thy purpose and bow loyally before thy Kingship. All we like sheep had gone astray; we had turned every one to his own way. Now by the grace of God manifested in Jesus Christ, we have returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. We enter into thine house with thanksgiving, with loud sweet songs of the very heart, fired with all our love, and lifted high above the winds because of the passion of our thankfulness. Hear thou in Heaven thy dwelling-place, our adoring psalm and our filial hymn, and send down from the invisible sanctuary blessings that shall illuminate and nourish and perfect our souls.

Thou knowest us altogether; we have nothing that we can hide from God. Thou knowest the place of our roots, and every fibre of them is under thy searching eye. Thou knowest where we were born and under what circumstances of joy or sorrow. Thou hast looked upon us ever since. Thy good hand has beset us behind and before, and has been laid upon us, and because of thy blessing our life is now found in a holy place. Thou knowest the rods that have smitten us; thou knowest the thorns that have pierced and torn us in our long journeyings; thou knowest what difficult places have been found in our course, how sometimes there have been no friends and many enemies, much sand and stone, and no water. Thou understandeth us altogether, in our sorrows and in our delights, in our adversities and prosperities, and thou dost judge us by thy pity and love as well as by the severity of thy righteousness. According to our want and pain do thou now come to us every one: omit none from thy blessing. Where the heart is burdened do thou lift the oppressed weight; where the eyes are darkened with a great darkness do thou let fall upon them some gentle light from Heaven; where there is great gladness or unusual joy of heart, where the goblet is full of the wine of joy, do thou grant unto such to remember that all true and perfect gifts come down from Heaven, from the Father of lights.

Speak to those who are nearly done; show them that they have but a few pages to write and the life-letter will be complete. Speak comfortably to those who are in the midst of their records, and do thou show them that what is now being written will one day be read by thyself. Come near to those who are beginning their way, and give them courage, Christian hopefulness, saintly resolution, and enable them to work out their life’s work with all patience and love and Christian fidelity. The Lord look upon those who are not with us today, who are in the sick-chamber, or in some place of penitential hiding, or on the great sea, or in the far-off land, in the prison, or in the field of war. The Lord look upon all whom we ought to include in our tenderest prayers, and send blessings from the sanctuary that shall be as the bread of life.

We put ourselves day by day into thine hands; send what thou wilt send to us; let the light fall upon us from every point of the sky if thou wilt, or let the great darkness make our way fearful. Whether it be light or whether it be dark, take not thy Holy Spirit from us; let there be light within, and then there shall be the calm of Heaven.

The Lord help every good man to do his work with both hands, diligently, with a heart steadfast in all righteousness, and with an expectation that cannot be cut off in despair. The Lord turn upside down the counsel of the wicked, and bring to naught the deliberations of those whose heart is moved by malice. The Lord forgive our enemies, pity our littlenesses; come with infinite pardonings to our heavy and ever-darkening guilt, and ever lift above the cloud of our fear the cross of the great Son of God. Amen.

Mat 8:18-22

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 (literally shelter), but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

21. And another of his apostles 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.

The Conditions of Discipleship

“He gave commandment.” There was always in him some sign of lordship. He did not receive instructions, he gave them; though in one moment more his mouth was to be opened in a confession of the fact that he had not where to lay his head, yet he gave commandment. This kind of writing does not come of the uninspired human fancy, nor hold together with sufficient artistic cohesion, to be the child of the mere imagination. Yet there is a rugged and vital unity about it, which is the seal of truth. A peasant and the son of a peasant and without any signs of power about him such as are reckoned of consequence by earthly judges, he yet “gave commandment.” Whence this imperative tone? Whence this subtle claim to dominion? Whence this quiet assumption of supreme power? When he concluded his discourse the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority, not as one being in authority, not as one who had on an official cloak and must be respected for his clothes’ sake, but as one having authority, breathing it, holding it, originating it, directing it; and this same authoritative speaker of doctrine, gave commandment, issued a royal precept, told the people about him what to do. Truly the parts do hold together, not with any mechanical contrivance, but because they belong to one another by the law of a reconciliation which does not come within the technical sphere of the mere fancy. His look was law; his tone admitted of no qualifications; his word was prompt, complete, authoritative, final. He never recalled a sentence to amend it; he never requested permission to add to his own doctrine an explanatory or emendatory note. Show me a single instance in which he ever corrected himself. Our pages are blotted all over with erasures and disfigured by a thousand interlineations, but his writing is straight on, no sentence interfering with any other sentence, any more than any star clashes with any fellow planet in all the sea of the heaven.

“When he saw great multitudes about him he gave commandment to depart.” We should have thought it would have been an excellent reason for staying where he was. What more could he need than great multitudes? He came to teach, to preach, to heal, to bless, and to save, and behold here are great multitudes, and yet he gives their presence as a reason for leaving them. Why did this Son of man leave the great thronging, sweltering multitudes? Because the true spirit had left them. They were a mob: it was a great congeries of curious gazers, of persons who wanted to be satisfied with mighty works and wondrous signs. They were swollen with their own wonder, moved by the bad inspiration of their own love of amazement. To such people Jesus Christ never has anything to say. To the miracle-loving Herods he answers never a word; to the merely curious inquirers regarding doctrine or history he preserves a stony silence. It is not the crowd as a crowd he wants or seeks, it is the needy heart, the conscious poverty, the piercing, pleading pain. Do not suppose that we can attract him by anything of a merely multitudinous or formal or ceremonial character. To this man will I look which man? The crowned one, whose shoulders are empurpled, whose feet are plunged in soft velvet and down? To this man will I look. I long for the answer to that statement. “Which man?” my heart inly cries. To the man that is of a broken and a contrite heart and who trembleth at my word. Fill your churches with multitudes and with eloquence and with incense and with colour, till the eye is weighted by its oppressiveness, but if the waiting, panting, broken heart be not there, Christ is miles away, yea, on the other side of the horizon, with his back to us. The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. He comes to our poverty, weakness, and self-renunciation, not to our wealth and strength and self-assertion.

We have now to figure him as about to move to the other side, and while he is in the process of going, a certain scribe came and said unto him, “Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.” This man represents the ardent and hopeful side of human nature. He sees no difficulties, his heart is swollen with a new and glad impulse, and he says he will follow that impulse, whatever the event may be. Could consecration be completer? Could any promise be less reserved? The Son of man will leap towards this man as towards a friend: he will fall upon his neck and cry tears of joy upon his shoulders. What was his reply? Cold as ice. The hot heart came to him, and he dropped into it a great load of polar ice. The reply in letters was this: “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” What became of the scribe? The text does not inform us.

Jesus Christ treated the ardent temperament by always presenting the dark side of the case. It is thus he balances us. To the low in heart, the fearful and timorous in spirit, he speaks a promise, and so lifts up the mind on the depressed side until a happy equipoise is established. To the bold, enthusiastic, romantic disciple, who is going to walk upon the wind, he says, “You are going to a land where you will not have a pillow for your head.” It is thus that men see different sides of the Christian faith: it is thus that men are measured by different standards in the Christian sanctuary. It is thus that perhaps no two Christian experiences exactly coincide. Christ is to us what we are to him. He fills the great mountain with light, and he fills the little daisy, too, with light, and never a beam too much to bear down its weak little neck. He that gathers much in this field has nothing over; he who gathers little has no lack. How foolish, then, and utterly vain is any attempt to reconcile men’s thinkings in mere letters and words. You cannot write Christian experience once for all. It varies, it carries a thousand different colours and tints and hues and mixtures of colour, and utters itself in innumerable tones, complete, strong, tender, weak, whining, valiant, glad as the utterance of a trumpet, and sad as the moaning of a heart that is stabbed. Do not, therefore, be looking out for uniform standards and unanimous opinions and coincident experiences. Christianity will answer you so as to bring up the side of your character that needs elevation.

This is beautifully illustrated in the case of the next man. Another of the disciples said unto him, Lord, I will go with thee to the other side, but suffer me first to go and bury my father.” How filial, how tender a plea to which the son of God can have but one reply. What says he? He speaks in a most soldierly tone. He hardens himself into most inexorable discipline, and says, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.” A hard tone, without one pulse of human feeling in it: how unloving, how unsympathetic, how chilling, how calculated to alienate human affection! This answer was to a particular person of a particular temperament, and was meant to redeem that man from a false conception of Christian doctrine and Christian duty. It does not apply to all cases; it had a distinct and limited application, and was the only message fitted for the kind of man to whom it was delivered. He could not hand on the message indiscriminately to others; it was a gospel spoken to his own heart; it was bread intended for the satisfaction of his own hunger.

