Beginning at verse 14, bear with my voice this
morning, I'm not feeling the greatest, a little
under the weather, but trust that the Lord will
help me. We'll be looking at verses 14 through
22. Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house,
he saw his wife, that is Peter's mother -in -law,
lying sick with a fever. So he touched her hand,
and the fever left her. And she arose and served
them. And when evening had come, they brought
to him many who were demon -possessed. And he
cast out the spirits with a word and healed all
who were sick, so that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
He himself... took our infirmities and bore our
sicknesses. And when Jesus saw great multitudes
about him, he gave a command to depart to the
other side. That's the other side of the Sea
of Galilee. Then a certain scribe came and said
to him, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you
go. 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. Then another of
his disciples said to him, Lord, let me first
go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him,
follow me and let the dead bury their own dead.
Let's pray. Father, would you give grace this
morning, Lord, to see the all -surpassing worth
of Jesus Christ, your son. Lord, he is a true
treasure. Open our eyes to see that, we pray
in Christ's name. Amen. As we're studying Matthew,
I said this before, but it bears repeating, that
Matthew is the gospel of all four that is primarily
written for a Jewish audience. And there are
several reasons why I would say that. First of
all, you find Matthew often quoting prophecies
from the Hebrew Scriptures, which is the Old
Testament. Those would have been familiar to
a Jewish audience and not to a Gentile audience.
Secondly, you also find him, he'll use terms
and customs that the Jews would have been very
familiar with, but he never bothers to explain
them. He just assumes that those who are reading
this gospel would understand them. There's also
a very strong emphasis on how Jesus relates to
the Torah. Again, that's the Jewish law. And
finally, Matthew opened his gospel with the genealogy
of Jesus, not going back to Adam. but going back
to David and then further back to Abraham. Both
of those men are Jewish patriarchs. And Matthew
did that because he's seeking to show that Jesus
is the fulfillment of the promises or the covenants
that were given to both of those men. So Matthew
is written with a very specific intention of
showing any Jewish readers that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Messiah sent from God. Now, if you read
Matthew, I think it's interesting how he structures
his gospel. He did not write a theological essay
explaining that Jesus is Messiah. He doesn't
go back and go word for word in a prophecy. Instead,
he chooses to tell a story. He starts with his
birth, and he's going to go through his death.
So this gospel is actually painting a picture
of who Jesus is, rather than simply telling us
who he is. He's letting you be... kind of key
in on certain elements. He's letting you be clued
in, but he's not always explicit. He doesn't
start out his gospel saying, Jesus of Nazareth,
the Messiah, sent from God. Well, how's he going
to do this? Well, he's highlighting various scenes
from Jesus' life and ministry, and these were
chosen specifically to prove, to authenticate,
that yes, Jesus is the Messiah you've been looking
for. So these events, some of them include Jesus
healing the sick. Others will be Jesus casting
out demons. You will find Jesus doing miraculous
events like even raising the dead. And all those
are pointing to the liberation that Jesus came
to set his people free from their bondage. Now
in our passage today, we're going to see a couple
things. We'll see Jesus has the authority and
power to heal. He has the authority to cast out
demons. But he will end this section with a radical
call to discipleship. But before we ever look
at his call to discipleship, I want you to notice
his compassion. He goes to the Apostle Peter's
mother -in -law and he heals her. You see that
in verses 14 and 15, which we just read. Now,
Matthew simply writes when Jesus had come into
Peter's house. But Matthew is not writing a chronological
story of Jesus' life. You'd be wrong if that's
what you're expecting. Instead, Matthew is taking
certain events and he's stacking them together.
It's a highlight reel, if you will. But when
we go over to Mark's gospel, and we can see the
synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they're
seen together. We get a little bit more information.
