THE THREE WOULD BE FOLLOWERS

THE THREE WOULD-BE FOLLOWERS

Matt. 8:18-22

Luke 9:57-62

        In the six verses constituting the final paragraph in the ninth chapter of Luke, we find a very remarkable account. In it three men are presented to us. They are unnamed. We have no idea to what town they belonged, and yet they are presented to us in a series of three pictures clear-cut and graphic. In each case the man presented is seen quite clearly, and that the more so, as he is revealed in the presence of Jesus.

        The time note here again is indefinite. The paragraph begins, "And as they went in the way." How constantly we read these words, or those having exactly the same effect. It is possible here that the reference should be taken in connection with the fifty-first verse of the chapter, which reads: "And it came to pass, when the days were well-nigh come that He should be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem."

        It may be that that fact was in mind when Luke wrote, "And as they went in the way." If so, we find ourselves here in the final period of our Lord's ministry, that following the confession at Caesarea Philippi and the Transfiguration.

        We find, however, that Matthew tells us the account of the two first men, but not that of the third. Matthew's account found in the eighth chapter of his Gospel, is characterized by the same graphic description of these men. It is brief and simple, and in it the first two are clearly seen.

        Now it is best to remember at this point that neither Matthew nor Luke were really careful about chronology. Matthew more than once grouped illustrations from the life of Jesus in their bearing on some great teaching. This is equally true of Luke.

        In Matthew we have in chapters eight and nine so far as verse thirty-four a gathering together of incidents illustrating the power of Jesus. These are given immediately after the record of the Ethical Manifesto. At the end of the seventh chapter we are told of the effect His teaching had upon the multitudes who heard Him; and the question naturally arises as to what His power may be. His teaching was characterized by an idealism and perfection that astonished the men of His time; but there is always a difference between high idealism and practical ability. It is evident that Matthew, therefore, in these two chapters, eight and nine, shows our Lord as able to deal with every form of human malady. It is in the course of that, that he gives the account of these two men. Luke's presentation of the men occurs at the beginning of his account of the final six months in the ministry of our Lord. Here he gives the account of the two men referred to by Matthew, and adds a third.

        Personally, I believe that the first two incidents took place soon after the Ethical Manifesto, and the last as He was commencing that final movement with His face steadfastly set to go to Jerusalem. Thus when Luke recounts the account of the two, he adds that of the third man, undoubtedly grouping them for a definite purpose.

        What we do see, then, is three men, each of them attracted to Jesus, but with differing mentality, and differing outlook, and we listen to our Lord, as in brief concise words, He deals with each of the three. It is best to say at once that we have no record of result in either case. There are those who seem to think that none of these men followed Him. We have no warrant whatever for coming to any such decision.

        As to the first of the three we know something about him that, Matthew tells us that Luke does not, namely, that he was a scribe. It is important, because it helps us to see him more clearly. As a scribe he occupied an official position in the life of the nation. We know what that meant, and so may refer to it in the briefest of statements. The order of scribes had arisen on the return of God's people under Ezra, and in process of time, it had become an official order. The work of the scribe was that of interpreting and applying the law. This man was one of that order. Then we remember that from the beginning of His ministry, and growingly, the scribes as a class, were antagonistic to Jesus.

        Now, it was this man who here came to Christ and said: "Lord, I will follow Thee, whithersoever Thou goest." He did not come with a question. He indulged in no criticism as so many of his order were doing. He addressed himself in an outburst, which was surely the expression of an impulse created by what he knew. We may I think with accuracy refer to him as an impulsive man. It is important that we remember that is not necessarily an evil thing. It has been said that he was a man who, to use an expression of our own times, wore his heart on his sleeve. Possibly that is true, but it is always refreshing to meet a man who reveals the fact that he has a heart at all. It is quite evident that for the moment, for some reason, and in some way he was captivated by Jesus, as he said to Him: "Lord, I will follow Thee, whithersoever Thou goest."