This man, however, has many representatives in all ages. Let us understand him a little. He is the kind of man who always has some arrangement to make. He is the sort of person who can never do the next thing that is to be done without precedingly doing something on one side. There are persons who, when we call them, say, “Coming presently.” A broken obedience, a reluctant reply, a mixed answer! Who can tell how far that “presently” stretches over their life? “Presently” is a word that cannot be described by the dictionary, and that cannot be measured on the face of the clock. Are you not acquainted with some friends who are always quite willing to serve you, but first must go down the road or up the hill, to the post-office, or upstairs, and then…? Such arrangements may be permitted as between man and man, such little slaveries to the matter of convenience may be permitted on the social scale, but when it becomes a question of following Christ, we are called upon for absolute self-surrender. That is the very essence of Christianity. There is nothing double in Christian consecration; the true Christian slave has one eye, one hand, one end, one heart, one prayer, one desire. Have we attained this? Not a soul amongst us has come within a million miles of its attainment; but if we desire it, hope for it, and struggle towards it, God will take a broken column as if it were a pillar completed to a glittering point.

The answer of Jesus Christ to all temporising and arrangement-making persons is an answer of unreserved and absolute surrender. Do you suppose that we have given Christ everything? I have not If you have, I have nothing to say to you. I am still burying my father, I am still completing my bargains, I am still adding to my estate, I am still studying the ways and tricks of a perverse world, I am still hushing my breath, so as not to awaken the sleeper. I am going after Christ, but I must first quaff this cup, inhale this fragrance, and breathe in this cloud. I am coming presently. This is what you said to me when I asked you to join the Church, to surrender to Christ, to become an out and-out Christian. You did not say to me, “No!” you said, “Thank you, I will come presently.”

These answers of Jesus Christ are exaggerations in the sense of having another side to them which would have shown their true meaning. There are some persons who do not understand the law of exaggeration: to them an exaggeration is a lie; they do not know that we have to paint very broadly, to be seen afar. There are those who do not understand that we have to infuse into some utterances an emphasis beyond the immediate literal requirement of the case in order that the detonation may be heard. They do not comprehend Jesus Christ when he utters those sublime exaggerations, yet nothing but such exaggerations would have met the cases in question. Now let us qualify them.

Peter once said to Jesus, “We have left all and followed thee.” Jesus Christ replied, “No man hath left father or mother, sister or brother, houses or lands, for my sake and the gospel’s, but shall receive a hundredfold in this present life and in the world to come life everlasting.” That was not the answer which he made to the scribe: to him he set forth the severe by-and-by he would enter into the gracious. His gospel does not tempt us; the kingdom of heaven is not a bribe, it is first a cross, a discipline, a pain, an agony, and afterwards a sweet quiet heaven. In the case of Peter the great act had been done, in the case of the scribe it was about to be done. The scribe would have been misled if the great promise had been held out to him; he therefore had revealed to him only the darker aspect of this great adventure.

Jesus Christ never lets any man really go after him and be disappointed with the result. He keeps his grace for daily revelation according to the daily need. He giveth more grace he giveth grace upon grace. He will not tempt you as with a bribe, but he will feed you with an eternal satisfaction. I do not ask you therefore to come into the Christian sanctuary that you may get rid of your distresses, and your debts and burdens, your pains of body and your clouds of mind, but I call you and tell you that it is a cross you have to take up. That was the message of Jesus Christ to another of his disciples “Follow me, quench every other love, fix your undivided vision upon myself, beware of wandering desires and divided affections and broken resolutions and imperfect vows. If any man will follow me, let him take up his cross.” A great teacher, truly, and not less gracious than severe.

From these two instances two false inferences might be drawn. First, that Jesus Christ did not care to make disciples. He had the chance of making two disciples here in the superior sense (for probably they were both disciples in the merely literal interpretation of the word), and yet he discouraged both the men. When did he ever appear anxious to increase his numbers? When was it a matter of personal consequence to him to make two into four and four into twenty, and when did he send forth a statistician to schedule the numbers of his flock? Truly this kingdom is not a new miracle, mystery, or arithmetical surprise or success. Arithmetic has nothing to do with it. Christ works slowly but he works continuously, and the end shall come and he will deliver up the kingdom to God his Father, and God shall be all in all, for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, then in all the universe there shall be nothing but radiant, joyous anthem-singing, life and immortality. He did not like men to go away from him, but still if they wished to go, he did not hinder them. Jesus said to his disciples when many turned away and walked no more with him, “Will ye also go away?” He was accustomed to loneliness, he had trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there were none with him. We do not flatter or patronise Christ by the multitudinousness of our number: he asks not for many only, but for much for the very life and loyalty of the heart.

A second false inference that might be drawn from these answers is, that Jesus Christ had nothing to offer to his disciples. He told one man that he would have no pillow for his head, and he told another simply to follow him and let the dead bury the dead. Again and again are we taught that this kingdom of heaven is not a bribe; we are not to go after it for the sake of the loaves and fishes. Jesus Christ never promised a downy pillow: he has many a time darkly hinted at a crown of thorns. Jesus Christ never promised honours and delights and satisfactions of an earthly kind: he always said, “The cross is heavy, and it must be laid upon the weakest shoulder.” O thou severe One, what is the meaning of all this? The meaning is in a sentence. He seeks for truth in us which shall correspond to the truth that is in him. My profession must not be a personal luxury it must be truth to truth, reality to reality, Christ and his disciples one, as he and his Father are one.

Tell the mocker that Jesus Christ does not bribe his disciples: tell the taunting fool that in this warfare every man is to be a soldier, trained by the severest discipline, whose delinquencies are to be punished with the highest penalties, but tell them also that are without and who mock and taunt and wonder, that there is no such bread as that which comes down from heaven.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XXXII

OUR LORD’S GREAT MINISTRY IN GALILEE

Part VII

STILLING THE TEMPEST, THE TWO GADARENE DEMONIACS, SECOND REJECTION AT NAZARETH, SENDING FORTH THE TWELVE, AND HEROD’S SUSPICION

Harmony -pages 66-75 and Mat 8:18-23 ; Mat 11:1 ; Mat 13:54-58 ; Mat 14:1-12 ; Mar 4:34-5:20 ; Mar 6:1-29 ; Luk 8:22-40 ; Luk 9:1-9 .

When Jesus had finished his discourse on the kingdom, as illustrated in the first great group of parables, he crossed over the Sea of Galilee to avoid the multitudes. While on the bosom of the sea a storm swept down upon them, as indicated by Luke, but our Lord had fallen asleep. So the disciples awoke him with their cry of distress and he, like a God, spoke to the winds and the sea, and they obeyed him. Such is the simple story of this incident, the lesson of which is the strengthening of their faith in his divinity.

Upon their approach to the shore the country of the Gadarenes occurred the thrilling incident of the two Gadarene demoniacs. The story is graphically told here by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and does not need to be repeated in this interpretation, but there are certain points in the story which need to be explained. First, there are some difficulties: (1) The apparent discrepancy of long standing, relating to the place, is cleared up by Dr. Broadus in his note at the bottom of page 67 (see his explanation of this difficulty);

The long famous instance of “discrepancy” as to the place in this narrative has been cleared up in recent years by the decision of textual critics that the correct text in Luke is Gerasenes, as well as in Mark, and by Dr. Thomson’s discovery of a ruin on the lake shore, named Khersa (Gerasa). If this village was included (a very natural supposition) in the district belonging to the city of Gadara, some miles south-eastward, then the locality could be described as either in the country of the Gadarenes, or in the country of the Gerasenes

(2) Matthew mentions two demoniacs, while Mark and Luke mention but one. This is easily explained by saying that the one mentioned by Mark and Luke was probably the prominent and leading one, and that they do not say there was only one. Second) there are some important lessons in this incident for us: (1) We see from this incident that evil spirits, or demons, not only might possess human beings by impact of spirit upon spirit, but they also could and did possess lower animals. (2) We see here also that these evil spirits could not do what they would without permission, and thus we find an illustration of the limitations placed upon the Devil and his agencies. (3) There is here a recognition of the divinity of Jesus by these demoniacs and that he is the dispenser of their torment. (4) There is here also an illustration of the divine power of Jesus Christ over the multitude of demons, and from this incident we may infer that they are never too numerous for him. (5) The man when healed is said to have been in his right mind, indicating the insanity of sin. (6) The new convert was not allowed to go with Jesus, but was made a missionary to his own people) to tell them of the great things the Lord had done for him. (7) The Gadarenes besought him to leave their borders. Matthew Henry says that these people thought more of their hogs than they did of the Lord Jesus Christ. Alas I this tribe is by far too numerous now.

Following the Harmony, we find that after crossing back to the other shore Jesus revisits Nazareth and teaches in their synagogue. Here he was rejected as at first. He did some works there, but was limited by their unbelief. Their questions as to his origin indicate their great stupidity and throw light on the question of “the perpetual virginity” of Mary, showing that the Romanist contention here is utterly groundless. Before leaving them Jesus announced a fact which has been experienced by many a man since that time, viz: that a man is often least appreciated by his own people.