We see that Jesus and Peter were actually coming
back from the synagogue when they came into Peter's
house. So if they were returning from the synagogue,
that means this is the Sabbath. And they would
have been returning that home to Peter's house
because they would have been awaiting a festive
Sabbath dinner. We read about it in Mark. Notice
that last phrase, at once. Now we're not told
the nature of her sickness. We are never told
if it's serious or not. We're not given a time
frame, how long she may have had the fever. But
I'm looking at this at Mark, and I'm saying they
must have been concerned for her because they
specifically told Jesus about her at once. Mark
seems to make, and I would not be dogmatic here,
but he seems to make the situation a little more
serious, a little more urgent than Matthew does,
because as soon as Jesus gets into the house,
they took him to see this sick woman, who happened
to be the Apostle Peter's mother -in -law. Had
she suddenly fallen ill? Maybe when they were
at the synagogue? Was she getting worse? We're
not told. But since this was a Sabbath and a
Sabbath meal was being prepared, no doubt there
would have been other women in the house getting
everything ready, much like might happen here
on a Sunday afternoon. You know, families get
together for Sunday meals. But it appears as
though the work probably stopped because of how
ill she was. So Jesus leaves the synagogue. He
gets to Peter's house. And it says immediately
they took him to see her at once. And there we
read that Jesus showed great compassion. He touches
her. Here's a very sick woman with a fever. And
he touches her hand. And she is instantaneously
healed. The fever left her the very moment he
touched her. Matthew. is highlighting that Jesus
of Nazareth has the authority to heal the sick.
Now why is he doing that? Who's he writing to?
Primarily Jewish audience. The Hebrew scripture
said that when the Messiah would come, he would
come with healing. So he has, in chapter 8, he
healed the leprous man, we looked at last week.
He healed the centurion's servant, we saw last
week. Now he's healing Peter's sick mother -in
-law. this is coming together to show that, yes,
the one you've been waiting for, it is him. He's
among us. In Isaiah 35, we read this. Behold,
your God will come with vengeance. With the recompense
of God, he will come and save you. Now notice
the words. Then, so when God has come, the eyes
of the blind will be opened. You'll see Jesus
do that. The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
You'll read about that. The lame shall leap like
a deer. We will see that. and the tongue of the
dumb shall sing. All of these things we will
see Jesus do. But Malachi, the very last prophet
in the Old Testament canon, he writes, but to
you who fear my name, the son of righteousness
shall arise with healing in his wings. And here
we have Matthew. Matthew knows these prophecies.
His Jewish readers would have been aware of them.
And he's highlighting, he's showing, he's proving,
he's demonstrating, authenticating that Jesus
is the Messiah and it's proven by his ability
to perform these acts of healing. In fact, Peter's
mother -in -law was so thoroughly healed that
she immediately got up, made whole, and what
did she do? She began to serve them. That's what
the text says. She served them. Isn't that the
proper response? The Lord had healed her. I don't
care if it wasn't serious. Even if you just had
the flu and you get instantaneously healed from
the flu, man, you're happy. You have this fever.
You know how a fever, a high fever feels awful.
It's one moment she feels like she's at death's
door. Next moment she's made whole. So she wanted
to show her gratitude. What'd she do? She gets
up and she starts serving. Gratitude is the natural,
it is also the appropriate response to receiving
an undeserved gift of grace. She was thankful
for the Lord's mercy. She was thankful for his
compassion. And friends, it was mercy because
she knew the Lord did not have to do this. He
was not compelled. He was not forced to heal
her. But he chose to do so. And that filled her
with this renewed desire to serve. Now she was
healed physically. And she got up and she wanted
to serve him. And you and I, who have also experienced
a greater healing, We have been healed from our
sickness of sin. And friends, I would suggest
to you that our response ought to be the same
as this dear woman. It ought to be gratitude
that leads to service. Gratitude and service
are the proper response to grace. You find so
many who will name the name of Christ, but they're
not grateful. They don't serve him. They're content
to live their lives with Jesus on the periphery
if he's even there at all. There's no desire
to serve him. And I would suggest to you that
one who's not grateful and has no desire to serve
does not understand grace. He doesn't get it.
Because joyful response, joyful service to Christ
is what responds, is the only proper response
to grace. In fact, the psalmist in Psalm 100
says, serve the Lord. And then there's a caveat
here. With gladness. Serve the Lord with gladness.
So what the psalmist is saying, hey friends,
don't just serve God out of duty. Don't wake
up Sunday and say, oh, I guess I better go. Serve
him out of heart gladness because you recall
all his benefits. You recall what he has done
for you. We serve him with gladness. We ought
to give with gladness. What does Paul say? God
loves a cheerful giver. Those, we, the people
of God, if your life is invaded by God's grace,
then you ought to, and I don't understand if
you don't, there ought to be a desire to gladly
follow him. You should want to follow Christ
and obey him. Not perfectly, but that's our goal.
