Readings
- 1 Samuel 16:1–13a
- Ephesians 3:14–21
- Matthew 8:18–27
- Psalms: 97, 99, [100]; 94, [95]
Matthew 8:18–27
Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. A scribe then approached and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
Another of his disciples said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm suddenly arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, you of little faith?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?"
Notes
Two scenes today. The first is about the cost of following Jesus. The second is about Jesus' authority over nature itself.
Verse 18. Jesus sees the crowds gathering and orders the disciples to cross the lake. He is not stockpiling followers. The moment the crowd grows, he pulls back.
Verse 20. "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Our clearest indication that Jesus lives as an itinerant, essentially couch-surfing, homeless man. The reputation is growing; he himself has little.
This is also the first use of the title Son of Man in Matthew. The phrase carries the Daniel 7 weight we tracked on Ascension Day: the enthroned human figure who receives universal dominion. Jesus is signaling who he is by claiming the title.
Verses 21–22. "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Jesus answers, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
This is one of the most offensive things Jesus says in the gospels. One possible read is that the man's father has not actually died yet. The man may be saying, in effect, let me stay home until my father passes, then bury him properly, then I will follow. That softens the saying slightly, but only slightly.
It is hard to overstate how significant honorable burial was in first-century Jewish culture. A pious Jew began each day with the Shema. One of the few permitted interruptions of that obligation was burying a family member. Burying one's parents was a sacred duty near the top of the moral hierarchy. For Jesus to say following me outweighs that is a massive overturning of how family was supposed to work. That is a pattern across the gospels. Jesus repeatedly upturns conventional expectations of family.
Verses 23–27. The stilling of the storm. A violent storm rises on the lake. The boat is being swamped. Jesus is asleep. The disciples wake him: Lord, save us! We are perishing. He gets up, rebukes the wind and the sea, and there is a dead calm.
Two things to flag.
The verb behind rebuked is epitimaō. In Matthew, Jesus uses this verb on exactly two things: demons and this storm. He is treating the storm the same way he treats a possessing spirit. That fits yesterday's read on the demonic. The powers that disorder God's good world get rebuked, whether they wear the form of a possessing spirit or a killing storm.
The stilling of the sea is also classic Hebrew Bible territory. Psalm 107:23–30 describes mariners in a storm crying out to YHWH, and YHWH stilling the waters. Jesus does what YHWH does. The disciples' closing question, what sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?, is the question the whole gospel is built to answer.
The cost of following Jesus is real. The authority of the one being followed is also real. The passage holds both.
Questions for reflection
Following Jesus, in his own framing, overturns the most basic expectations of family, home, and security. Where in your life have you assumed the cost would be lower than it is?
The disciples named the question the whole gospel is built to answer: what sort of man is this? What is your honest current answer, and what does it cost you to answer that way?