In Section 55 (Mat 10:1-42 ; Mar 6:7-13 ; Luk 9:1-6 ) we have the first commission of the twelve apostles. The immediate occasion is expressed in Mat 9:36 . (See the author’s sermon on “Christ’s Compassion Excited by a Sight of the Multitude.”) These apostles had received the training of the mighty hand of the Master ever since their conversion and call to the ministry, and now he thrusts them out to put into action what they had received from him. The place they were to go, or the limit of their commission, is found in Mat 10:5-6 . This limitation to go to the Jews and not to the Gentiles seems to have been in line with the teaching elsewhere that salvation came first to the Jews and that the time of the Gentiles had not yet come in, but this commission was not absolute, because we find our Lord later commissioning them to go to all the world. What they were to preach is found in Mat 10:7 and what they were to do in Mat 10:8 . The price they were to ask is found in the last clause of Mat 10:8 . How they were to be supported, negatively and positively, together with the principle of their support, is found in Mat 10:9-11 . The principle of ministerial support is found also, very much elaborated, in 1Co 9:4-13 , and is referred to in 1Co 9:14 as an ordinance of our Lord. The manner of making this operative on entering a city is found in Mat 10:11-12 . The rewards of receiving and rejecting them are found in Mat 10:13 , while the method of testimony against the rejectors is expressed in Mat 10:14-15 .

The characteristics of these disciples are given in Mat 10:16 : “Wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” If they should have had the characteristic of the dove alone they would have been silly; if the serpent alone, they would have been tricky. But with both they had prudence and simplicity. In this commission we find also that they were to be subject to certain hazards, recorded in Mat 10:18 . Their defense is also promised in Mat 10:19-20 . The extent of their persecutions is expressed in Mat 10:21-22 . Their perseverance is indicated in the last clause of Mat 10:22 . In Mat 10:23 we have the promise that the Son of man would come to them before they had gone through all the cities of Israel. What does that mean? There are five theories about it, all of which are amply discussed by Broadus (see his Commentary in loco).

The consolations offered these disciples, in view of their prospective persecutions, are as follows (Mat 10:24-31 ): (1) So they treated the Lord, (2) all things hidden shall be made known, (3) the work of their persecutors is limited to the body, but God’s wrath is greater than man’s and touches both soul and body, and (4) the Father’s providential care. The condition of such blessings in persecution, and vice versa, are expressed in Mat 10:32-33 . From this we see that they were to go forth without fear or anxiety and in faith. The great issue which the disciples were to force is found in Mat 10:34-39 . This does not mean that Christ’s work has in it the purpose of stirring up strife, but that the disturbance will arise from the side of the enemy in their opposition to the gospel and its principles, whose purpose means peace. So there will arise family troubles, as some yield to the call of the gospel while others of the same family reject it. Some will always be lacking in the spirit of religious tolerance, which is not the spirit of Christ. In this connection our Lord announces the principle of loyalty to him as essential to discipleship, with an added encouragement, viz., that of finding and losing the life. In Mat 10:40-42 we have the identity of Christ with the Father which shows his divinity and also his identity with his people in his work. Then follows the blessed encouragement of the promise of rewards. When Jesus had thus finished his charge to his disciples, he made a circuit of the villages of Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

From this incident come three important lessons for us: First, we have here the origin and development of a call to the ministry as follows: (1) Christ’s compassion for the perishing and leaderless, (2) prayer to God that he would send forth laborers, and (3) a positive conviction that we should go. Second, there is also suggested here the dangers of the care for fine preaching: (1) If it has its source in anxiety and selfishness it restrains spirituality; (2) it manifests itself in excitement and excess which adulterates spirituality; (3) it leads to weariness or self-seeking and thus destroys spirituality. Third, we have here several encouragements to the preacher: (1) The cause is honorable; (2) the example is illustrious; (3) the success is certain; (4) care is guaranteed; (5) the reward is glorious; (6) the trials become triumphs; (7) the identification with Christ.

The account of the miracles wrought by the disciples of Jesus on this preaching tour impressed Herod Antipas, as well as those wrought by Jesus himself, the impression of which was so great that he thought that John the Baptist was risen from the dead. The account in the Harmony throws light on the impression that was made by the ministry of John. Some were saying that Jesus was Elijah or one of the other prophets, but Herod’s conscience and superstition caused him to think it was John the Baptist, for he remembered his former relation to John. Then follows here the story of how John had rebuked Herod which angered his wife, Herodias, and eventually led to John’s death at the band of the executioner. Josephus gives testimony relative to this incident. (See chapter X of this “Interpretation.”)

There are some lessons to be learned from this incident. First, we are impressed with the courage and daring of the first Christian martyr, a man who was not afraid to speak his convictions in the face of the demons of the pit. Second, the life must leave its impress, but that impress will be variously interpreted according to the antecedents and temperaments of the interpreters. Third, the influence of a wicked woman, often making the weak and drunken husband a mere tool to an awful wicked end. Fourth, the occasion of sin and crime is often the time of feasting and frivolity. Just such a crime as this has often been approached by means of the dance and strong drink. Fifth, we have here an example of a man who was too weak to follow his conviction of the right because he had promised and had taken an oath. He had more respect for his oath than he had for right. Sixth, there is here also an example of the wickedness of vengeance. It is a tradition that when the daughter brought in the head of John and gave it to Herodias, her mother, she took a bodkin and stuck it through the tongue of John, saying, “You will never say again, It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

QUESTIONS

1. Give the time, place, circumstances, and lesson of Jesus stilling the tempest.

2. Tell the story of the two Gadarene demoniacs.

3. What two difficulties here, and how is each explained?

4. What seven important lessons for us in this incident?

5. Give the story of the second rejection of Jesus at Nazareth and its several lessons.

6. What was the immediate occasion of sending forth the twelve apostles on their first mission?

7. What preparation had they received?

8. Where were they to go, or what was the limit of this commission?

9. Why was it limited, and was it absolute?

10. What were they to preach, and what were they to do?

11. What price were they to ask?

12. How were they to be supported, negatively and positively, and how do you harmonize the Synoptics here?

13. What was the principle of their support and where do we find this principle very much elaborated?

14. How is this principle referred to in 1Co 9:14 ?

15. What was the manner of making it operative on entering a city?

16. What rewards attached to receiving and rejecting them?

17. What was the method of testimony against those who rejected?

18. What was to be the characteristics of these disciples?

19. To what hazards were they subject?

20. What was to be their defense?

21. What was to be the extent of their persecution?

22. What was text on the perseverance of the saints, and what was its immediate application to these apostles?

23. Explain “till the Son of man be come.”

24. What were the consolations offered these disciples?

25. What was the condition of such blessings?

26. In what spirit were they to go forth?

27. What great issue must they force? Explain.

28. What principle of discipleship here announced?

29. What proof here of the divinity of Jesus Christ?

30. What promise here of rewards?

31. What did Jesus do immediately after finishing his charge here

32. What lessons here on the origin and development of a call to the ministry?

33. What dangers of the care for fine preaching?

34. What seven encouragements from this incident to the preacher of today?

35. How was Herod and others impressed by the miracles of Jesus and his disciples?

36. What several conjectures of Herod and others?

37. What part was played in this drama by John? by Herod? by Herodias and by Salome, the daughter of Herodias?

38. What testimony of Josephus on this incident?

39. What lessons of this incident?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

Ver. 18. To depart unto the other side ] Either to retire or repose himself after much pains (for quod caret alterna requie, &c., the very birds, when building their nests, fly abroad sometimes from their work, for recreation’s sake); a or else the better to edge the people’s desires after him, now withdrawn. Luther gave this rule to preachers, for moderating their discourses: When thou seest thine hearers most attentive, then conclude; for so they will come again more cheerfully the next time. Cum vides attentissime audire populum, conclude: eo alacriores redibunt. (Luther.)

a Levandi laboris sui causa volucres passim ac libere volitant. Cicero, 2, de Orat.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

18. ] It is obviously the intention of St. Matthew to bind on the following incidents to the occurrence which he had just related.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

18 9:1. ] JESUS CROSSES THE LAKE. INCIDENTS BEFORE EMBARKING. HE STILLS THE STORM. HEALING OF TWO DMONIACS IN THE LAND OF THE GADARENES. Mar 4:35-41 ; Mar 5:1-20 . Luk 9:57-60 ; Luk 8:22-39 , on which passages compare the notes.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 8:18-34 . Excursion to the eastern shore with its incidents (Mar 4:35 to Mar 5:20 ; Luk 8:22-39 ). These narratives make a large leap forward in the history. As our evangelist is giving a collection of healing incidents, the introduction of Mat 8:18-22 , disciple interviews , and even of Mat 8:23-27 , a nature miracle, needs an explanation. The readiest is that he found these associated with the Gadara incident, his main concern, in his source or sources, the whole group in the Apostolic Document (so Weiss). We must not assume a close connection between 18 22 and the excursion to the eastern shore. Luke gives the meeting with the scribe, etc., a different setting. Possibly neither is right. The scribe incident may belong to the excursion to the north (Mat 15:21 ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mat 8:18 . . The evangelist makes a desire to escape from the crowd the motive of the journey. This desire is still more apparent in Mark, but the crowd and the time are different. The multitude from which Jesus escapes, in Mark’s narrative, is that gathered on the shore to hear the parable-discourse from a boat on the lake. . Grotius thinks this elliptical for: . Beza renders: indixit profectionem = He ordered departure. is understood, not mentioned because they alone could be meant.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 8:18-22

18Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. 19Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” 20Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 21Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 22But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

Mat 8:19 “scribe” This was an expert in the oral law (the Talmud) and written traditions (the Scriptures) of the Jews. They took the place of the local Levite of the OT in interpreting Scripture. They were consulted about how to apply the Law of Moses to everyday matters. See Special Topic: Scribes at Mat 12:38. In Jesus’ day most of them were Pharisees (see Special Topic at Mat 22:15).

