2-Jul-18

July 2, 2018

Gospel MT 8:18-22
When Jesus saw a crowd around him,
he gave orders to cross to the other shore.
A scribe approached and said to him,
"Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
Another of his disciples said to him,
"Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But Jesus answered him, "Follow me,
and let the dead bury their dead."
Reflection:
A scribe approached and said to him,
"Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
The scribe, having heard Jesus' message and seen the miracles He performed, impulsively declares, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus immediately cautions the scribe: "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
Jesus knew human nature. We are filled with good intentions but we often commit to a cause without first counting the costs.
Throughout scripture we see Jesus constantly encouraging those who express a desire to follow Him; to understand that along with the joy that comes with being His disciple, there will also be trials and tribulations.
"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish." Luke 14:28-30
"Another of his disciples said to him,
"Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But Jesus answered him, "Follow me,
and let the dead bury their dead."
Jesus in not encouraging His disciple to be disrespectful of his father. He is simply making it clear that the disciple should understand his commitment to follow Our Lord may require great sacrifice.
Today, Jesus is telling His disciple that he cannot hang onto the past and move forward at the same time. Or, as we learned at our mother's knee,
“We cannot have our cake and eat it too."
"The reason many people fail is not for lack of vision but for lack of resolve and resolve is born out of counting the cost." Robert H. Goddard