Sunday, February 25, 2018

Field Notes for Would-be Followers of Jesus (Matt. 8:18-34)

Last time we studied Matthew’s gospel together, we saw in the first half of Matthew 8 that Jesus is beginning to answer the questions surrounding His authority by demonstrating that He didn’t just talk like He had authority but he acted like One Who had authority.  There are still questions among the people concerning where this authority comes from and what it means but any reason for doubt that He has it is rapidly disappearing.

The Priority of Followership
Matthew 8:18-22 is another pericope that Matthew uses to explain Who Jesus is.  That is, an account of an actual event that is told with a view to teach us something and at the same time moves the greater narrative along.  So here the narrative places Jesus at the home of Peter in Capernaum where He has just healed Peter’s mother-in-law and crowds of people have brought loved ones to be cured both physically and spiritually.  Now in this pericope, Jesus decides to go somewhere else – across the lake—to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
Notice that He sees the crowds in Capernaum yet the text points out that He still wants to go away.  So, Jesus is not motivated by crowds to perform!  He is NOT a narcissist.   But neither was He simply unmoved by their needs!  He has already spent the previous evening healing many!  Matthew wants us to know that Jesus notices the vast felt needs in Capernaum, but that is not His only purpose.

Now as He gives orders to his disciples to go across the lake, Matthew uses this pericope to teach us about what Jesus expects of those who want to follow Him.  Some scholars refer to this pericope as the “cost of discipleship.”  I would prefer to call it the “priority of followership.”  Jesus is not just looking for people with a great work ethic or who are doggedly obedient even though those qualities are highly prized.  He is looking for people who are going to replace their own plans with His—people who are willing to re-prioritize their life to follow Him.  He wants more than our behavior—he wants our heart.  On the day of reckoning, remember, He is not going to let us substitute our deeds for knowing Him.  And ultimately, our salvation cannot be purchased by our own efforts anyway. 
Matthew zeroes in on two people who have been His disciples up to this point. He records their responses to Jesus’ orders to leave Capernaum even though they have a huge following right there. 

The first response is by a scribe (some translations use the term lawyer).  This is a man who has dedicated his life to the study of Scripture.  He recognizes the authority of Jesus and doesn’t want to miss out on the Kingdom of God so He announces his desire to follow Jesus.  Well, he seems to.  He announces that he will follow Jesus “wherever you go!”  He will “pay the price” or so it seems until we learn that Jesus points out that He can’t guarantee a life of comfort as part of our due if we follow Him.  The text doesn’t tell us what the Scribe did in response but Scribes were usually quite wealthy and honored members of society and so we understand that Jesus is pointing out that following Jesus means being ready to forsake our former comforts in this world for temporary hardships that are part of following Jesus.
The second response is by an otherwise unknown bystander who also wished to follow Jesus but first he wanted “to bury his father.”  He was not talking about going to a funeral but waiting until his father was dead.  He had a higher priority than following Jesus—his family.

Jesus is not saying that these are sinful activities (being comfortable or taking care of and enjoying your family).  He is saying that if they conflict with following Jesus, then you are not really prepared to follow Him.  By the way, whatever conflicts with following Jesus in our life, whatever takes a higher priority, is actually an idol. Whatever replaces the sole object of our worship is an idol.

The Priority of Trust
Matthew has more to say about following Jesus in the next couple of pericopes.   Let’s look at Matthew 8:23-27.  Those who are familiar with the Old Testament account will recognize that there is a little Jonah motif going on here.  There’s a storm at sea and Jesus is asleep in the boat and all hands are doing everything in their power not to go down and they waken Jesus to get His help and by His words, the storm stops.  But there are some powerful differences from the account of Jonah.  Jonah was running away from God.  He didn’t want to follow God.  Jesus was running away from worldly acclaim to follow God.  And the disciples?  They are following orders and so far they have been willing to make following Jesus a priority.  There are more comparisons we could make because even Jesus compared His death and resurrection to Jonah’s three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish.  But let’s move on to look at some more field notes for would-be followers of Jesus.
What do the disciples think when they are confronted by danger in the midst of the sea? 

1) They think that Jesus is unaware.  
2) They think that Jesus Himself (and they) are in danger (“We are perishing!”).  
3) They think they need to prod Him to DO SOMETHING.  They think they know what He needs to do and so they tell Him to do it.  
4) They do believe that He can do something about their circumstances.