“Teacher” This is the vocative form (didaskale) of the term “teacher” (didaskalos). It translates the Hebrew term for “teacher” (lit. “great one,” cf. Joh 1:38; Joh 20:16) and refers to one who knew the Law of Moses (i.e., an honorific title). It is used in the NT of

1. Jewish teachers – Luk 2:46

2. John the Baptist – Luk 3:12

3. Jesus – Mat 8:19; Mat 9:11; Mat 17:24; Mat 26:25; Mat 26:49; Mar 9:5; Mar 9:17; Mar 9:38; Mar 11:21; Luk 10:25; Joh 1:49

4. Nicodemus – Joh 3:10

5. Paul – 1Ti 2:7; 2Ti 1:11

6. Christian teachers – Act 13:1; 1Co 12:28; Eph 4:11; Jas 3:1

Jesus restricts the usage of this term/title to Himself (cf. Mat 23:7-12; Mar 14:14; Joh 3:2; Joh 11:27-28; Joh 13:13-14). There is only “one” Father; there is only ” one” teacher! He and only He is the true “Great One” !

Mat 8:20 “Jesus said to him” Two persons are involved in this context. One was willing to go anywhere; Jesus told him to stop and count the cost (cf. Mat 8:20). The other one was reluctant to follow; Jesus told him, follow at any cost because of the priority of the call of God on a human’s life (cf. Mat 8:21). Truth often cuts two ways!

“the Son of Man” This was Jesus’ self-chosen designation. It was an Hebraic phrase referring to a human being (cf. Psa 8:4; Eze 2:1). But because of its use in Dan 7:13, it took on divine qualities. Therefore, this term combines the humanity and Deity of Jesus. This designation was not used by the rabbis; therefore, it had no nationalistic or militaristic overtones.

Here is a quote from my commentary on Dan 7:13.

” a son of man was coming” The Aramaic phrase (” ben enosh,” construct BDB 1085 and 1081) “son of man” is different from the similar Hebrew phrase (“ben adam”) found in Psalms and Ezekiel. Both phrases are used in parallel in Job 25:6; Psa 8:4; Psa 90:3; Psa 144:3; Isa 13:12. This obviously refers to the Messiah and it links his humanity (cf. Dan 8:17; Job 25:6; Psa 8:4; Eze 2:1), which is the meaning of the Aramaic and Hebrew phrases, “son of man” with his deity because the clouds are the transportation of Deity (cf. Mat 24:30; Mat 26:64; Mar 13:26; Mar 14:62; Rev 1:7; Rev 14:14).

Jesus uses the phrase to refer to Himself in the NT. It was not used of the Messiah in rabbinical Judaism. It had no exclusivistic, nationalistic, militaristic connotations. It uniquely describes the Messiah as fully human and fully God (cf. 1Jn 4:1-3). Daniel’s usage is the first which focuses on its divine aspect!

Jesus used the phrase for Himself in three senses.

1.His suffering and death (e.g., Mar 8:31; Mar 10:45; Mar 14:21; Luk 9:22; Luk 9:44)

2.His coming as Judge (e.g., Mat 16:27; Mat 25:31; Joh 5:27)

3.His coming in glory to set up His kingdom (e.g., Mat 16:28; Mat 19:28; Mar 13:26-27; Mar 14:62)

From The Jewish Study Bible, p. 1657 (also see George E. Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, pp. 136-139), the later Jewish tradition about this text are listed.

1.This context is Messianic (cf. I Enoch 46:1; 48:10; 4 Ezra [2 Esdras] chapter 13; b. Sanh. 98a)

2.All predictions in this context are already fulfilled (cf. b. Sanh. 97b)

3.This context does not refer to the end-time (cf. Gen. Rab. 98:2)

4.This context represents Israel (cf. Ibn Ezra and Rashi)

SPECIAL TOPIC: OT TITLES OF THE SPECIAL COMING ONE

Mat 8:21 “permit me first to go and bury my father” On the surface this seems like a reasonable request. However, this was a cultural idiom for staying home and taking care of one’s parents as long as they lived. It was a social obligation (cf. 1Ki 19:20).

Mat 8:22 “allow the dead to bury their own dead” This was a play on the word “dead.” It can be used of spiritual lifelessness as in Mat 10:39. What Jesus was saying was that spiritual life and obedience to the heavenly Father are more important than social obligations to one’s earthly family.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

about = around. Greek peri. App-104.

other side = farther side, not either of the words in App-124.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

18.] It is obviously the intention of St. Matthew to bind on the following incidents to the occurrence which he had just related.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 8:18. , to depart) Thus Jesus sought repose, and gave to the people time to bear fruit from His teaching, and kindled their interest in Himself for the future.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mat 8:18-22

Jesus and the Scribe

Mat 8:18-22

18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him.-Matthew does not follow any chronological order. When Jesus saw the great multitude, he gave “commandment to depart unto the other side”; he was on the west side of the Sea of Galilee, but now he gives commandment to go to the east side. It seems that the multitude was too great and he withdrew from it; it was an easy method of escape by going to the east side. The miracles of Jesus had greatly impressed the people; they were astonished more at his miracles than they were at his teachings. The excitement of the hour attracted so many that it was impossible to handle such a multitude and do them good; again Jesus’ work could be done more in private than in the midst of an excited multitude. By withdrawing from the multitude, he would have only those present who sought him.

19, 20 And there came a scribe, and said unto him.-“A scribe” was one who copied the law; he was one who was supposed to know the law since he had copied it. There was a class of teachers of the law known as “the scribes”; so one of them either followed Jesus across the Sea of Galilee or came to him after he crossed “unto the other side.” Matthew records the interview with this scribe as though most of Jesus’ followers were men of private station and men of humble life, but here was one of the teachers, a Rabbi, who had come to him. He expressed a noble desire; he said, “I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.” Disciples usually accompanied their teacher; they followed their teacher about and learned from him. Their teaching then was not in houses as are our schools today; the teacher frequently strolled through the country and his disciples “followed him.” Some think that this scribe was influenced by a prospect of temporal advantage in Jesus’ kingdom; he had witnessed the wonderful miracles that Jesus wrought, and perhaps was attracted more by these than anything else;hence Jesus tested his motives.

Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests.-This was a severe test to the faith of this scribe; the foxes have their dens and the birds have their nests, that is, a place of shelter; “nests” as used here does not mean the place where the birds brood, but a place to roost under some shelter. While the foxes and birds have their homes or places of rest, “the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” That is, Jesus had no place on earth that he could recline his head and call it “his own”; this implied that he had no secure or fixed place of abode; Jesus uses here the title “Son of man”; he frequently referred to himself by this title. It recognized his human birth, and his human nature;. but it also implied that he had a dignity exclusively his own. He is the distinguished Son of man to whom there can be no second of like rank; he became the Son of man by being truly the Son of God. Jesus here suggested to this scribe that to follow him entailed many hardships and much suffering. We are not told whether this scribe successfully stood the test; some suggest that his motives were impure and therefore he turned back from following Jesus.

21, 22 And another of the disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.-Some think that this man was one of the twelve; they think that it was James or John and that Zebedee was the father who was to be buried; but this is a mere guess as there is nothing in the context to indicate who this disciple was. Luke does not call him a disciple; he was a disciple only in a large sense of the word, as the scribe may have been. At any rate, he asked that he might be permitted to go and bury his father before following Jesus. It was considered a sacred filial duty to take care of aged parents and to bury them; but the language “first to go and bury my father” intimates, as does the next verse, that the burying was now to be done; whereas Jesus was just leaving that region, and if the disciple accompanied him he could not perform that service, so think some that this is its meaning. It is suggested by some that there is a play on the word “dead”; that the man who was to be buried was physically dead, but those who were to bury him were dead in another sense. At least, Jesus teaches that one must not let anything come between him and following Jesus. We see here extremes meeting in Jesus; he is merciful and sympathetic toward those who are afflicted and at the same time he commands with the authority of an autocrat when he says, “Follow me,” and let nothing interfere with your following me. Some observe that this was a critical time of decision for this disciple; he was in actual danger of burying himself while burying his father. Luke records the case of a third who volunteered to accompany Jesus. (Luk 9:61-62.)

