No where to lay His head

Mat 8:18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.
Mat 8:19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
Mat 8:20 And Jesus saith unto him, 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 gave the commandment to depart from where He'd spent so much time expounding on life and the lessons people everywhere from there on in until the end of time would need to learn. He'd been there for a long time and the crowds of people there were huge. It was time to leave now, time to depart and when people heard this some had to speak out.


A scribe- one who teaches. A scribe- one of a type of people that Jesus said this about--


Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.


Woe unto you scribes!
Woe unto you scribes who shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.
Woe unto you scribes who will NOT go in to heaven themselves.
Woe unto you scribes who will not suffer others who would go in-- to go in!


Scribes. And here was a scribe who was listening to Jesus, who was listening at the Master's feet, learning from His lips the lessons we so desperately need to learn. This scribe said to Jesus-


'Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest'


He wanted to follow Jesus no matter where he went! This is dedication, this is devotion, this is someone who was completely won over by the words of Christ and there were many that felt the same.


Did Jesus say to him - follow me? No. Jesus laid it all out for this eager disciple, this scribe…


'The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.'


Foxes have holes. This is true, Jesus would never speak an untruth. Foxes have hole to go to, foxes have homes, foxes go out and do their hunting and such but have a hole to return to at the end of their day's work. No fox is homeless, no fox wanders aimlessly about going from place to place. Foxes according to an online source may have many dens where they'll stay in winter months constantly, and in warmer months they spend a lot of time hunting returning to their den to rest. Foxes have holes. Foxes have a place to live.


Jesus also said 'birds have nests'. This is a fact, yes? Yes. Birds have nests. Birds have a home as well. Birds aren't wandering aimlessly without a place to return to, they have a nest.


Capping it off Jesus said 'the Son of man hath NOT where to lay his head'. Jesus HAD NO WHERE TO GO TO. Jesus had NO HOME. Jesus had less than a fox, or a bird in terms of a place to dwell. Jesus had NO place to call His own. The Son of man had no home. The Son of man was a wanderer, homeless.


Our Savior was homeless.


You might want to say that He could always have returned to His parents and carpentry, but that's not true. There was no going back and many people know what this is like. Many people start out on their own after being raised and have that sense of 'there's no going back' and it's a real thing. Whether that belief is something in them or a fact of their parents- either way it's real and as they begin their journey they don't always make it, do they.


Do you know anyone who is homeless?
Have you ever been homeless?


With our awful economy many people who never, ever imagined themselves homeless have become just that - homeless.


The foxes still have holes, the birds still have nests but these people don't have homes.


A lot of people who don't know what it's like to be homeless can't understand how people become homeless but there are many stories about how it comes to be. Tragedies, sickness, misfortune, love-less, so many things lead us to finding yourself homeless.


Jesus was telling the scribe who wanted to follow Him wherever He was going to go that they didn't have a destination at the end of the day, the week, the month of journeying. There wasn't a home base, there wasn't a place to belong and that scribe would have to take part in this sort of life- calling no place home. The scribe would be homeless.


Is it possible that the scribe had never known homelessness? Very, very possible. This thought, this truth Jesus was revealing to the scribe was for a reason. The very real possibility of being homeless had to be confronted. Following Jesus wasn't going to give this man a place to live, it wasn't going to give him a life of security. This man had to understand that he would be homeless if he were to choose to follow Jesus.


Imagine this happening to you for a moment. Seriously, step outside your comfort zone, step outside of your reality and into this man's. We know that most homeless do not CHOOSE that life, it happens to them. Now imagine CHOOSING to be homeless. No, the same circumstances are not available to us as they were to that scribe but use your imagination to put yourself there. You want to say you'd follow Jesus without hesitation, and that's logical, I want to say it too.


This man was being asked to embrace a life of homelessness by trusting in Jesus for ALL things. Follow this man (because to so many the fact He was God's son, a God-man, was not fully realized) follow this man and count on Him to give you everything- every bit of foot, every bit of shelter, every bit of clothing would need to be provided for by Jesus- the Master. Yes, come follow Him, but do not expect it to be a life of ease as you are used to experiencing.


Today we are called to trust just as much, aren't we?
Our faith has to be fully in our Savior!
We have to follow our Savior and He says to us as well that the life we are being called to is not going to be an easy one. We are NOT going to have a real home here anymore. We are not going to fit into the mold of the world, we CANNOT fit in and if we do we should worry. This isn't our world, this isn't our home.


That scribe wanted to follow Jesus and wanted Jesus to know that he wanted to follow Him wherever He went. Jesus wanted the scribe to understand that the life he was expressing interest in wasn't going to be a life filled with worldliness, there would be NO glamour in this life, none, no physical comforts. Follow but understand Who you are following.


By the grace of God may we understand and in understanding still choose to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!


In His love!


Amen.