Jesus said/says “Follow Me

Matthew 8:18-34    Discipleship Tested

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 Jesus *said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ²¹ Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” ²² But Jesus *said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

²³ When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴ And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. ²⁵ And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” ²⁶ He *said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. ²⁷ The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Jesus Casts Out Demons

²⁸ When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. ²⁹ And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” ³⁰ Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. ³¹ The demons began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” ³² And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters. ³³ The herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs. ³⁴ And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region.

As I reflected on this text from the daily reading in the One Year Bible(link available on links page of this site), what impressed me aside from the account of Jesus miraculous control of the storm and the deliverence of the demon possessed men, was the three types of responses we see to Jesus. The text begins with a crowd of people around Jesus. Jesus had been doing many miraculous things, healing all sorts of diseases and conditions. There was  excitement and anticipation in the crowds, waiting to see what might happen next. It is in this portion of the text that we see the first type of people. There are two who express a desire to follow Jesus. It seems that Jesus recognizes something about these two though. While they say they want to go, they are not ready to fully follow Jesus. Jesus points out to them the cost of true discipleship. It requires a level of discipline that many can not or will not submit to. Discipline is the root word from which the word disciple comes. Being a dsiciple of Jesus is more than following after the excitement of the miraculous. It's more than finding comfort and fellowship in a group of people. Being a dsiciple of Jesus requires prioritizing Him above all else. 

The second group of people we see in this text are those who have done that. They are the ones Jesus has called to be part of the miraculous. Their response to Jesus call was to leave all they had to follow Him and become His disciple. We see in this text that they really can't fully comprehend who Jesus is and all that He can do. But they are drawn to Him, forsaking all else they follow and learn from Jesus.

The third type of people we see responding to Jesus are the people from the city in the region where Jesus delivered the demon possessed men. They heard the report of the miraculous thing that had happened, but for them the cost of change was obviously too high. Allowing Jesus into their lives would be far too disruptive. It would change all that they were accustomed to and they wanted no part of it.

We can see some of each of these types of people in the world and in the church today. There are many who are like the people of the city. They are comfortable with their lives. For many that comfort includes discontent and unhappiness, a lack of fulfillment in their lives. For some the comfort level even includes things like sickness or poverty. There are many who would rather stay with what is familiar to them, even their lack, than allow Jesus to change everything.

There are also many, some in the world and some in the church who are like those first two men mentioned. They have seen and experienced some of Jesus life changing miracles. They have a desire to see more and be a part of the group that is changing things and making a difference they just aren't ready to give everything and become a true disciple of Jesus. In this group there are those whose lives have been impacted and changed, they are believers and followers of Christ. They will come and see Him when it's convenient. They will even tell others about what they have seen and heard. I believe that God truly desires that none should be lost and among this group there will be eternal salvation.

Jesus though, today just as when He walked on the earth is seeking those who are willing to give up everything to follow Him. He wants disciples who desire to spend their lives in His presence, worshipping, learning ,fellowshipping and walking with Him. To this group of people Jesus makes this promise from Mark 10:

“Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, ³⁰ but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.” 

Jesus does not promise a life of ease for His true disciples. Rather He says “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.(John 15:18-20)  

It is not an easy life Jesus calls His disciples to. But it is an "abundant life". It is a miraculous life. He says : Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.(John 14:12)

Jesus call to us today is the same as to His disciples then. He says "follow Me". The response is up to us. We can reject Him completely because of the change He will bring to our lives. We can follow Him with the crowd, perhaps getting an occasional glimpse of the miraculous, being part of those He teaches and provides for. Or we can repond saying yes Lord. We can get into the boat when He says get in. We can get out when He says come. We may not fully comprehend all of Who He is, yet still we  follow Him to the mountain top and to the valley. We  follow Him to the cross, the grave and the resurrection. His disciples can still see Him today.

He says come. Follow Me.