Matthew 8:1-22

CHAPTER 28

JESUS HOMELESS

Matthew 8:1-22, & Luke 9:57-62. “And it came to pass, they journeying on the way, a certain one said to Him, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou mayest go, Lord; and Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where He may lay His head.” With the exception of the great Mediterranean plain, the plain of the Jordan, and many beautiful plains in the highlands, of which Esdraelon, between Mt. Gilead and the mountains of Gilboa, containing twelve thousand acres, is the largest, all Palestine consists of rich mountains, abounding in caves, dens, and holes. Hence it is a great place for wild animals, and especially the fox i.e., the jackal a larger species than the American. I saw a number of them in my travels. Hence the familiarity of the illustration. When our Lord was rejected at Nazareth, His native city, He migrated to Capernaum, on the northern coast of the Galilean Sea, and, as it is believed, made Peter's house His home, as He says here, having none of his own. This was quite a bluff to the enthusiastic disciple, calculated to do him good by testing his faith. “And he said to another, Follow Me. And he said, Lord, permit me first, having gone away, to bury my father.” This is an Oriental expression, not altogether unheard of in this country; not signifying that the father was already dead, but was probably old, and this man felt it his duty to stay with him till he died. “And Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead; but having come away, preach the kingdom of God.” The Bible abounds in enigmatical statements in order to quicken our intellects and inspire investigation, much to our profit. The simple meaning of this statement is, “Let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead, and you come along and preach.” The sinners are always ready to bury the dead, and do it as well as we can, while they are utterly incompetent to the great and infinitely important work of preaching the gospel. “And another said, I will follow Thee, Lord; but first let me go and bid my home-folks adieu. And Jesus said to him, No one, putting his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” The plows in that country have but one handle. Consequently it is utterly impossible to run one of them in the right place and look back. We should all profit by this response. We have no time to waste in the useless ceremonies of paying a valedictory visit to the homefolks. One hundred thousand people die every day, as we fear most of them unprepared. O what a havoc is hell making on this poor lost world! So we have no time to wait, tinkering round home, bidding kindred and friends farewell. Write them a postal card that you are gone to Africa, and embark on the first ship.