        Let us immediately admit that it was a great thing to say. As I have already pointed out, we know nothing about the future and for the moment that can be entirely out of mind. He is seen standing before Someone Whom he felt he could follow anywhere. I think the emphasis of his statement should be upon the word Thee, "I will follow Thee, whithersoever Thou goest." Thus the man is seen, a scribe, accustomed to teach, and apply the law, knowing that those of his own order were antagonistic to Jesus; but seeing in Jesus something that made him feel there was nothing quite comparable to being in His company, and travelling with Him. How long he had been coming to this conclusion we have no means of knowing, or of the processes which had preceded it, we cannot tell. We simply see him confronting the Son of God, and speaking of the thing that was in his heart. He was impulsive. It cannot be denied that his impulse was a worthy one, created by his vision of One Who he felt was without peer, and with Whom he could travel anywhere.

        When we come to the next of these three men, again we have something in Matthew that Luke does not tell us. Matthew tells us that he was a disciple. He was already enrolled among the number of the followers of Jesus. He is not recorded as having spoken to our Lord until our Lord had said to him, "Follow Me." Here, then, He is heard addressing to this man, already a disciple, a new command and charge, calling him to some yet more complete relationship with Him.

        His reply reveals him, as he said to Jesus: "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father."

        It is in the light of this fact of his discipleship that we are compelled to consider this answer. That answer reveals the fact that he was a man devoted to high duty, and capable of earthly affection. So strong were these things that when the Lord called him to thy higher and closer relationship, he replied that he could not obey awhile, because of immediate duty.

        It is quite certain that this reply has often been misunderstood, and to understand it one needs to be familiar with the Eastern mentality of their having obligations to their fathers as long as they are alive. That undoubtedly is what this man meant when he said this thing to Jesus. He declared that he was not able to take the high adventure to which Jesus called him, because of his obligations to his father who was yet alive.

        The third man is an entirely different one. We know nothing about him except as we learn it from what happened. He spoke to Jesus, saying: "I will follow Thee, Lord; but first suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at my house."

        Now here we have something entirely different from the second man. This man is characterized by the impulsiveness manifested in the language of the first man as he said, "I will follow Thee." Here we see a man attracted by Jesus, intending to go after Him, affirming his intention, but for the moment feeling a backward pull. Here we must necessarily interpret what he said by Eastern life and action. The business of saying farewell was not that of merely saying Goodbye. It would entail a long delay, accompanied by repelling. It was the desire for this that held him back at the moment.

        Thus we see these three men, all attracted by Christ, all feeling the force of His personality, all desiring to follow Him, and yet how different. The first was an impulsive man, out of his own sense of attraction to Jesus declaring his intention. The second was a quiet, loyal man, putting off the great adventure in the interest of what seemed to him to be the call of duty. The third man is one who, similarly attracted by our Lord, felt the backward pull of social affairs, and wanted the great adventure postponed.

        We now with great interest, listen to our Lord, and watch His method with these men. To this impulsive man who declared his readiness to follow the Lord anywhere, He replied: "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man bath not where to lay His head."

        Now I am quite convinced that in our understanding of that word of Jesus, everything depends upon, shall I say the tones of His voice, and the way in which the thing was said. How constantly we read it as though our Lord was speaking out of a sense of loneliness, almost sorrowfully. I think such interpretation is inaccurate, that He was really rather exultingly declaring to the man what His own position was. He was revealing the fact that He was detached from everything that would prevent progress, and so showing to him that travelling with Him meant the taking up of a similar attitude. Foxes have holes into which they can run. The birds of the heaven have nests in which they can linger; and the attractiveness of such things are self-evident. Said Jesus, I have no such attractions. I have nothing that detains Me for a moment from the march I am taking. The statement was a clear revelation to this man of what following Jesus really meant. It meant, as we have said, detachment from everything that prevented progress.

        To the next man He had uttered His command, "Follow Me." In so doing Christ had called his man to the highest, to an adventure such as he had never known, to a fellowship upon a pathway which he could not see or understand, but which would be taken in fellowship with the Lord Himself. What that pathway was is revealed in the final words of Jesus to the man: "Go thou and publish abroad the Kingdom of God."

