Bible Study series. Matthew 8:18-22. Enthusiasm is great, but can you count the cost?
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 8:18-22
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to depart for the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law approached and said to him, “Teacher, I’ll follow you where you may go!” 20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21 Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, permit me first to depart and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matt. 8:18-22)
Comments:
18-20:
Jesus just gave orders to depart to the other side of the lake. The Greek verb can be translated “go away” to the other side. The context is the Lake of Galilee, but the phrase is not in Greek. It was supplied based on the context.
Jesus of course adopted Capernaum as his hometown, and he may have had a house there (Mark 3:20), though some say it was someone else’s house. But his statement about foxes and wild birds (as opposed to domestic fowl) appear in the context of being an itinerant teacher; he spent many days and nights away from Capernaum. Most people back then did not leave their small farming or fishing village. Back in the 1970s I had a roommate whose grandparents, who were farmers, never even left their home county—and they had cars! Yes, people traveled by walking, and there was mobility back then, but most stayed in a small area. Was the teacher of the law ready to travel around and sleep under the stars?
“teacher of the law”: they were also called scribes.
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
As a class, they were the Watchdogs of Theology and Behavior (David E. Garland, Luke: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Zondervan, 2011], p. 243). The problem which Jesus had with them can be summed up in Eccl. 7:16: “Be not overly righteous.” He did not quote that verse, but to him they were much too enamored with the finer points of the law, while neglecting its spirit (Luke 11:37-52; Matt. 23:1-36). Instead, he quoted this verse from Hos. 6:6: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7). Overdoing righteousness, believe it or not, can damage one’s relationship with God and others.
However, this teacher seemed to be a little different. He was willing to follow Jesus. He deserves partial credit for this. Jesus did not turn him down instantly or out of hand. Rather, the point is that the enthusiastic man better count the cost before following Jesus. The teacher has to know what he is getting into.
“Son of Man”: This is the first time it is used in Matthew’s Gospel. it both means the powerful, divine Son of man (Dan. 7:13-14) and the human son of man—Ezekiel himself—in the book of Ezekiel (numerous references). Jesus was and still is in heaven both divine and human. It can also be translated as Son of Humanity.
4. Titles of Jesus: The Son of Man
Initially, the teacher of the law / scribe probably wanted to get in the boat, but Jesus challenged him. According to one commentator quoted by Osborne, the Greek can subtly mean that the teacher of the law intended this attitude: “Jesus, this is your lucky day. I have decided to be your disciple” (comment on 8:19). No, someone back then can follow Jesus, as the crowds did, but God has to woo the person to become a close follower of Jesus and not quit. Would the scribe, a would-be disciple, be willing to live out in the open air like birds and not even have a den as foxes have?
21-22:
“disciples”: the noun is used 261 times in the NT, though many of them are duplicates in the three synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. BDAG, considered by many to be the authoritative lexicon of the Greek NT, says of the noun (1) “one who engages in learning through instruction from another, pupil, apprentice”; (2) “one who is rather constantly associated with someone who has a pedagogical reputation or a particular set of views, disciple, adherent.”
Now a man wants to bury his father.
Jewish law said that if a man touches a corpse, then he is unclean for seven days and then he became pure again (Num. 19:11-12). Apparently, Jesus knew that if the man went away or departed from following him, in order to go back and bury his father, then he might never return. The call of the kingdom is paramount. Jesus said he had come to divide family members against family member (Matt. 10:34-39).
Further, did the father just die? That may not be exactly right. Anther read of the situation says that the old father may not have been at death’s door. He may have had many years left before he died. Then the delay to follow Jesus would be indefinite. “But father and son might wish to be together before the father dies … and current Semitic idioms show that ‘I must first bury my father’ can function as a request to wait until one’s father dies—perhaps for years—so that one may fulfill the ultimate filial obligation before leaving home” (Keener, p. 276).
On the other hand, if we take the disciple’s situation in life literally, namely, that his father had just died, and the man had to go back and bury him, then this call to discipleship really is radical—very, very radical. But I believe Jesus saw a deficiency in the man that turned his father into an idol, and the man needed to break with him. I believe that Jesus recognized that if the man went away even for seven days to wait until he was clean again, he would never come back.
This situation may not apply to you. You may already be a follower of Jesus, and your father or someone else died recently. You should go to his funeral and memorial service. In your life situation, it is not either-or, cut-and-dry, because you already decided to follow Jesus. In contrast, this man in vv. 21-22 was not yet ready to follow Jesus.
“the dead bury their own dead”: this means that the spiritually dead should bury their physical dead. Who is spiritually dead? The ones who show no interest in the kingdom or in following Jesus. The kingdom of God is of utmost importance.
Jesus wanted people to follow him and welcomed the masses; nor did Jesus actually want prospective disciples to abandon him. … But those who would genuinely be disciples of the king must count the cost before they begin following him (Luke 14:26-35). (Parallels from some other radical ancient teachers demonstrate that commitment rather than harshness was Jesus’ intent ….) (Keener, p. 277)
Jesus often used aphorisms for their shock value and here wants to demonstrate the extent of a total commitment to himself, which took absolute priority even over the greatest obligation such as one parents … This was not meant to be a general rule on the priority of Jesus and was not to be followed in all instances (cf. Matt. 5:29-30; 19:21). Still, it is a shocking statement intended to demand radical commitment in light of the overruling importance of kingdom duties (Osborne, comment on 8:22)
GrowApp for Matt. 8:18-22
1. Jesus had said that the road and gate leading to life are narrow (7:13-14). How resolved are you to follow Jesus?
2. Will you quit when challenged? Or will you persevere (hang in there)? Do you depend on yourself or the power of the Spirit?
RELATED
9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel
1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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