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“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him,
“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of
Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Matthew 8:19–20
It is unclear from this passage alone why Jesus answered this
scribe the way He did. At first, the statement of the scribe seems
very devout: “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” But many
of the Church Fathers, in their reflections of this conversation
between Jesus and the scribe, offer helpful insights.
First of all, note that Jesus neither accepts the proposal of the
scribe to be His follower nor rejects it. Rather, Jesus simply
makes a statement which clarifies just what is involved in being
His follower. Some Church Fathers suggest that this scribe was
desirous of following Jesus because he thought there would be great
rewards given to him by doing so. After all, Jesus was a miracle
worker, was becoming quite popular, and showed potential to be a
great leader. Therefore, the interior motivation of this scribe to
follow Jesus wherever Jesus went was a questionable motivation. Did
he want to follow Jesus because he thought it would benefit him in
some worldly way?
Jesus’ response to this scribe does two things. First, it removes
all misconceptions of what it means to follow Jesus. If the scribe
wanted to follow Jesus, then he had to be prepared to follow Him
into poverty and homelessness rather than riches and possessions.
Jesus wanted it to be clear to the scribe just what he was
choosing. Secondly, Jesus’ response was certainly an invitation to
the scribe to follow Him, but only in the light of this new
knowledge. In other words, Jesus was saying, “Yes, come follow me.
But be aware of what that means. Following me will not result in
your earthly riches but in your earthly poverty.”
Why do you follow Jesus? It’s important to consider your
motivations at times. Some choose to follow Jesus because this was
simply the way they were raised. Others do so because it makes them
feel better to do so. And still others do so because they think it
will make their lives better in various ways. But what is the ideal
motivation for following our Lord? The ideal motivation for
following Jesus in a total and unwavering way is very simple: we
follow Him because He is the Son of God and the Savior of the
World. Jesus came to call us to Himself and has invited us to live
in union with Him through faith. So ideally, we will follow Jesus
simply because it is the right thing to do. We will not do so
because of the so-called benefits. Love, in its purest form, does
not love the other because of what we get out of it. Pure love is a
gift given to another because they are worthy of our love. And with
Jesus, He is worthy of our love and worship simply because of Who
He is.
Reflect, today, upon Jesus inviting you to follow Him into poverty,
detachment from all, simplicity of life and ultimately the
sacrifice of your entire life. Do you understand what it means to
be a follower of Christ Jesus? Do you understand that following
Jesus cannot be done for selfish reasons? Do you realize that
saying “Yes” to our Lord is saying “Yes” to His Cross? Ponder
Jesus’ life and reflect upon whether or not you are willing to
follow Him to the poverty of the Cross. If you can make the choice
to follow our Lord, knowing full well what you are saying “Yes” to,
then the end result will also be a glorious sharing in His
resurrected life.
My glorious Lord, You walked through this world in poverty,
rejection and suffering. You had no earthly home of Your own but
now live in the riches of Heaven. Help me to follow You, dear Lord,
wherever You lead me in this life. If You lead me to worldly
poverty and suffering, I thank You. I thank You and choose to
follow You no matter what. Give me the grace I need to follow You
purely out of love for You, for You are God and are worthy of all
my praise and worship. Jesus, I trust in You.
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Featured images above: The Scribe Stood to Tempt Jesus By
James Tissot, via Wikimedia Commons
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