Tags:
Luke 9:57-62
"And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
The best way to understand Jesus' statement is to see it in its immediate context. Gospel writers collected it together with two other statements to prospective disciples. In those other statements, Jesus indicated that familial responsibilities are secondary to becoming a follower of his (one man he discourages from staying at home until his father dies--the likeliest meaning of "let me bury my father"; the other he discourages from even returning home to say goodbye). In this regard, then, we see that attachments that distract from service to God is the theme of the passage. To get the best understanding, we must see the first quotation--"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head"--within this overall theme. Jesus is explaining how, if anyone would follow him, they must not be like the bird feathering his nest, or the fox digging out a den. The follower must be relatively detached from material concerns.
© 2024 Created by Raliegh Jones Jr.. Powered by