TO FOLLOW JESUS, THE SON OF MAN

Thank God for Jesus, who took up our infirmities and carried our diseases. He completed the work on the cross. He is our suffering, compassionate and healing Messiah. May we look up to him and live with faith in him. In today’s passage Jesus teaches those who want to follow him how they should do so. He reveals himself as the Son of Man. May we learn how to follow Jesus, the Son of Man.

First, the reason for following Jesus (18-20). Look at verse 18. “When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.” When Jesus healed all the sick that were brought to him in Capernaum, a crowd gathered around him. So most probably they were gathering around Jesus because of his powerful healing, the healing of many and all kinds of diseases. It was likely that Jesus wanted to scatter them in giving orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Jesus did not want popularity among the crowds. Rather, he rejected mere human popularity. Through gospel study we know that in a matter of time this welcoming crowd would reject him when their expectations were not met.

Then what happened next? Look at verse 19. “Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’” Probably this teacher of the law, who volunteered to be a follower of Jesus, was impressed by Jesus’ popularity, surrounded by crowds ofthe people, while the group of teachers of the law did not have such popularity. He said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” His saying sounded like, “It will be no problem, Sir, for me to follow you, as long as there is such a crowd of people around you.” It seemed to be a great decision. However, notice that the teacher of the law did not say this when Jesus was in rejection and suffering, but at the peak of popularity among the people.

How did Jesus respond to it? Look at verse 20. “Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’” What an unexpected, odd answer! Jesus’ words sounded poetic. In this expression, however, Jesus compared his living condition to that of the birds and animals, not even to that of the poor people. He would not have even a bachelor apartment, not to mention his own house. He would not have a shelter, which is the most basic requirement for a secure life as a human being. In saying this Jesus indicated that there would be no visible human security in following Jesus, not even considering popularity.

Here Jesus called himself the Son of Man. “The Son of Man” is a very significant title in understanding Jesus the person and his life and also in understanding the gospel story. This title has a background in the Old Testament. It is mostly written in the book of Ezekiel. God called prophet Ezekiel “son of man” (95 times). The prophet would suffer much to deliver God’s message to the people who hearts were hard like flint. Then in the book of Daniel it is written, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. The son of man approached the Ancient of Days (God) and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him.” (Da 7:13-14) This vision was concerning Jesus who was to come into this world. While on earth, Jesus used this name, “the Son of Man” to refer to himself most frequently (28 times in Matthew; 88 times in the Gospel). It was to reveal his true identity and mission. At first this name was relatively enigmatic. But as his death was approaching, he used it more and the meaning was becoming clear. We can refer to several verses. In 17:22, “When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.’” In 20:28, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The title “the Son of Man” is used most (5 times) in chapter 24 regarding his second coming. In 24:30, “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.” And lastly the title is used in 26:64, “’Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’” These words were Jesus’ final words in the court before Sanhedrin and he was condemned to death. Inbrief, the Son of Man was the suffering servant for mankind and he would bring final victory and glory and eternal glorious kingdom.

Now coming back to today’s passage, when Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and bird of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head,” it seemed that he gave the teacher of the law, who wanted to follow him, a negative and unpleasant reply. Yet, in fact Jesus gave him a realistic and truthful answer. Most importantly, he revealed himself as the Son of Man in this answer. So the teacher of the law, his disciple candidate, would indeed be his disciple, when he focused on Jesus, the person, not the surroundings or external blessings of Jesus. This is true for all those who want to follow Jesus.

Here we clearly learn how we should follow Jesus. One should follow Jesus with an unambiguous single desire and direction to know and learn of him. We must fix our eyes on Jesus. When we think about Christianity in our times, it seems that many people want to follow Jesus for human success and wealth and popularity. Of course, we have his wonderful promise concerning our future: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mt 6:33). Also, we should study hard and be victorious, and work hard to make money to serve our families and others. But in all things our focus and goal should be Jesus himself. This is the reason Jesus said on another occasion, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 16: 24). Self-denial, rejections (even gentle rejection) and sufferings are hard to bear. But through them we can learn of Jesus more and can truly follow him. When we think about Apostle Paul, he suffered much in following Jesus. He said in 2 Corinthians, “…as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardhips and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless night and hunger…” (2 Cor. 6:4,5). He learned of Jesus very much through all things and had a clear direction to follow him continually. So he said to Corinthians Christians, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). In old age still his ardent desire was to know him. So he said, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” May we have a crystal clear desire and direction to follow Jesus in order to know him and imitate him through all things.

Second, the urgency of following Jesus (21-22). Look at verse 21. “Another disciple said to him, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’” Nonetheless to say, burying one’s father is one of the most urgent and greatest of human responsibilities. No doubt, first priority should be given to such a thing. But what did Jesus say? Look at verse 12. “But Jesus told him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’” On the surface, Jesus seemed to be very harsh in dealing with this disciple, ignoring the grave and urgent human responsibility. Yet, it was not so. We need to understand these words of Jesus correctly and know the true meaning. Certainly, Jesus must have known the importance of carrying out human responsibility. “Honour your father and mother” is one of the Ten Commandments, and burying one’s dead parents is an essential part of honouring them. And it will not make much difference in following Jesus whether one follows Jesus several days after burying his dead father or mother. Then, why did Jesus say to the man, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead”? Jesus was teaching the man a sense of urgency in following him. We don’t know if the man’s father was actually dead or just getting old or sick. When we reflect on Jesus’ words, we can deduce that this man’s problem was procrastination with a reasonable excuse. He wanted to delay following Jesus for a certain time, excusing his grave human responsibility. Probably he just wanted to reserve one spot in the group of Jesus’ disciples. Procrastination is a big problem for many people. They particularly procrastinate in making important decisions in life and carrying them out. They wait for tomorrow, but for such people tomorrow does not come. So Jesus, who keenly knew this man’s problem, was helping himcarry out his decision here and now. And Jesus was teaching him the urgency and priority of following Jesus, not letting him neglect human responsibility.

In Luke’s gospel it is written, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:60). We should overcome our own procrastination in every area of life, particularly in following Jesus and proclaim the kingdom of God with a sense of urgency and priority. We cannot make a dead person alive, but we can make the spiritual dead alive through the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom. What can be more urgent than this? This is our grave spiritual responsibility entrusted to us. This is what Jesus himself did: “…preaching the good news of the kingdom” (Mt 4:23), “…preaching the good news of the kingdom…” (Mt 9:35). And Jesus said in Matthew 24:14, “…this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Jesus said in John 5:25, “I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” The word of God has power to raise the spiritual dead. Those who hear will live. So Apostle Paul said to Timothy at his imminent death, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season.” (2 Tim 4:1,2). We thank God for granting us a precious mission of teaching the Bible to young campus students. May God help us to have a sense of urgency in carrying out this mission so that we can dedicate ourselves to 1:1 Bible teaching for U of T students. May we be prepared to welcome the coming U of T freshmen through our Bible workshop.

Thank God for teaching us how to follow Jesus, the Son of Man. May we follow Jesus with a clear desire and direction to know him and learn of him in all situations, and proclaim the kingdom of God with first priority and a sense of urgency.