How like our own relationship to Jesus!  These first three thoughts they have about Jesus are a demonstration of their need for faith.  The last thought shows they do have a little but it’s time to grow.

So, when Jesus wakes up we really have an anticlimax.  He rebukes the wind and the sea and there was a great calm. Now what do the disciples do?  They marvel.  Who is this?  (We keep wanting to grab them by their shoulders and shake them!  This is the creator of heaven and earth.  The God who made the wind and the seas.)  Notice that Jesus asks them: “Why were you afraid?”  Their fear is an indication of a lack of trust.  A follower of Jesus will encounter danger so He must trust Jesus.  That’s another priority of followership.  We trust other people to a certain extent.  We can trust ourselves a little, but to follow Jesus, we must trust Him completely.

The Priority of Spiritual Transformation
Okay, one more pericope, Matthew!  Matthew 8:28-34.  What sort of authority does Jesus have and what does He require of would-be followers?  This pericope tells us about Jesus rescuing two captives from a horde of demons.  These two men lived away from society in Gadara across the Sea of Galilee far from the comforts of Capernaum and their families and the adoring crowds.  Jesus and the disciples braved the pull of comforts and home and the sense of being involved in a hugely successful ministry and just now the stormy sea (which Jesus had to rebuke!  This was no ordinary obstacle that Jesus overcame!) – they did all this just to rescue two men who had been given over to be tortured by evil spirits.   How do you define success?  When you are doing what God really wants, you may experience even more obstacles!  Don’t let trials and difficulties make you think you are doing something wrong.  Your commission is from God and you follow despite the circumstances!  So they leave home crossing the sea on a mission. Later Jesus would commission these disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel.  
Notice what we learn from this pericope: 

1) We don’t get our theology from demons, but this account of Jesus’ encounter with them teaches us a lot. 

2)  The two oppressed men are the reason Jesus crossed over and left the crowds. 

3)  He has already demonstrated the prophesied healing ministry of the Messiah and now He demonstrates His Messianic fulfillment of setting captives free—spiritually. 

4)  Notice the disciples are with Jesus in this seemingly suicidal mission and they are safe because He is with them.  We are always safe with Jesus.  Notice, He said they were to cross to the other side—drowning in the middle was not crossing to the other side!

5)  Sometimes a changed life will bring about such a drastic change that it will be understood or even viewed as dangerous, harmful, or even chaotic.  In fact, it may affect the economic life of the community.  Jesus came to change us, too.

6)  They learned how horribly dangerous it was for these two men to continue to be held captive by these demons. 

7)  We learn the reality of demons AND their self-confessed destiny (AND by association) the destiny of those connected with them!

Overview:  In chapter 8 we see that Jesus does have authority and following Him must take precedence over personal comforts of home and family because this world is not our home.  We do not abdicate our responsibilities but we do rearrange our priorities.
We also see that following Jesus means that our understanding of “needs” must be carefully scrutinized.  We don’t always understand what is best, what is really needed, but God ALWAYS does.
Following Jesus ultimately requires trust in Him even when we don’t see Him “doing anything” when it seems like everything needs Him to do something now.  God knows exactly what is going on and what to do and precisely when to do it.  We may be getting wet, the waves may be washing over us, our boat may be sinking, we may even die(!) but we still trust Him—for far more than our feeble lives in this mortal shell.
Following Jesus does NOT always mean to go where the people are clamoring for help.  Some would tell us to “go where God is working,” but notice that God also works in seemingly small ways as well as in spectacular ways.  If Hudson Taylor had only gone where God was already working, he would never have gone to China.  Jesus left Capernaum and the great crowds to go to Gadara to rescue two captives.  Crowds do not necessarily mean success in God’s work.
Following Jesus can be scary (like the storm and the demons) which are physically and spiritually beyond our own strength.  With Jesus, however, everything is under control.  Trust him.
Finally, following Jesus you may be rejected by people but don’t look for rejection as proof of following Jesus.  It is your trusting Jesus that proves you are truly following Him.  Jesus does tell people to follow him but even more He tells them over and over again to trust Him—especially to those who claim to be following Him—even to those who claim to have given up everything.   And if you are following Jesus understand that not many will also follow along with you.  The crowds ultimately rejected Jesus and will also inevitably reject those who follow Him.
© 2018 Eric Thimell

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