Matthew 8:14-22

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

Isaiah 53:4

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.