        It was in the interest of that pathway that Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead."

        Let those who are dead, who lack vision, who do not see the glory of the Kingdom, attend to the burying of those who are also living life on that earthly level. He called this man to the abandonment of the closest earthly tie, and apparent duty, in the interest of the high adventure, upon which He Himself was endeared.

        In this connection it must be carefully remembered that Christ does not call everyone in that sense to follow Him. The account is that of a man who had such a call, but was held back by some duty on a lower level. It is the word of command of the One Who had declared that there was something higher than earthly kinship. As He had one day said: "Who is My Mother? and who are My brethren? Behold, My Mother and My brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and Mother."

        In that sacred kinship, obligations are created which transcend the call of every other earthly tie.

        In the last man we see the same constraint, the same desire, the same admiration, the same intention. He wanted to go with Jesus, but he wanted to delay the matter as he went back to take farewell of those who were at home.

        The answer of Jesus to this man does appear to be the severest of all. He said to him: "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God."

        The backward look proves a man unfit for that Kingdom, either in itself, or in its service; proves him to be unfit for the company of Jesus. It was indeed a word of the utmost severity, but it was revealing and necessary.

        Now, for a moment let us listen to these answers of Jesus in a slightly different way. His reply to the first man proved the necessity for detachment from all that prevents progress. The word to the second man proved the necessity for the abandonment of the closest earthly tie, when it in any way interferes with the high imperial call of Christ. His answer to the third revealed the act that true fidelity brooks no reluctance, no looking back.

        So the scenes pass before us. In every case the word "Follow" occurs, spoken as we have seen, to such as desire to follow, to those who had seen Him in His beauty in some form or fashion, who had been impressed, possibly, by His teaching, possibly by His works. The one fact remains that they were all attracted, they all felt they would like to follow Him.

        We return for a moment to remind ourselves of the placing of these three incidents in the narrative of Luke. Jesus was on the way, His face steadfastly set to go to Jerusalem, travelling resolutely towards the Cross. To Him one said: "I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest."

        Another, "Suffer me first to go and bury my father."

        A third: "First suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at mv house."

        As He answered them, His face was set towards Jerusalem and His whole attitude and activity proved that He was suggesting to them nothing that He was not Himself doing. There was nothing of earthly value which held Him back from that pathway of progress. There was no earthly tie, however tender and strong, even that to His Mother, that could deflect Him from that purpose. When upon occasion that Mother had sought to dissuade Him from continuing His action, because she believed He was in danger of losing His reason, He had declared that the will of God was utmost in His thinking, and in His purpose.

        Finally, when He declared that a man looking back was unfit for the Kingdom of God, He did so as One Whose face was steadfastly set to the goal of the Cross. The contrast between a face steadfastly set, and the backward look, is self-evident.

        Therefore it was with all these men admiring and desiring to follow, He said in effect, "But Me no buts; come and travel with Me."

        Let us end our meditation by considering something said at the beginning, but now to be perhaps a little more carefully considered. We are not told what happened in either case. What we do know is that in each case an alternative was presented. The first man either went back to his nest, or stepped out upon the highway of the march with Jesus, with nothing holding him back. The alternative was a return to the comfort and security of home, or that of marching out on the highway with the Son gf God.

        The alternative in the case of the second man was perhaps more difficult. It was as to whether he should take the pathway of the lower duty, or the higher; should he allow his loyalty to his earthly kin to prevent obedience to the voice of the King.

        The alternative in the case of the last man was that of deserting the plow altogether, or cutting the straight furrow. The very figure of speech employed to him by the Lord suggests that his hand was already on the plow. It is only as the hand is kept there, and all energy concentrated upon the business, that there is fitness for the Kingdom of God.

        The revelation of this paragraph, and of the three men seen therein in their relationship with our Lord, is that of basic matters and high things; and the true contrasts of possibility within any human life. Let the attitude of our Lord be kept in mind, that of the face steadfastly set; and in the light of it, His answers to these men considered, as they reveal to us for all time what it really means to follow Him.