Serve him. Peter's mother -in -law, she did.
She got up. She had been healed of this sickness
that had caused her so much grief, I'm sure.
And you and I have been healed. We've been healed
of our sin. And so what Jesus is doing here,
it's a foreshadowing showing that the kingdom
of God was in breaking into the world. Think
about Adam's sin, right? It brought disease,
despair, demon oppression, brokenness, corruption,
even death. All of those came as a result of
one man's sin. We read about that in Romans 5.
John tells us that Jesus came, and he says, to
destroy the works of the devil. What does John
mean there? All that our sin brought, Christ
came to eradicate. He's going to be the new Adam.
Instead of introducing the fall, he's going to
reverse the effects of the fall. So we have corruption
right now in this age. There's corruption. There's
disease. There's brokenness. And of course we
know there's death. And one day, it will be no
more. Well, how do you know? We start to get
a glimpse here. Look at the miracles Jesus did.
They were not done superfluously. They're done
with a purpose. He's showing what life in his
kingdom is going to look like when it arrives
in its fullness. That means there will be a day
when sickness will be behind us. No more oppression.
No more broken relationships, broken governments.
No more death. And that night that Jesus healed
Peter's mother -in -law, he was really just getting
started because at the evening, which is when
Sabbath would have ended, right? Guess what the
people do? Crowds of people start gathering and
they're looking for him again. Why? Because what
he did earlier. They know what he has the ability
to do. So what they do, they get anyone they
knew who was sick and they're like, come on,
let's go find Jesus. And then there were many
in that day who were possessed by an evil spirit.
They're like, come on, let's go find Jesus. And
you read about that in verse 16 to 17. When evening
had come, they brought to him many who were demon
-possessed. And he cast out the spirits with
a word. And he healed all who were sick. The
people were desperate. And by the way, that's
the proper response as well. You're desperate.
And they saw Jesus as the one who could help
them. Amen. So what did they do? Hey, demon possession.
Let's go. Let's get him out. And when they brought
those guys who were possessed by the evil spirits,
Jesus cast them out with just a word. His word
had authority. So much authority that not even
evil spirits could resist him. They had to submit.
They were forced to submit to him. But there
were many of them who were sick. So many who
were sick. And notice what Matthew says in verse
16. He healed all who were sick. Now, he doesn't
always do that. But he healed them all. Now,
we know in the case of Peter's mother -in -law,
what did he do? He touched her. Many times Jesus
touched the one who was ill. He cast out demons
with the word and he touches the ill. He doesn't
have to touch them. Why? What's his touch showing?
No one wants to be around a sick person. Everyone's
afraid of him, but not Jesus. He touched the
leper. So his touch is showing compassion. He's
not afraid. He's showing compassion, but his
word shows authority. Everything that Jesus is
doing and Matthew is highlighting is pointing
to a greater truth. They're revealing something.
Matthew is wanting you and I to be clued into
something. Jesus is the Messiah. He is the one
sent from God to set us free. But he also says,
hey, all that you're seeing, it's a fulfillment
of a prophecy. And the prophecy said this, he
himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.
Matthew is quoting Isaiah 53, verse 4, and he
applied it to Jesus. Now, I know most of you
know this, but it bears again repeating. Isaiah
53 is one of the four servant songs found in
Isaiah. You're like, big deal. No, it is a big
deal. All four of those servant songs are written
about God's servant, the Messiah. Matthew takes
Isaiah 53, and he applies it to Jesus. To show,
again, Jewish readers, they would have caught
this. This is the one you're looking for. This
is the Messiah. If you look at Isaiah 53, it
is without a doubt the most explicit passage
found in the Old Testament detailing the suffering
and death of Christ for his people. Go back and
read it. It's fascinating. So fascinating, rabbis
don't even know what to do with it. Many Jewish
scholars will just skip over it. Those who don't,
I even looked it up again this week to check
myself. rabbis will say that Isaiah 53 refers
to Israel as a nation. The problem with that,
it can't. Because you can go down, and I think
it's around verse 8, and this is a side note
here, and he says, for my people he suffered.
