Matt 8:18–22 — Following Jesus

Matthew 8–9 provides a concentrated picture of Jesus’ healing and teaching ministry. These chapters contain ten miracles, but Matthew deliberately intersperses them with teaching about discipleship.

The pattern is carefully arranged. Matthew 8:1–17 contains three miracles: the cleansing of the leper, the healing of the centurion’s servant, and the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law. Matthew 8:18–22 then turns to discipleship. Three more miracles follow in Matthew 8:23–9:8: Jesus calms the storm, delivers two demon-possessed men, and heals a paralytic. Matthew 9:9–17 returns to discipleship before four final miracles complete the sequence. Matthew 9:35 summarizes Jesus “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.”

By weaving miracles and discipleship together, Matthew teaches that Christ heals and then calls the healed to follow him. The healings symbolize salvation from sin, and those who receive God’s forgiving grace are called into the service of Christ.

Historically, not everyone Jesus healed became a true disciple. Luke records ten lepers receiving physical healing, but only one returned to give thanks. Nevertheless, the miracles carry a symbolic message: those whom Christ saves are brought into relationship with him and called to follow him.

Peter’s mother-in-law illustrates this pattern. Jesus touches her, the fever leaves her, and she rises to serve him. Her service met an immediate physical need, but it also portrays the life of discipleship. Those who have been healed rise to serve Christ.

This order is essential. We do not follow Christ in order to earn salvation. Christ first takes our sin and guilt upon himself, bears it at the cross, forgives us, and heals us. Discipleship follows as the grateful consequence of redemption.

A Clarification About Christ’s Healing Touch

In the preceding sermon, I argued from Matthew 8:17 that when Jesus touched the sick, the primary movement was not power passing from him to them but their illnesses passing to him: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” Upon further reflection, that contrast was too sharp.

Other Gospel passages explicitly say that healing power went out from Jesus through physical contact. Luke 6:19 says, “All the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.” Both truths belong together. Saving power flows from Christ to the sick, while he takes their sickness and sin upon himself and bears it at the cross.

Matthew’s Theology of Discipleship

The disciples in this passage are not limited to the Twelve. Matthew 8:21 refers simply to “another of the disciples.” The Gospels and Acts indicate that many others followed Jesus; Acts 1 describes about 120 disciples gathered before Pentecost.

Matthew records these encounters with an application to every Christian. His Gospel concludes with Jesus’ command, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Later believers can hear this Gospel proclaimed and learn what it means to follow Christ.

Our passage introduces two men. The first is a would-be disciple who volunteers to follow Jesus, although the text never says that Christ called him. He resembles a young man who enters an army recruiting office on an impulse without understanding the commitment he is about to make.

The second man is expressly called a disciple. He is genuine but newly called, with much to learn about the implications of following Christ. From these two encounters we learn four lessons about discipleship.

Discipleship Begins with Christ’s Call

The first lesson is that discipleship is not something we volunteer to undertake. It begins with Christ’s sovereign call and command: “Follow me.” When Jesus called Peter and Andrew, they left their nets. When he called James and John, they left their boat and father. The initiative belonged to Christ.

The would-be disciple says, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” He may imagine discipleship as a new interest or an activity to attempt for a time. Perhaps Jesus appears to be an impressive miracle worker from whom he can learn. Yet discipleship is not a hobby, a temporary experiment, or a spur-of-the-moment commitment. Christ must call a person to himself.

How do you know that you have received this call? Those whom Christ forgives and heals are called to rise and follow him. If you have recognized your sin, cast your hope upon Christ, bowed before him, and received his forgiving grace, you have also been called to serve him. You were bought with a price. You are not your own but belong to Christ.

The Call of Covenant Children

Those raised within the church may wonder whether they have ever been called. They may not remember a distinct conversion experience or a particular moment when they first heard Christ say, “Follow me.”