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Leader of Men and Ruler of Nature

Mat 8:18-27

Christ winnows men. Before any enter upon His service, He places before them the inevitable trials which they must meet, among which loneliness and homelessness bulk large. See that in your heart Christ has a home. Where, however, there is lethargy, the Savior stirs the soul to follow Him. Do not mourn about the grave of the past; leave it and enter the life of resurrection and ascension.

Storms must sweep over all our lives. The Masters sleep indicates the peace and security of His nature. What a contrast between our impatience and His infinite serenity! Our Lord was sure that the Father was with Him, Joh 8:29. Near though the enemy may be, the Father is nearer. The everlasting arms are beneath you. You are beset behind and before, but no boat can sink when Christ is on board.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

saw: Mat 8:1, Mar 1:35-38, Luk 4:42, Luk 4:43, Joh 6:15

unto: Mat 14:22, Mar 4:35, Mar 5:21, Mar 6:45, Mar 8:13, Luk 8:22

Reciprocal: Mat 9:1 – he

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Discipleship in Training

Mat 8:18-34

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

1. Let us consider the insincerity of the multitude. The last study closed with the crowds pressing upon Christ that they might be dispossessed of demons, and healed of all manner of sicknesses. The Lord did heal them all. We are sure, however, that He saw the real intent of the populace. They sought Him, not because they loved Him, nor because they received Him as the Son of God. They sought Him because of the benefits they would obtain.

Christ knew what was in man. He still knows. He knows our thoughts, whether we were baptized, and joined the church because we had felt His saving power, and received Him for aye as Saviour, Christ, and Lord, or, whether we joined the church with selfish motives.

Would that all believers were sincere and genuine. If they were we would have less of world-mixing than we have in many churches today.

2. Let us consider the need of others across the lake of Galilee. The people in other parts had the same need as the people this side the lake. The Lord Jesus Christ has laid down before the Church, the whole world as its parish. “Every creature” should be our quest, both in our prayers, our gifts, and our service.

We are in danger of becoming contracted in our view. We remember visiting a certain village that lay nestled in the mountain. Our vision was circumscribed. We could not see anything except the scattered homes of some 2,000 people. There was a big world beyond the mountain, but our vision was hemned in.

Not only so, but it seemed to us that the whole town was self-centered. You have heard the proverbial prayer of the selfish heart:

“God bless me and my wife. My son John and his wife, Us four and no more.”

The heart of God is bigger than one family or one city. His vision takes in the world, and His command is, “Go ye into all the world.” Christ gave commandment to depart unto the other side. Let us not, therefore, become onesided, or “this-sided.”

On another occasion, the Lord said: “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also.” We think: “The next towns also” would be a fine motto for many a self-centered and selfish heart.

During a holiday season the British general of the Salvation Army desired to cable his greetings to the Army in America. He sent just one word over the cables: “Others.” Are there not others who need our testimony?

Is it nothing to you, oh, ye Christians at home,

That millions are passing each day

Into darkness forever, to sigh and to moan,

Not knowing that Christ is the Way?

Is it nothing to you who have much and to spare,

That lost ones are starving each hour?

Yet, it’s not just alone of your bread they would share,

But of Christ and His glory and power.

Is it nothing to you who in luxury live,

That many have never once heard

Of the Saviour who died, full salvation to give?

O send them the truth of His Word.

Oh, ye Christians at home, up, awake, while ’tis day!

For the shadows of night hasten fast;

If you long for a part in the harvest display,

Toil on, ere the summer is past

-Mrs. R. E. Neighbour.

I. A WOULD-BE FOLLOWER (Mat 8:19-20)

1. A spirit of boasting. A certain scribe came unto the Lord saying: “Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.” He was ignorant of where the Lord was going. He knew nothing of the gathering cloud, nothing of the tempests that were about to fall upon his Lord. Nothing of the poverty which belonged to the Son of Man.

This scribe probably saw popularity and power ahead of him when he said: “I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.” He who would go with the Master should weigh well the cost thereof (Luk 14:27-28).

2. Making plain the demands of discipleship. The Lord Jesus never let down the bars to gain a disciple. Here was a man of prominence, and his name would have been quite an addition to the roll of disciples. The Lord, however, did not rush to enroll him.

When a certain rich young ruler prostrated himself at the Master’s feet bringing with him both reputation and financial possibility, Christ quietly said: “Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, * * and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” Would that we in the churches were less anxious for members, especially members of affluence and power.

3. Forecasting His rejection of men. The Lord seemed to be saying to this certain scribe: “You want to follow Me-then you must enter into My poverty, into My rejection, isolation, and death.” The Lord was not ignorant of the fact of coming events. He knew that He would be cast off, spit upon, crowned with thorns, crucified, and knowing this, He did not want to secure a disciple under the false ideas which He saw gripped the scribe. He plainly said: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.”

II. ANOTHER WOULD-BE DISCIPLE (Mat 8:21-22)

1. Putting other things first. This one said: “Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.” The Lord did not deny any man the privilege of showing filial fidelity. He did rebuke this man for putting anything “first.” It is written in the Word: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.” Let no one imagine that in such a statement the Lord Jesus was egotistical. He was asserting the fact of His Deity. It is the rightful position of Deity to be first, holding pre-eminence in all and over all.

2. Let the dead bury their dead. We wonder who “the dead” could be, who were to bury “their dead.” They certainly were not the physically dead, who had been themselves buried, or were about to be buried. What Christ said was, therefore, “Let those who have never known the Light of life; let those who are spiritually dead, and not alive to things Divine, bury those who are physically dead.”

This makes us think of a passage in Rom 13:1-14 where it is written: “It is high time to awake out of sleep: * * the night is far spent, the day is at hand.” There is another verse which says: “The time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not, and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not.”

With the Lord’s death approaching with such rapid bounds there was no time for the disciple to tarry until his father died, that he might bury him. With the Lord’s Second Coming now so nearly upon us, there is no time for us to turn aside for anything, that we may follow the Lord later on.

III. DISCIPLES WHO FOLLOWED HIM (Mat 8:23)

1. Some disciples fell behind. As Christ entered into the ship to go across the sea, there were many who entered not. Perhaps the certain scribe and perhaps the disciple of Mat 8:21 both lagged behind. We know not. There is one thing we do know, that there are many who run well for a time, because there is nothing to hinder them. According as it is written: “Ye did run well; who did hinder you?”

Again it is written: He “dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the Word, by and by he is offended.” Such an one has no deep rooting in Christ.

There is another who heareth the Word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word and he becometh unfruitful. God give us men and women who follow on.

2. Other disciples entered with Him into the ship. They made the lot of the Lord, their lot. Where He went, they went. Whatever befell Him, befell them. This is the true position of every true follower. If we want to be with Him in the glory, sharing His crown; we must first go with Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

We remember how the Lord said: “If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household?” If they hated Him, they will also hate us. If they despised Him, they will despise us. Can we expect the world to crown us with a crown of approval and royal dignity, when it crowned Him with a crown of thorns? If we must follow Him, we must follow also His shame and spitting.

The word “follow” carries with it a tremendous meaning. There is one thing it does not mean. It does not mean following afar off, as followed Peter in the hour of his defection. We must follow as Ruth followed Naomi, saying: “Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”

IV. INTO THE STORM WITH CHRIST (Mat 8:24)

There is a striking connection here. Read the closing words of Mat 8:23, and the opening words of Mat 8:24.

1. The storm is suggestive of the lot which befalls all true disciples. Those who follow Him, do enter into a storm. They enter into a storm for the simple reason that there is always a storm gathering against the Son of God.

(1) There was a storm against Him throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. The devil was ever trying to destroy the Seed before it was born. In order to do this he fought continually against the line through which the Seed was to come.

(2) There was a storm against Him at the time of His birth. The devil tried to force Joseph to put away Mary when he discovered that she was with child of the Holy Ghost. The devil sought to bring about the death of the infant Son, the Holy Child, through the edict of Herod, when the innocents were slain.

(3) There was a storm against Him during all of His earthly life. It was seen in this study, when the tempest swept down on the boat as Christ lay asleep. It culminated on the Cross when principalities sought to overwhelm Him.

(4) There is a storm which is now seeking to overwhelm Him. That storm has gone so far as to deny everything vital to the birth, the death, the resurrection, the high-priestly work, and the Second Coming of Christ. The Lord is being attacked in the house of His friends, and in every great truth that surrounds Him and crowns Him Lord.