For my people. So it can't be talking about Israel,
because Israel's suffering was laid upon this
servant. So we see that God the Father, he takes
the sin of his people, he lays them on this servant,
who would serve as the Messiah, And this Messiah
figure, this servant Isaiah 53, would give his
life as a sacrificial lamb. God's servant dies
in place of God's people. The servant dies as
a substitute. Now Matthew's making a point here.
When we talk about Jesus' death on the cross,
we almost tend to focus exclusively on the redemption
from sin and the rescue from God's wrath. And
by the way, we ought to. That's good. But the
Lord did not only die to save us from God's wrath.
He also came to deliver us from all the consequences
of sin. Now the ultimate consequence of sin is
being judged by God and cast away from him forever,
but that's not the only consequence, right? So
in this fallen world right now, in this veil
of tears we could call it, there is brokenness.
Did Jesus die for brokenness? He did. You're
going to see in the coming kingdom it will not
be broken. Sickness. Did Jesus die for sickness?
Yeah. And his healing is showing in the kingdom
there will be no sickness. Corruption. His kingdom
is one of peace and righteousness. Death. His
one is where there's only resurrection. All the
consequences that were flowed from our rebellion
against God, Jesus took upon himself. Isaiah
53, Matthew says here, our infirmities and sicknesses.
Now, our infirmities and sicknesses are related
to sin. Listen carefully. Because sin is at the
root. But you and I must be very careful that
we do not equate someone's particular sin or
particular sickness with a particular sin. In
other words, we must not say, oh, I know why
they are ill. They are ill because they did X,
Y, Z. Job's friends. mistakenly thought that
Job's suffering must have come because of some
secret sin hidden to Job. They were dead wrong.
But we can say, ultimately, all sickness is related
to sin. Because had sin not entered the world,
there never would have been sickness or suffering
of any kind. So what can we say? Yeah, there's
sickness because of our sin. Did Jesus come to
die for that? He did. Now how do you know that?
Well, Matthew tells us explicitly that. He dies
for our brokenness. He dies for all the consequences
because they're not going to be in the coming
kingdom. So that means he also died to heal all
that sin caused. R .C. Sproul wrote this. And
some of you, throw stones at him if you want
instead of me. Not only was our sin laid on Jesus,
so were all of our illnesses. God put cancer
on him. He put heart disease on him. He put diabetes
on him. He put leprosy on him. He put every disease
that has been painful to the human race on Jesus.
And he quotes, he has borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows. Matthew uses the term sicknesses.
It was not just our sin that was removed, but
all the consequences of our sin. Now you're saying,
okay, pastor, if that is true, then why do we
still get sick? It's the same reason you still
sin. He died for your sin. He took it away. And
yet you still commit sin, right? Christ finished
his work. There at the cross, he cried out, it
is finished. But God's work of redemption is
not yet complete. And when it is completed, there
won't be any sickness. There won't be any sin.
There won't be any corruption. There won't be
any death. On that day, every consequence that
had flowed from sin will forever be a distant
memory. So what am I saying? In the coming kingdom,
that you're getting a preview right now in his
miracles. In the coming of kingdom of God, brokenness
is gone. Grief is gone. Why? Because all those
are foreshadowing of what is to come. The apostle
John got a vision of it and he wrote it down.
And this is to help you and me in this journey.
Because we grow weary. Life is hard. And we do
suffer brokenness. We do see corruption. The
righteous suffer and the unjust seem to prosper.
It's not fair, we say. Yeah, the writers aren't
ignorant of that. This is not Pollyanna world
where everything is ice cream and rainbows. But
there's coming a day when it's all going to be
gone. And if you believe that, that's going to
give you the motivation to persevere in this.
Revelation 21, John wrote. He said, now I saw,
I saw it, I saw it with my own eyes, a new heaven,
a new earth. For the first one, the one you and
I currently live in, has passed away, and there's
no more sea. I don't have time to tell you why.
Sea usually was a metaphor for all the evil that
would come out of it. Then I, John, saw the holy
city, new Jerusalem, coming down of heaven from
God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying,
behold, and I look forward to this day, the tabernacle,
the dwelling of God, it's with men. And he will
dwell with them. Amen. And they shall be his
people. Amen. That's the greatest hope we have
right there. And God himself will be with them.
