18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. 19 Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” 20 And Jesus *said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 21 And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus *said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Matthew 8: 18-22 NASB
Matthew 8: 18-22 Estate and Inheritance
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9: 57-62
He gave orders to depart - It says this following the sighting of a crowd, and one can imagine, given the amount of people who show up to see ear ticklers and fake healers today, Jesus was actually healing people and teaching with authority. Some came because He fed the 4,000, the 5,000, healed the sick, was not afraid to touch a leper, turned water into wine, and some came because they hoped He was Messiah, but the version of which they held was corrupted in their minds. They wanted His Millennial Kingdom to start straight away, and they wanted Rome brought down. Judas followed for such, wanting to be a big man in the new kingdom and harness it's wealth. We see in verse 24 of this passage the reason for His departure, God the Son had truly added humanity to His deity, He was tired, He needed rest. Many false teachers, heretical groups, get Who Jesus is wrong. Some would remove His deity, as do the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, while others would remove His humanity, relying on allegory, insisting that He was just symbolic or that He was a spirit that made Himself look like a man. Both sides denying that God knit His deity to humanity inside the womb of Mary, making Christ the God Man, fully God and fully man, incomprehensible to us.
1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time.… 1 John 4: 1-3
…57Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?” 58“Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59At this, they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple area.… John 8: 57-59
A scribe came and said to Him - He seems to be breaking rank with the other scribes. There were scribes belonging to both the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but most seem to be bound by their traditions and the approval of men. It looks like he is willing to part with this, publicly confessing Christ, professing his desire to follow Him.
Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go - For better or worse, rich or poor, sickness and in health?
Foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests - Foxes have homes, dens, a place to call their own, a place to defend, but also a place that offers comfort and security. I bet you they didn't teach you this response in EE.
17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18 He said to Him, “Which ones?”
Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Matthew 19: 16-22
The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head - This is a Messianic title for Himself that He uses often. Jesus is trying to get away from the crowd for much needed rest, which He has to take where He can get it, in the hull of a boat, many nights on the mountain, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Messiah is here but without a palace. He hears what the man is saying, the words that the scribe makes with his mouth, but Jesus responds to the man's heart, He looks past the words, the present feelings, and He shakes the man's estate. "What about your comforts?"
…13In my vision in the night I continued to watch, and I saw One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. 14And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Daniel 7: 13-14
The Son of Man - First use in Matthew' Gospel, drawn from Daniel 7:13+ where Daniel declared "behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days (GOD THE FATHER) And was presented before Him." And so Son of Man was clearly a Messianic Title which Jesus does not hesitate to apply to Himself. The Jews who had ears to hear, would have known immediately what Jesus was claiming! He was claiming He was the long expected Messiah! To paraphrase C S Lewis Jesus is either Lord, liar or lunatic, but He cannot just be a good Teacher! This is the name Jesus used for Himself more than any other. It is used 83 times in the Gospels, always by Jesus Himself. Son of man is Jesus' Name emphasizing His identity as the representative Man, the "last Adam" (cf 1Co 15:45-47). Son of David was His Jewish Name, and Son of God His divine Name. - Precept Austin
Allow me first to go bury my father - Sounds reasonable, but McArthur provides some historical context.
This does not mean that the man's father was already dead. The phrase "I must bury my father" was a common figure of speech meaning, "Let me wait until I receive my inheritance." - J Mac from JMSB notes
Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead - Again, Jesus contests the person's profession, and again, contrary to modern evangelicals, He doesn't coerce the man into a profession, waters nothing down, and doesn't just take it at face value, write the man's name in a church registry, declaring him saved. This is why it is important for ministers to preach the whole counsel of God, otherwise you end up with people who have a false sense of assurance, following a Jesus that they fashioned in their minds. Many preach another Christ, another gospel, like the prosperity gospel, the I am a good person gospel, the all inclusive gospel, but few preach the gospel that Jesus preached. Christ is also revealing His preeminence above all things, even family ties, cultural beliefs, material possessions; He would fail at most Christian colleges today, they would kick Him out of seminary, He's just too narrow.
John Broadus on allow the dead to bury their own dead - This cannot mean let the dead bury each other, i. e., let them remain unburied, for that is a forced explanation and an idea unworthy of our Lord. We must understand the dead spiritually and the dead literally, as in Rev. 3:1. (Comp. John 11:25 f.) Such a play upon words is natural and pleasing to the Oriental mind, and different forms of it occur frequently in Scripture, including many passages where it cannot be preserved in translation. (Comp. on 16:25.) The idea here is that there were enough of those who were spiritually dead to perform all the offices of affection to the dead, and so Christ’s followers were at liberty to devote themselves to their own far higher work. (Comp. 10:37.) In Luke’s account (9:60, Bib. Un. Ver.), we have the, addition, ‘but go thou and announce the kingdom of God.’ It does not follow that Jesus would require all his followers, under all circumstances, to neglect the burial of their dead, in order that they might work exclusively at spreading the gospel; any more than he extends to every one the command laid upon the rich young ruler, to sell all he had and give to the poor. (19:21.) But we can easily conceive of circumstances now, in which it would be proper to hold in abeyance the strongest promptings of natural affection, in order to do our duty to Jesus; just as a soldier may see his brother fall at his side in a charge, and yet sometimes cannot pause to care for him, but must rush on.
A T Robertson - The spiritually dead are always on hand to bury the physically dead, if one's real duty is with Jesus. Chrysostom says that, while it is a good deed to bury the dead, it is a better one to preach Christ. (Word Pictures in the New Testament)
Luke adds a third condition - Luke 9:60+ - But He said to him, “Allow (aorist imperative) the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” - Precept Austin
22“The Son of Man must suffer many things,” He said. “He must be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” 23Then Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.… Luke 9: 22-24
25Large crowds were now traveling with Jesus, and He turned and said to them, 26“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters— yes, even his own life— he cannot be My disciple. 27And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.… Luke 14: 25-27
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