(Text and Audio)
Title: Weigh the Cost
Today we are going to pickup from last week, after establishing how Jesus worked with his disciples, favored them even at the cost of leaving behind the masses, and now we’re going to see how he interacts with two Jewish men who come to him, wanting to also become his disciples.
Remember our Mount Everest example from last week: I’d talk to people who had done it to find out two things: How did they do it? (What was their method?) And also what will it cost me? (What can I expect to happen?)
read 8.18-22
Two Warnings
We see two warnings that are very interesting, especially if we consider Matthew’s point of view. Matthew is a Jew, writing to the Jews, to convince the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.
Usually, Matthew will use two techniques to show Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. The first one is obvious, he shows Jesus over and over again as fulfilling O.T. prophecy about the Messiah. We’ve looked at over 20 examples of this just in the first 8 1/2 chapters of Matthew so far.
The second thing that he does is show Jesus as fulfilling the Law, explaining it, putting it into practice, and showing the condition of the heart in accordance with the Law is more important than the Jews dogmatic devotion to the Law.
But here, in these next two encounters, Matthew shows Jesus as superior to Jewish custom and ritual, and he does that in a very clever way.
First, in verse 19 a scribe of the Law comes to Jesus and claims allegiance, saying, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Thus making Jesus his Lord.
Jesus’ response is anything but enthusiastic to the scribe. You might think that the other disciples would find this to be a great steal. “See, our Lord Jesus even got one of your Scribes, who knows the Law as well as anyone, to claim Jesus as Lord!”
This would be like me and Jim Fox teaming up on a basketball court to play against Zeb, Jay Roberts and Nick Wheeler. We look at our teams and say, “Obviously, the teams are not even, let’s say whoever gets here next, Jim and I will pick them up and they will play on our team.” Then Eric Pollitz pulls up and Jim and I just start doing a little victory dance. Why? Eric was a 6’5” Division I basketball player. The balance has shifted radically in our favor.
Well you’d think Jesus and his disciples would see this a potential major power shift. We got a Scribe! Now when we travel to an fro over the region, people will see the momentum Jesus is picking up, he’s even got the endorsement of a scribe! And, make no mistake, this scribe’s words are rare.
Think of the the account of Jesus and Nicodemous in John 3. It takes place at night, in secret, because Nicodemous doesn’t want word to get out that he’s considering that Jesus might actually be a man sent from God.
But how does Jesus answer him?
By saying, “You sure? Do you realize exactly what life you are leaving behind and what life you are turning to? Have you considered the cost of being one of my disciples? You, as a scribe have a place of privilege among your people. You are respected, trusted, revered even. You have no doubt worked hard to carve our your piece of the pie, you are comfortable, sleep well, and live well.”
“Join me, and that all changes.”
How often do we, we sharing the Gospel, display the same kind of honesty with someone who is showing an interest?
Don’t we do the exact opposite? Don’t we push aside all the sacrifice, and the hardship, all the disciple, all the accountability, all the expectation, and just focus on the benefit?
If I dress up in a ratty, stained t-shirt and cut off jeans, and smelly sandals. (I know, some of you are saying, “You mean, like you in college?” Yes! Exactly!) If I dressed up like that and then walked into a Ferrari dealership, do you think they’d look at me, sit me in a Ferrari California and say, “This automobile has 415 horsepower, imported Italian leather seating, can do 0-60 in 3.2 seconds and tops out at 185 MPH.”
Now, is the salesman lying? No.
But is that what he’d say, after looking at me? No.
He’d take one look at me and the first thing that he’d say is this: “This vehicle costs $229,000. You probably want the KIA dealership down the street.”
Which one of these two reactions does Jesus have to the scribe?
He tells him the cost. You follow me and your life of luxury and importance among men ends immediately. In other words, only follow me if you can’t help it.
There are hundreds of Christian pastors who have written books on evangelism and if they heard me telling you this is how you share the truth of the gospel they’d say I’m crazy, and I’ll be lucky if any church that I pastor ever grows to over 50 people in my career.
And I’m fine with that. I don’t change peoples lives. I don’t convince them of Jesus. I don’t save them.
I share the truth, the whole truth. I tell them the cost of discipleship. I tell them what, exactly, it’s going to mean to climb Mount Everest. I don’t mince words, I don’t pretty it up, I don’t hold back.
That is a horrible method for mass evangelism, and a great method for making disciples.
Jesus saves. We invest.
The last warning is a bit more subtle, and if we don’t understand the context, it may seem that Jesus is being cruel to this young man, so I want us to really understand what Matthew is showing through this conversations with this Jew.
I heard this passage taught many times where the speaker will say, it is most likely that the reason Jesus turned this man away is because the father was not dead yet, he was either ill, or advanced in age, and what this man was asking was if he could catch up with Jesus after he settled his father’s burial and other affairs.
Jesus doesn’t have time to wait around on this man to finish his family business so he dismisses him.
I don’t about you, but I think that’s reading into the text to provide an explanation that makes Jesus seem more reasonable, and more compassionate. We have no way of knowing if this man’s father was already dead or not. I think that focus of teaching misses the real point of what Jesus says here.
Just like Jesus’ rejection of the Jewish scribe, which would strike Matthew’s Jewish audience as a bit shocking, so is Jesus’ rejection of this man, and for a similar reason.
Jesus warns the scribe by saying, “Are you sure you want to leave your life and all it’s treasures behind?”
Jesus tells this young man, “I right now, am more important than your dead father. Make a decision.”
Wow.
For Jews, there were very strict obligations in burying a family member, especially a father. If this man listened to Jesus he would have been seen as an outcast, irresponsible, immature, and a dishonor to his family. Jesus knows this, and when he says this what he’s really asking is, “On who’s terms are you willing to follow me? Will you follow me if your family forsakes you? Will you follow me if your community thinks you are an impulsive fool? Will you follow me if it means breaking your own long standing traditions and habits?”
Wow.
How often are we so blunt about the cost of discipleship?
Pray
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