He'll be there. God, can you imagine? We're going
to live with God in unhindered fellowship. And
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor
crying. And you're starting to see this in Jesus'
miracles. There shall be no more pain. Why? Why
no more pain? For the former things have passed
away. As I said, in this age, it is known as
the veil of tears. We still live here. But in
the age to come, God will forever wipe away tears.
I think about my own kids. When they get hurt,
you know, they fall off their bike or they do
something crazy, they will either run to Sandy
or me for comfort. And many times, she or I,
we will just take our hands and gently wipe away
their tears. But the truth is, they're going
to get hurt again. And they're going to shed
more tears. But when God wipes away tears, there
won't ever be another tear shed. Death is gone.
Sorrow has been defeated. You say goodbye to
it. Crying. will never be heard again. I have
been with people when they have found the unexpected
news that a loved one had suddenly passed away
through a car wreck. I've been with them, and
I've heard a wailing that is so sorrowful, just
guttural, visceral. It's never going to be heard
again, ever. The former things are gone. Why?
Because Christ suffered on that cross. And every
detail of sin was laid upon him. The former things,
which is right now the present age, it's going
to pass away. It's going to be made new. This
is what you and I have to look forward to. As
you look, and you're looking at the mighty acts
of Jesus, understand they're a preview. They're
meant to highlight. Matthew is showing you something
here. This is life in his kingdom. Death is going
to be gone. Sickness is going to be gone. No
one will know anything of an evil spirit possessing
them. Amen. Now, that's all compassion, right?
Is that meek, mild Jesus? Yeah, it's compassion,
love. And we go to a radical call to discipleship.
If you see him, this will make sense to you.
Verses 18 -22. Let's just look at 18 -20. And
when Jesus saw great multitudes, megas, huge
crowds, he gave a command to depart to the other
side. And a certain scribe came and said to him,
Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. And
I think Jesus just very kindly but incredulously
looked at him and said, really, foxes have holes
and birds of the air have nests. Son of Man has
nowhere to even lay his head. Crowds were getting
large, really large, and perhaps Jesus' disciples
were just getting tired. They ministered to people.
It's been a long day. They've had Sabbath worship.
They've had Sabbath meal. He's healed all the
sick people. He's cast out demons. And now there's
just no insight. It seems like we've got to get
out of here. They need a place to rest. So he
tells his disciples, let's go to the other side.
Let's get in the boat and go to the other side
of the Sea of Galilee. But as they're preparing
to leave, something very unusual happened. What?
You have a scribe. Now that's interesting. It's
a scribe that approached Jesus and said, Jesus,
I want to go with you. I want to be one of those
disciples. Now why do I say it's unusual? Well,
who's a scribe? He's one of the religious leaders.
Scribes and Pharisees, they are overwhelmingly
antagonistic to Christ. But here we find someone
who seems to get it. He wants to be one of Jesus'
disciples. Teacher, I will follow you wherever
you go. Now it's interesting. He did not call
him Lord. Literally, it's like the teacher. It's
the one who is didactic in nature. It's the Greek
word there. Not kurios, not Lord. So he called
him teacher. That's respectful, but he doesn't
quite get it. And he makes this grandiose claim.
I will follow you wherever you go. I would always
say be careful. Because in the scriptures, when
you see these boastful claims made by people,
it normally does not bode well for them. I think
of Peter. Jesus said, tonight the shepherd will
be struck and all the sheep will scatter. And
Peter said, uh -uh, not I. Everyone else may
forsake you, Lord, but I will hang with you to
the very bitter end. That same night, Peter,
the boastful one, out of cowardice, denied even
knowing Christ three different times. So now
this man comes, I will follow you wherever you
go. And I think Jesus very kindly said, really?
Is that true? He's not denying the man's request
at all, but he did make him rethink what he was
asking and saying. See, the Lord is going to
show something. Following him, it's not a matter
of comfort. It's not a matter of convenience.
Foxes have holes, dens. Birds there have nests.
Friends, this is one of the greatest ironies.
The one who created the world does not even have
a home in the world. You want to follow me, Jesus
said. Do you know what you're asking? See, to
follow Jesus is not a casual decision. Jesus
encourages people to count the cost. Are you
willing to follow me even if it means homelessness?
That's what he's saying right there. I don't
have any place. Even animals have a place to
call their own, but I don't. I have no place
here. You still want to follow me, scribe? What
if it costs you comfort? And by the way, scribes
were the ruling elite class, the aristocracy,
usually men of wealth. Comfort, convenience.