2. No one can follow Christ without entering into a great tempest. There is no way to avoid it. If we are one with Him, we must be one with Him in His persecution, one in the denials, and one in the attacks against Him.

V. THE ONLY HOPE OF SALVATION (Mat 8:25)

1. The cry, “We perish.” Yes, and they would have perished, so far as any possibility of any self help was concerned. The whole world would have perished. Each individual of the world would have perished if the Lord had not died, risen and come forth to save us.

Joh 3:16 comes in just here, “That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.” However, He who believeth not, will perish.

2. The prayer, “Lord, save us.” The words: “Save us” express a plea of the heart. When Peter was sinking in the waves, while trying to walk on the sea, he cried: “Lord, save me.” This was the cry of our own souls, when we felt ourselves lost and undone. Thank God, there is a Saviour!

When the angel spake to Mary he said: “Thou shalt call His Name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.” “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

Human philosophies utterly fail to save the sinner from being engulfed in eternal death. Good works prove themselves to be a bed too short upon which we may stretch ourselves, and coverings too narrow on which we may cover ourselves. Salvation is indissolubly linked to the Saviour.

3. The word “Lord.” The Saviour is our Lord. The disciples said, “Lord, save us.” Paul said to the jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” This all carries with it the thought that the word “Jesus” is unalterably linked with the word “Lord.” If Jesus were a mere man, son of Joseph and Mary, He could never be the Saviour. The angel, in announcing the birth of Christ to the shepherds, said: “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

The Book of Isaiah, throughout, emphasizes the fact that the Redeemer is God, and that God, even the Lord and Christ, is our Redeemer. We quote but one verse: “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”

VI. THE DISCIPLES’ LORD IN ACTION (Mat 8:26-27)

1. A gentle rebuke. “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” And why should we be fearful? There is no exigency in the believer’s life that Christ cannot meet. If we go with Him, and bear His reproach, He will go with us, and share His power. He knoweth the things which concern us. He lives to meet our every need.

Why should we be fearful as to obtaining power to meet the exigencies which befall us in our word and work for Him? Our God and Christ hath said: “All power is given unto Me * * I am with you.”

Why should we be fearful as to death? Our Christ is Lord. He faced our enemy. He died and was buried. He himself descended into hades, and He came forth with the keys of death and of hell in His hand; “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”

2. A marvelous demonstration of power.” Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” Such is the Christ whom we adore, and whom we serve.

“The winds and the waves obey His will,

Peace be still, peace be still,

Whether the winds or the storm-tossed sea,

Or demons, or men, or whatever it be,

No waters can swallow the ship where lies

The Master of ocean and earth and skies,

They all so sweetly obey Thy will,

Peace be still, peace be still.”

3. A confession of Christ’s glory and power. Mat 8:27 reads: “But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!” We join with the disciples, to worship the Son of God. No one ever spake as He spake, wrought as He wrought, conquered as He conquered. What manner of Man is this? He is the God-Man-God manifest in flesh. Him we love and Him we serve.

VII. THE MASTER’S QUEST (Mat 8:28-34)

1. What went ye forth for to see? We have wondered, perhaps, why it was that the Master left the multitude, crossed the sea in the storm, and came to the other side of Galilee. We now discover the object of His quest.

Read Mat 8:28. This was evidently the quest of the Master-two demon-possessed, and devil-driven lunatics.

The disciples marveled when Christ calmed the sea, and they said, “What manner of Man is this?” We may all marvel as we see One so great and so mighty, God the Son, and Son of God, taking such a journey to touch two such vile and fierce characters.

However, if we would marvel, let us marvel that God so loved the world. Jesus took a journey far greater than across Galilee, when He came down from Heaven and its glory for you and for me.

2. The salutation which met the Master’s ears. As the Lord passed by the place where other men dared not pass, the demoniacs cried out saying: “What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?” Whatever others may have thought or think of Jesus, the demons pronounced Him, Son of God. The men looked for torment because they believed in torment; and they knew they were fit subjects thereof. The Lord, however, had come to save, and not to destroy.

3. How the whole city met the Lord. He had come across the sea to save the demoniacs, and to be a blessing to the city that lay near by; but when they of the city saw Him, they besought Him that He would depart out of their coast. They did this because they lost a herd of swine, which were drowned in the waters. They were unmindful of the fact that two men who had been a danger to them all had been healed, and made worthy of trust.

The treatment which Christ received from the people of this Galilean village, did no more than bespeak the treatment that He received from the whole world: “He was in the world, * * and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.”

AN ILLUSTRATION

I visited a large hothouse once in which grew a great Acacia tree, I broke off a small twig and carried it home and put it in a vase. The next day I was surprised to find what great fragrance came from that small twig. Day after day it lasted and not until it had wholly withered and died and crumbled did the fragrance disappear. So much it reminded me of the really true Christian life that carries the fragrance with it from the vine of life until it is through with this life.

Aunt Dinah described a young member of her church as having “Jes’ enough ‘lijion to make her misable-too much to be happy at a dance, an’ too little to be happy in prair meetin’.” Alas! the type is common-a troubled spirit that halts halfway, afraid to go back, and unwilling to go forward. There is no place in the borderland. The halfway Christian is a torment to himself and no benefit to others.-Forward.

There is a fable of an old lantern in a shed, which began to boast it had heard its master say he didn’t know what he would ever do without it. But the little candle within spoke up and said: “Yes, you’d be a great comfort if it wasn’t for me You are nothing; I’m the one that gives the light.” We are nothing, but Christ is everything, and what we want is to keep in communion with Him and let Christ dwell in us richly and shine forth through us.-D. L. Moody.

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

8:18

Sometimes the multitudes were so great that it interfered with the work of Jesus (Mar 2:4; Mar 3:9; Luk 8:19). That was the case here and hence Jesus gave orders for them to depart unto the other side (of the Sea of Galilee).

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mat 8:18. Now when Jesus saw great multitudes. Some very ancient authorities omit great, but it is better to retain it. The multitudes had listened to the discourse in parables (chap. 13).

He gave commandment to depart. To avoid the crowd, who may have been in an excited condition, and to find repose after a day of conflict and labor (comp, chaps, 12, 13); since this took place in the evening (Mar 4:35).

To the other side, of the lake.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Section 2. (Mat 8:18-34; Mat 9:1-8.)

The various deliverances.

The various features of the deliverance are now, then; briefly but sufficiently shown to us. We begin with what is more external, and end with what is deepest and most personal, the heart of the whole matter. Circumstances are in His hands; the power of the enemy is prostrate before Him; sins are remitted, and the helpless and impotent one rises up in strength: such is the power and such the grace of our Redeemer. And yet, beyond this there is blessing for which all this is but the necessary preparation. To be with God: that is the complete and innermost joy of all; without which all else would be but vanity, and the soul’s hunger wholly unappeased.

1. We begin with the first lesson first. Creation is in His hand: He has made it and He is Lord of it; full of disorder as it may appear and is, the rod of power has not slipped out of His hand: faith’s triumph is in owning Him amid what is real disorder, compelling even this to work out His purposes. So in the beginning of such a record of faith as we have in the catalogue of witnesses in the epistle to the Hebrews, the first thing of all is this, that by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” Thus the scene of all our trials is in its whole framework and constitution His before whom faith walks. Whatever may be for the moment in the front, behind it rise the everlasting hills founded by divine strength, and bearing testimony to immutable faithfulness. The frost has riven them; the torrents have swept their shattered fragments into the valleys below; they seem to be the prey of every destructive agency which has license to work its will upon their passive forms. Yet the Hand that made them at first is still unseen raising them and sustaining them, while their very dust, spread out over the lower lands, is maintaining these also, and renewing their surface by its ministry. Death and destruction are in the hands of the God of resurrection; amid all the waste is nothing wasted; death ministers to life, and life springs out of it.

And here is the Master of all, in meekest surrender to circumstances in a path where all seems against Him, yet maintaining His absolute title untouched, as He must, or all were given up. Where would we be, if He resigned His authority?

As to circumstances, the foxes in their holes and the birds of heaven are better provided; and this He urges to test the zeal of a too ready disciple. On the other hand, if one would put even a father’s claim before His own, He in the plainest manner refuses this. From Luke we learn that the Lord had called this man to follow Him, but there seemed no duty which could take precedence of burying a dead father. The man who is called is not fully ready; the one not called is more than ready. We may be sure that the state of enthusiasm in the one case was genuine enough; and he was one of a class not given to it in regard to Christ. The enthusiasm was all well, but there was in it a dangerous self-confidence, like that which we find in Simon Peter afterwards, and which we know betrayed him into a terrible fall. It was not that sincerity or love was wanting in him, but the consciousness of his own weakness: and this is why so much of early promise is apt to fail, and backwardness succeed, it may be, to confident energy. When Christ’s call is heard distinctly in the soul, then it is as dangerous to be reckoning up difficulties, as in mere enthusiasm to lose sight of them. It is for Him who calls us to the path to reckon with the difficulties, and faith for the path also is found as we travel it. Assuredly, if we have not faith for the Lord’s path, we shall not find it for any other.

