Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.” (Matthew 5:19-20)It is easy to say I will follow Jesus. It rolls trippingly off the tongue and makes you feel good when you say it. You see a life of devotion and prayer, maybe. People look at you and talk about how good you are. He follows Jesus.
The man who came to Jesus in this passage thought the same thing. He told Jesus he wanted to follow him. He was impressed with Jesus and what Jesus said and wanted to be a part of that group that followed him around, that bunch who got to hear all the things Jesus said.
As a teacher of religious law, he was intelligent and schooled and wanted an atmosphere in which he could discuss and learn. He was ready to commit himself.
But Jesus stopped him and said, consider what you are doing. The man may have been rich – in fact as a teacher he probably had a good position somewhere as maybe a minister for a synagogue, the gathering and worship place of Jews of the day.
One thing for sure, when he left where he was and followed Jesus, he was backing an unpopular person. The rest of his compatriots hated Jesus with a passion.
Jesus said wait. Consider this. “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”
Now that didn’t mean Jesus was poor as a synagogue mouse. It didn’t mean he wore frayed clothing and ate food from a garbage can. He had plenty of money. Several rich people followed him around.
Also at one point, when he told his disciples to feed a multitude, one of them pointed out that all they had was three hundred denarii. A denarius was a day’s wage for a working man. So whatever you want to consider a day’s working wage, they had almost a year’s worth of money.
The apostles were not starving, nor did Jesus expect them to.
But what it did mean was that when the man gave up what he had and embraced the life of a Jesus-follower, he gave up everything. He cut his ties to this world.
It didn’t necessarily mean that he gave away all his money and stuff. He probably had a family to support and needed to do so.
Jesus told him that when he cam as a follower, it was more than a lark, more than an educational experience, more than a great idea. It was a life long, full scale commitment. You follow Jesus and you give up everything else, including, as Jesus said later, your family if need be.
What did the man do? We have no idea. He may have turned out to be one of the apostles for all we know. Or he might have gone off sadly like the rich young ruler that came later, the one who could not give up his riches.
One thing for sure, though, following Jesus is not the route to wealth and prosperity, no matter what silly preachers on TV say. Even though they were greatly blessed, God’s people suffered for him. Maybe not monetarily, maybe by rejection, or slander, or just their family leaving them.
But following Jesus is something not to be done lightly. It is a life-time commitment, made from the heart.
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