Because Jesus knew many are seeing the miraculous
and they're so very curious and they want to
be around the popular teacher. He knows they're
following out of curiosity because of miracles,
not necessarily because of the truth he is teaching.
Today, we see so many men, they want to make
men disciples of Christ, good motives, but they
offer, they do it in such a terrible way. You
don't ever find Jesus doing this. You want to
be a disciple of Jesus? Today, you want to go
to heaven, pray, and then we're done, and let's
go on to the next one. I fear that. I think terribly.
Now, there are many God saves whom he will save,
and he does it through many means. But many of
those who pray don't understand Christ. Many,
much less, are ever talked about the cost of
following him. But read through the scriptures.
Jesus wasn't trying to bring crowds around him.
In fact, he said this, I want you to make sure
you know what you're signing up for. In Luke
14, we hear Jesus say this. He says, now great
multitudes, same word there, went with him. This
is Jesus. He turned and looked at him. He said,
okay, great crowds, wonderful. If anyone comes
to me and does not hate his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters, yea,
and his own life also, he cannot, not he will
not, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does
not bear his cross and come after me cannot be
my disciple. And then he gives a little parable
here. For which of you intending to build a tower
does not sit down first and count the cost whether
you're enough to finish it? Before you embark
upon a building program, you ought to make sure
you have the funds to finish it out. Lest after
he's laid the foundation, he's not able to finish
it, and all who see it begin to mock him. Because
so many start well, but they don't finish well.
It got too hard. They didn't sign up for this.
And they lacked the mock and said, this man began
to build, but he couldn't finish. He's making
a parable saying the same thing happens in the
Christian life. By today's standards, Jesus would
have been a lousy evangelist. He really would
have. He's not interested in crowds. He's really
not interested in converts. He's interested in
disciples. But if following Christ proves to
be so difficult, then why would anyone do it?
There is only one reason. Because your eyes have
been opened to the worth and glory of Christ.
That's it. You know that any cost involved in
following him pales in comparison to him. John
6. John 6, Jesus issued a lot of hard words.
It's a very hard saying. He talks about eating
his flesh and drinking his blood. No one can
come to me unless the Father draws him. And many
of the people who were following, many of his
disciples, you can go back and look at verse
66, could not accept that. And as a result, many
of those crowds who were following him suddenly
turned away from him. Like there's these crowds
and they're like, eh, not so much. Now look at
John 6. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked with him no more. They're
not disciples. They started well, they didn't
finish. Jesus said, well, do you also want to
go away? I love this is one of the places where
Simon Peter answers brilliantly. He said, Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. Also, additionally, by the way, Lord, we've
come to believe and know that you are the Christ,
the son of the living God. Peter got it. Well,
where else do we go? To whom? I mean, Jesus,
if we're going to ever have eternal life, it's
only through you. Yes, Lord, you do demand everything.
But we know that you are the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And because he is the Christ,
the Son of the living God, that means nothing
else at all can ever come before him, not even
family. Now look at 21 and 22 as we close it
out. Then another of his disciples said to him,
Lord, Let me first go and bury my father. But
Jesus said to him, follow me and let the dead
bury their own dead. So Jesus, again, issued
a call to follow him, but this man balked, right?
He said, I'll follow the Lord, but I'm going
to follow you later because I have something
more pressing to do. In this case, I've got to
make sure my father gets a proper funeral. Understand,
in that day, Jewish culture demanded that the
oldest son, see to it that the father, would
have had a proper burial. So there was a custom
that the eldest son would be excused from all
duties, all obligations, including religious
duties, until he buried his father. But not Jesus.
He doesn't even allow that to be an excuse. This
is meant to be a hard saying, folks. Nothing
can come before him, not even strong cultural
expectations or even family obligations. Does
that mean that we never take care of our family?
No, you're missing the point. Do you see his
worth? In that day, loyalty to one's parents
was second only to loyalty to God. And Jesus
comes and he demands a loyalty to himself greater
than one would even give to his parents. Do you
get what Jesus was saying? The only greater loyalty
would be to God. And Jesus said, that's the loyalty
that I demand. How was that possible? Because
he is of greater worth than even one's parents.
Lawrence Farley writes, he said, the man, this
man, claims to be his disciple, but he puts other
obligations before his commitment to the kingdom.
