Count the Cost

“And another of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.  But Jesus said unto Him, Follow Me; and let the dead bury their dead.”  Matthew 8:21-22

Jesus had just spoken to a scribe who vowed to promise Jesus that he would follow Him anywhere He went.  However, Jesus told him that the “foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests: but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.”  Jesus was saying that following Him was not an easy life, no “bed of roses”, no “life of Riley” (that last phrase is a really old one).  While the scribe was one who had made an instant decision to follow Christ without stopping to count the cost, the next man to approach Christ was a disciple of His, not one of the twelve, but one who had begun to consider the cost of being one of Jesus’ followers and not quite ready to forsake all.

This man made a request of Jesus:  “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father”, and then I will follow you completely.  Assuming that his father had just died, and that the dead were buried usually the same day, this request seemed reasonable.  Perhaps he was the oldest son, and hence the one on whom the responsibility of caring for his mother and siblings fell.  However, we are only assuming that his father had passed away.  It was more likely, though, that his father was still living, perhaps aged and ill, or he could have been the “picture of health”.  What this disciple was really asking was for Jesus to allow him to go back and take care of his family responsibilities until such time that his father did pass away.  Then he would be free to follow Jesus.  But, as in many situations, something else was bound to pop up to vie for the man’s attention.

This is how many folks approach salvation.  They say, “First, I want to do such and such, and then I will be ready to follow the Lord.”  The problem with that line of thinking is that one may not live long enough, or that opportunity may not be available at the time of one’s choosing.  As folks put it, “you can’t get saved just any old time that you want to.”  Paul, in II Corinthians 6:2, quoted Isaiah 49:8, writing: “…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”  God said in Genesis 6:3, after that He had created man, and man disobeyed Him, that His Spirit would not always stive with man.  Isaiah 55:6 tells us that to “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the righteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”  Jesus said in John 6:44 that “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”  There are no excuses for not following Christ when He calls.  When we put Him first, everything else falls into place and all needs are met.

Jesus gave this disciple a very concise answer, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their dead.”  In other words, “Come on, let’s go!  Leave those earthly cares behind.  Other folks who have little interest in following Me can take up the slack.”  Jesus does not accept any excuses.  When He calls, we must follow.  We are not told what this disciple did, but many Bible commentators believe that he did leave all and follow Christ.  There was another man in a similar situation in Luke 9:61-62 who desired to first go home and tell everyone good-bye, but Jesus said to him, “No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”  Jesus was cautioning him about the danger of starting out with Him and then returning to his old ways again.  In returning to his family, the man was likely to be discouraged from following Jesus.  After his folks cried a few “crocodile tears” and pleaded with him to stay home, he likely would have.

I have known of folks who made a profession of faith, but eventually fell back into their former way of life.  While we can’t see into the heart of a person nor judge their relationship to the Lord, we have to wonder if their conversion was real.  To follow Christ requires a complete surrender to Him and an abandoning of the way of the world.  As we follow Jesus, He not only changes our life: He changes our lifestyle.