In the second case, therefore, the Lord insists upon promptitude of devotedness. “Let the dead bury their dead” is distinct exhortation to lay aside every thing that would, under the idea of duty itself, delay compliance with what He has called to. Even Abraham suffered his father to lead in obedience to a word addressed to himself; and so we read that “Terah took Abraham his son, . . . and went forth with them . . . to go into the land of Canaan.” What came of it? “And they came unto Haran; and dwelt there.” While Terah was alive, they never got to the place for which they had set out: “Terah died in Haran.”

In the case before us it was only a dead father needing to be buried; and here the living disciple, the messenger of life, was not to be detained in the region of death, from the delivery of his gracious message. Let the dead attend to death, is the Lord’s word; and, although the two deaths spoken of here are not the same, yet there is simple and evident connection between them.

If the Lord maintain His authority as Master, it is soon made manifest that Master He is, and able to ensure the safety of those that are with Him. On the stormy sea, He is asleep until, roused by their unbelieving appeal to Him, – and how much unbelief is expressed in our prayers! – He hushes with a word the winds and the sea. The application of this is familiar to us all, and made by every one: a pregnant example of how naturally these histories speak to us all of spiritual realities in the way of exhortation and comfort, – how truly they are meant to do so.

And the unbelief of disciples, how constantly has it been repeated since, and how often does the Lord shame us by coming in for us as here. How much is it all in contrast with that faith of the centurion; which we have so lately seen winning the Lord’s wonderment, as here their unbelief does. This restless sea of Galilee, so often lashed with storms, is indeed a vivid picture of the world of our pilgrimage, much vexed, soon traversed; and we find it more than once again in this way, and human feet taught to walk in peace upon it, not without His help who Himself walked there and still walks, for faith, in the like fashion.

2. They come to the other side of the sea, only to find there the enemy’s power rampant. Two possessed by demons, coming out of the tombs, stop the way against all comers. Matthew does not go into detail here, as Mark and Luke do. His object is just to show the power of the Lord as manifested in these various deliverances, and details have not for him the same importance. The ghastly horror of the dwelling of these living men in the abodes of death, and their insane fury before which men quailed, are given to put in contrast the absolute surrender of their prey by those who held them captive, when the Lord appears. Men; blinded of Satan, may dispute His right, not they. Striking it is that they give Him at once the title, which men deny Him, of Son of God, and recognize Him as their future Judge. But they plead that the day of judgment has not come, and can He be come to torment them before the time?

The story of the swine that follows seems as if it were designed to make manifest the reality of these demoniac possessions, than which nothing can be plainer, indeed, in the whole account of them. The demons, speaking with the voice of the possessed, recognize the Lord (always, as already said, with intelligence as to His Person), address and are addressed by Him, their testimony to Him being necessarily refused. They ask permission to go into the herd of swine, (“all the demons,” according to Mark, taking part in this) and are granted it; and thereupon the whole herd of swine (about 2,000 in number) rush down the steep bank into the sea, and perish in the waters.

Matthew, again; gives us no after-picture of these delivered men. He is occupied with the deliverance itself, the manifestation of the glorious King, and along with this but with the shadow that creeps after it, His rejection; as already showing itself, at the hands of an unbelieving and impenitent people. They are more afraid of the Deliverer than of the awful power from which He would have delivered them, and imitate, in effect, the prayer of the demons themselves, in begging Him to depart out of their coasts. The Lord accepts His rejection and returns across the lake to His own city.

3. The jarring elements have owned Him; the power of the enemy has been broken before Him; the strong man’s captives are delivered: we are next to see what is the stronghold of the enemy yield, and man’s condition met in its innermost reality; the burden of guilt is lifted from the soul, and the paralysis which sin induces removed in consequence. We are surely to take in widest, fullest application what is given us here, just as we do instinctively, and not the less surely, the hushing of the storm upon the lake. All through these divine narratives, that which is manifested to the senses is but a parable of spiritual realities. The external facts are, none the less as that, a veil of the unseen, a manifestation in flesh of the divine. The miracles are not wonders merely but signs, – through and through significant.

The miracle that follows here is again taken out of the order of time, but all the more should it be manifest, with such purpose as we have already seen. Morally and spiritually it is here perfectly in its place; and again we find features that are dwelt upon in the other gospels omitted in order to bring into prominence the central fact. They bring to the Lord a paralytic, lying upon a bed; and He, seeing their faith, goes beyond the apparent need, and down to that in which all the distress that is in the world has its root: “He said unto the paralytic, Son; be of good courage, thy sins are forgiven thee.”

He who spoke knew perfectly the state of soul to which He was addressing Himself, and the weight of his sins, which might hinder even bodily healing, was certainly pressing upon him. But the miracle of healing which was to follow was thus also to be a witness to that which in itself the senses could not realize or confirm. The sufferer was to have the assurance of this; but also the most unsympathetic and unbelieving there were to find openly the seal of divine power put upon His claim to forgive sins. As Son of man He claims it: but that was itself a Messianic title, and (as we have seen) implied in itself One higher than man; even while it assured them of the tender truth of that humanity. But why the need of assuring any one that He who was in their midst as man really was that? It was in fact the sweetest assurance, as it could only have arisen out of the most absolute conviction of His highest glory.

Even the accusation of Him in their thoughts, by the proof given of His knowledge of them, is made to turn to their conviction; and if none could forgive sins but God alone – and they were surely right in that – what, then, was He who could thus so completely prove His authority to do this?

How sweet and wonderful the assurance of sins forgiven; His word certifying it after this manner! Not that it was new that God met men in His grace upon the simple confession of their sins to Him. The psalmist had found it so, and published his experience for the help of others (Psa 32:1-11), and in this way David had described, as the apostle says, “the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works” (Rom 4:6). This had been thickly overlaid with ritualistic practices and rabbinical prescriptions, and could scarcely have been understood by any with the simplicity which it appears to us to have. But who could have undertaken to apply this grace on God’s part definitely to the individual, to pronounce him forgiven in this authoritative manner? Thus we see that all this is part of the manifestation of the Deliverer. It is not the doctrine of forgiveness that is declared, nor would this have aroused opposition in the form we find it here, but that the Son of man had authority to forgive sins.

The order of blessing is, however, pregnant with meaning. First, “thy sins be forgiven thee,” and then “arise and walk.” The load of unforgiven sin is too great for any one to lift and yet find power to walk in a way acceptable to God. Pardon assured from Him, the soul arises with the strength found in this new joy in Him. All is changed for it. The path is a path with Him, not to find Him. It is a path given of Him who is now known. Thus the limbs just now paralyzed with guilt and fear receive, as in a moment, life and energy. The impracticable legal principle, “do and live,” has given way to the evangelical one, “live and do.” Here is a change of order how significant: “arise and walk” speaks first of the wondrous gift bestowed; then, as the flush and vigor of health are felt, the “walk” becomes but prolonged ecstasy. Salvation in its fullness is not found till this is attained.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Observe here, A person resolving to follow Christ; a good resolution, if made deliberately, and not rashly, not for sinister ends and secular advantages; which, it is to be feared, was the case here, by the answer which our Saviour gives; for, says he, foxes have holes, &c. that is, my condition in this world is very poor, worse than the birds of the air, for they have their fixed nests; or the beasts of the earth, for they have their dens and holes; but I have no fixed habitation.

Note,1. That many persons take up rash and sudden resolutions to follow Christ, before they have well considered what it will cost them; what they are likely to lose by being his disciples.

2. That such men may find themselves miserably mistaken, who expect to gain any thing by following of Christ, but their soul’s salvation.

Note, 3. The title given to Christ; he is stiled here and frequently elsewhere, The Son of man.