He must leave the dead to bury their own dead
and carry out such duties. The one whom Christ
has called is like one alive from the dead. He
belongs no longer to this age. Amen. We don't.
We're not of this age anymore. earthly duties,
however sacred and important they seem to be.
Christ takes a back seat to no one and no thing.
Now Jesus is not being harsh. He's not showing
a lack of compassion, but he was showing that
loyalty to him, friends, loyalty to him must
be absolute and it must be immediate. Nothing
else matters. And he closes with that obscure
phrase, let the dead bury their own dead. The
masses of people are dead in their sins. They
are people of this age. He says, let them see
to these earthly matters and concerns. Friends,
discipleship only allows for one master. Only
one. One Lord. And even family ties must take
a back seat to our loyalty to Christ and his
kingdom. He was not seeking discouraged discipleship.
It seems like that, but no. He wanted to make
sure. He wanted to ensure you know what you're
signing up for. If you're coming and calling
him Lord, he's Lord. Do you desire to follow
him? Have you counted the costs? But friends,
if your eyes have been opened and you see who
he really is, like Peter confessed, it's the
wisest choice we could ever make. Yes, Jesus
demands supreme honor, supreme honor. He demands
supreme loyalty. He demands supreme attention,
but only because he is of supreme worth. If you
understand it, if you really understand it, then
giving up everything or whatever would stand
in the way only makes sense. So in this parable,
in this passage today, not a parable, we've seen
Jesus, we've seen his compassion to heal, but
we've also seen his uncompromising demand for
a wholehearted... commitment. So it's meant,
I think, as a contrast here. Jesus brings restoration.
He heals. He brings life. Amen. But he calls
his followers to radical loyalty. He doesn't
let us off the hook here. So you're saying the
cost of following him is high. Yes. That's the
path to true life. So you're saying, well, what
should respond? How should respond? With a readiness
to follow him wherever he leads. Trusting, friends,
get this, that his presence, his presence in
your life and in my life is worth every sacrifice
along the way. Do you believe it? Let's pray.
Father, thank you this morning for your word.
Lord, it cuts us open. It lays us bare. Lord,
you don't allow for wiggle room. You don't allow
for excuses. Lord, you're the one who we get
painted into a corner and we have to make the
decision if Christ is Lord to follow you. We
think about that Old Testament injunction, if
Baal be God, serve him, but if the Lord be God,
serve him. The Lord is saying, Lord, what will
we do? Who will rule over us? For someone will,
Lord. Jesus is the gentle shepherd. He's the
one who gives his life for the sheep. And although
he is a gentle shepherd, he deserves absolute
and demands absolute loyalty. Father, would you
forgive us? Lord, I stand here today convicted
in my own heart. Lord, to say that absolute loyalty
and absolute commitment and absolute following
has been true of my life would be a lie that
you know and these people would know. Father,
how do we reconcile this? Lord, our desire is
to follow Christ truly. The heart of the regenerate
is to follow you, to follow him wherever he leads.
But we also understand we are great sinners,
deep, grievous. afflicted, tortured sinners at
times, Lord. But our forgiveness has come through
the broken body and the blood shed at Calvary.
And today we're reminded of that, that yes, indeed,
we are failures, but Christ is not. He has given
his life for us. We are no longer servants, but
we are sons. And today we fellowship with Jesus
and we ask for grace and strength and help from
the Holy Spirit. We are taught in the scriptures
to pray for the help and the aid of the Holy
Spirit. So that's what we do. Father, I pray
for those listening. There may be some who, Lord
God, their eyes have been closed to the glory
and honor and worth of Christ. Maybe they had
not seen him. Lord, I pray today in your mercy,
God, would you open their eyes and may their
hearts start to pulsate with divine life that
they see Jesus and desire to follow him. Lord,
you'll receive them. You'll receive them. Father,
I pray for those who are wayward, Lord, who are
apathetic in the relationship with Jesus. Lord,
it just rolls off their back. It no longer warms
their heart. Father, bring them back. Let them
see the peril of their own soul. Father, help
them, Lord, I pray this morning. Bring them to
a place of absolute surrender before you. And
Lord, we'll thank you for that because you alone
are worthy. It's in the name of Jesus, our Savior,
we pray. Amen.