When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.

Matthew 8:18-22

18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”


Today’s title is “Are you Ready to Follow Jesus?”

Following Jesus is a good proof of faith. To follow Jesus, the first disciples have to leave their works and even houses. It took a great commitment for them to follow Jesus. But it wasn’t a blind commitment. . They had sufficient reason to make such a commitment. They trusted and loved the Lord enough to make a lifetime commitment to follow Him wherever He goes. For them, it was an expression of faith and love for Jesus. So the early believers, before they were called Christians, were called simply as followers of Jesus. As Jesus kept preaching the gospel, a large crowd began to gather around Him at least for a short period. Many were deeply moved by the gospel and decided to follow Jesus. We see a few such examples in today’s passage. A teacher of the law wanted to follow Jesus. He says, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” But Jesus says, Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” It seems that the teacher of the law did not insist on following Jesus anymore. Another disciple wanted to follow Jesus. But He wanted to go and bury his deceased father first. Jesus corrected his attitude. These two persons seem to be highly eager to follow Jesus. But Jesus didn’t accept them readily. What was wrong with them? The first person might have not known the hardships in following Jesus. Following Jesus is not without cost. Jesus told His disciples to deny themselves and take up their own cross to follow Him. The second person wasn’t fully aware of the urgency of following Jesus, unlike the early disciples. Jesus, of course, wants us to follow Him. He came to call us to follow Him all the way into His father’s house. But to follow Jesus truly, we have to follow Him wholeheartedly trusting Him in all. We do not follow Jesus with our own preferences or with our own priorities. Are you following Jesus? Jesus earnestly wants you to follow Him all the way to the heavenly home. But when we follow Jesus, we have to follow in His way, not in our way. Let us follow Jesus in His way step by step. He will take us through the cross, the empty grave, and to the Father’s house. We will be happy there forever that we followed Jesus. Amen!