1. To shew the truth of his humanity; the Son of man must be man.

2. To shew the depth of his abasement; Christ humbled, yea, emptied himself, when being the Son of God he submitted to be made man: The Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 8:18-20. Now when Jesus saw great multitudes When Jesus did the things before mentioned he was in Capernaum, Mat 8:5, but the multitude pressing him, he gave orders to pass over the sea of Galilee, otherwise called the sea of Tiberias, that both himself and the people might have a little rest. And a certain scribe came Namely, as they went in the way from the house, out of which he came, to the shore where he proposed to embark. See Luk 9:57. And said unto him, with all the appearance of profound respect, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest Being determined to devote myself entirely to the service of thy kingdom. This scribe seems to have concluded, from the zeal with which the people flocked about our Lord, that he would soon declare himself to be the Messiah, and become a mighty prince; Jesus, therefore, knowing his motives to be of a worldly and ambitious nature, saith unto him, The foxes have holes, &c. As if he had said, Do not flatter yourself with the expectation of any temporal advantages from attending me, for I plainly tell you, that whereas (not to speak of domestic animals which are under the care of man) even the very foxes have holes, &c., for themselves and their young, but the Son of man, successful as his kingdom must at length be, now appears in such low circumstances, that he has not so much as a place where he may lay his head; and his followers must expect no better condition. Therefore do not follow me from any view of temporal advantage. The phrase Son of man, is borrowed from Dan 7:13, where the prophet describes the universal dominion to which the Messiah, in quality of the Son of man, was to be raised. This name, therefore, when applied to our Lord, at the same time that it denotes his human nature, brings into view the glorious kingdom over which, in his human nature, he was to preside. Nevertheless, on several occasions it is used in a sense which implies deep humiliation, being the name given to the ancient prophets on account of the low estimation in which they were sometimes held by their countrymen. It is the appellation which Christ commonly gives himself, and that, as it seems, out of humility, as having a relation to his mean appearance in this world.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

LV.

JESUS STILLS THE STORM.

(Sea of Galilee; same day as last section)

aMATT. VIII. 18-27; bMARK IV. 35-41; cLUKE VIII. 22-25.

b35 And that day, {cone of those days,} bwhen the even was come [about sunset], awhen Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. {bhe saith unto them, Let us go over unto the other side.} [Wearied with a day of strenuous toil, Jesus sought rest from the multitude by passing to the thinly settled on the east side of Galilee.] a19 And there came a scribe [Literally, one scribe. The number is emphatic; for, so far as the record shows, Jesus had none of this class among his disciples], and said unto him, Teacher, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes [caves, dens], and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of [341] man [Daniel’s name for the Messiah– Dan 7:10-13] hath not where to lay his head. [This scribe had heard the wonderful parables concerning the kingdom. He, like all others, expected an earthly kingdom and sought to have a place in it. Jesus so replied as to correct his false expectations.] 21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. [This disciple must have been one of the twelve, for these only were required to follow Jesus ( Mar 3:14). It may have been James or John, whose father, Zebedee, almost certainly died before Jesus did. He may have just heard of his father’s death. *] 22 But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me; and leave the dead to bury their own dead. [Let the spiritually dead bury the naturally dead. This was a very exceptional prohibition, intended to show not that it was ordinarily wrong to stop for burying the dead, but wrong when in conflict with a command from Jesus. God bids us recognize the claims of filial duty, but rightfully insists that our duties toward him are superior to those due our parents.] c22 Now it came to pass that he entered into a boat, himself and his disciples; a23 And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him. cand he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake: and they launched forth. b36 And leaving the multitude, they take him with them, even as he was, in the boat. [They took Jesus without any preparation for the journey. The crowd, doubtless, made it inconvenient to go ashore to get provisions.] And other boats were with him. [The owners of these boats had probably been using them to get near to Jesus as he preached. They are probably mentioned to show that a large number witnessed the miracle when Jesus stilled the tempest.] c23 But as they sailed he fell asleep. [knowing his labors during the day, we can not wonder at this]: b37 And there ariseth cand there came down ba great storm of wind, con the lake; a24 And, behold, [342] there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves: band the waves beat into the boat, insomuch that the boat was now filling. cand they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. [These storms come with great suddenness. See McGarvey’s “Lands of the Bible,” page 519.] b38 And {abut} bhe himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion [The cushion was the seat-cover, which, as Smith remarks, was probably “a sheepskin with the fleece, which, when rolled up, served as a pillow.” The stern was the most commodious place for passengers. The tossing ship has been accepted in all ages as a type of the church in seasons of peril]: a25 And they came to him, and awoke him, {bthey awake him,} and say unto him, {asaying,} Save, Lord; we perish. cMaster, master, we perish. bTeacher, carest thou not that we perish? [There was a babble of confused voices, betraying the extreme agitation of the disciples.] 39 And he awoke, aThen he arose, and rebuked the winds, {bwind,} aand the sea; cand the raging of the water; band said unto the sea, Peace, be still. cand they ceased, bAnd the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. [In addressing the winds and waves Jesus personified them to give emphasis to his authority over them. The calm showed the perfection of the miracle, for the waves of such a lake continue to roll long after the winds have ceased.] c25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? bWhy are ye yet fearful? have ye not yet faith? aO ye of little faith? [They had little faith or they would not have been so frightened; but they had some faith, else they would not have appealed to Jesus.] b41 And they feared exceedingly, cAnd being afraid they athe men marvelled, band said one to another, csaying one to another, aWhat manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? cWho then is this, that he commandeth even the winds, and the water, and they obey him? [Jesus’ complete lordship over the realm of nature made his disciples very certain of his divinity.] [343]

* I do not concur in this statement.–P. Y. P.

[FFG 341-343]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Mat 8:18-22. Aspirants to Discipleship (Luk 9:57-60).Mt. here breaks away from Mk.s order, omitting Mar 1:35-38, and giving as the sequel to Jesus first stay at Capernaum what Mk. (Mar 4:35 to Mar 5:20) makes the sequel to the second stay. Mar 2:1 to Mar 4:34 (following on the first stay) is given by Mt. in chs. 9, 11f. Where Mk. (Mar 4:35) and Lk. (Luk 8:22) have an invitation, Mt. (Matthew 18) has a command. Lk.s account of (three) would-be followers occurs on the last journey to Jerusalem; Mt. records them thus early as illustrating cases of unworthy discipleship. The scribe (? already a disciple, cf. Mat 8:21) wishes to go with Jesus, not necessarily for good, but wherever you are (now) going; Jesus replies that He is not going home, for He has none. It is possible that Jesus is referring rather to His being outcast from the religious circles of His land (Bruce, With Open Face, p. 218). Certainly there seems to be a contrast between the easy, care-free life of the lower creation, and the dignity, with its entailed hardship, of the lot of man (cf. Psa 55:6 f., Jer 9:2). This is the first place where Mt. has the phrase Son of Man, and it may carry its simple human rather than its Messianic connotation. The second disciple (Philip, according to Clement of Alexandria) does not offer himself without a call, but delays in accepting a call already given. There is this likeness between the twoone is reluctant to renounce his house, the other his relatives (cf. Mat 19:29). Bury my father need not mean that the parent was lying dead, but probably that the disciple did not feel justified in leaving home while the head of the house was still alive. In accord with Oriental feeling, he was not yet his own master. Cf. also Gen 50:5 f., Tob 4:3; Tob 6:14. The answer of Jesus is cryptic; perhaps the dead are the spiritually dead, the other members of the family. Another reading of the Aramaic underlying the Gr. gives leave the dead to the burier of the dead (cf. Eze 39:11-16).

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 18

The other side; from Capernaum, which was upon the western side of the lake.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

8:18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the {d} other side.

(d) For Capernaum was situated upon the lake of Tiberias.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

2. Jesus’ authority over His disciples 8:18-22 (cf. Luk 9:57-62)

Matthew evidently inserted these teachings about Jesus’ authority because they show the nature of Jesus’ ministry and the kind of disciples He requires. The King has power over people, not just sickness. He can direct others as His servants, and they need to respond to Him as their King.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Jesus’ demands regarding possessions 8:18-20

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Mat 8:18 gives the occasion for the scribe’s statement in Mat 8:19 (cf. Mar 4:35). The other side of the lake (from Capernaum) would have been the eastern side. There was only so much room in the boat, and the scribe wanted to get in with other disciples. At this time in Jesus’ ministry there were many more than just 12 disciples, though the Twelve were an inner circle. As mentioned above, the word "disciple" does not necessarily identify fully committed followers or even believers (cf. Mat 5:1; Mat 8:21). This scribe, a teacher of the law, looked to Jesus as his "teacher." He wanted to learn from Him. He said that he was willing to follow Him anywhere to do so.

". . . the designations ’rabbi’ and ’teacher’ attribute to the person so addressed human respect but nothing more. Hence, in addressing Jesus as ’teacher,’ the religious leaders accord Jesus the honor they would accord any teacher, but this is the extent of it. To their mind Jesus’ station is not that of the Messiah Son of God, his authority is not divine, and they in no sense follow him or have faith in him." [Note: Kingsbury, Matthew as . . ., p. 64. Cf. 9:11; 12:38; 17:24; 19:16; 22:16, 24, 36; 26:25, 49. See Gunther Bornkamm, "End-Expectation and Church in Matthew," in Tradition and Interpretation in Matthew, pp. 41-43.]

Some scholars believe that Matthew consistently denigrated the scribes in his Gospel. [Note: E.g., W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, Matthew.] I do not believe he did this (cf. Mat 13:52; Mat 23:34), but Matthew’s references to the scribes are usually negative. Matthew seems to present everyone who came to Jesus without prejudice. The issue to Matthew was how various people responded to Jesus.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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