Covenant children have been called through baptism. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” As they grow, they hear the gospel, learn of forgiveness in Christ, and find themselves believing in him. They may not be able to identify the precise date when faith began, but Christ’s claim rests upon them, and he calls them to respond to his grace in discipleship.

The second lesson from the would-be disciple is that following Jesus means more than learning truths from him. It means identifying with Christ and sharing his pattern of life.

This man is a scribe, an expert in the law who has studied the traditions of the rabbis. Other Jewish teachers also had disciples, and he appears to regard Jesus as another rabbi. He calls him “Teacher” and offers to become his student.

Jesus answers, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Becoming his disciple is not merely enrolling in a school or mastering a body of teaching. It means being conformed to the life of the teacher.

Jesus’ statement is hyperbolic. He was apparently staying at Peter’s house in Capernaum, so he had shelter. Yet he possessed no permanent home of his own. He traveled as an itinerant preacher and healer, devoted to proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. His path was one of suffering, rejection, and ultimately the cross.

The Son of Man

This is the first occurrence in Matthew of Jesus’ title “the Son of Man.” It alludes to Daniel 7:13–14, where one like a son of man approaches the Ancient of Days and receives dominion, glory, and an everlasting kingdom.

The Son of Man is closely identified with “the saints of the Most High,” whom he represents as their head. Daniel also describes those saints as suffering. A hostile horn “made war with the saints and prevailed over them” and sought to “wear out the saints of the Most High.” Yet through the Son of Man’s victory, “the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever.”

The title therefore holds suffering and glory together. The Son of Man receives universal dominion, but he is also identified with a persecuted people and travels the path of suffering before victory.

Jesus often preferred this title to the more familiar title Messiah. If he had publicly announced himself simply as the Messiah, many would have interpreted his mission in political and nationalistic terms. They expected deliverance from Roman rule and the restoration of Israel’s earthly power. Jesus came instead to save his people from their sins by suffering and dying in their place.

Even foxes and birds possess homes, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. He is the suffering servant who came “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He will be killed, raised on the third day, and then receive the glory promised in Daniel 7.

A disciple is therefore conformed to Christ’s pattern: suffering first, then glory. Discipleship is not merely acquiring book knowledge. It is following Jesus to the cross and, through the cross, to the glory beyond it.

Discipleship Is Lifelong Growth

The third lesson comes from the newly called disciple. He says, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus responds, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

This man is a genuine disciple, but he does not yet understand the full implications of his calling. His example reminds us that discipleship is a lifelong process of growth rather than a single moment of decision.

We all must grow in understanding what following Christ requires. Discipleship consists of renewed commitments as our relationship with Christ affects our family relationships, desires, choices, and daily life. We often discover the implications only when a conflict or difficulty arises.

Christ does not dismiss this man as a false disciple because he has not understood everything from the beginning. He patiently teaches him at the point where two loyalties appear to conflict. The disciple has reached a crossroads, and Jesus reveals a priority he had not previously grasped.

The same is true for us. When obedience to Christ conflicts with another desire, we must respond anew to his call. We may stumble or make the wrong choice, but the Lord graciously restores us and teaches us again. We rise, renew our commitment, and continue being conformed to his image.

Growing into the Call

This pattern describes my own experience. I was raised in a Christian family and prayed to receive Christ at seven years old. Yet a child of seven understands very little about the full demands of discipleship.

In high school, unbelieving teachers challenged my faith. One atheist teacher gave me atheistic literature, forcing me to examine those arguments, study the gospel more carefully, and read works of apologetics. That season became an important point of renewed commitment to Christ.

Further stages of life, including marriage and other responsibilities, revealed implications of following Jesus that I had not understood before. This process should not discourage us. We fall and struggle, but we return to the Savior who forgave us, renew our allegiance, and continue learning what his call means.

Christ Above Earthly Relationships

The fourth lesson is that following Jesus may require leaving earthly relationships for his sake. The disciple’s father has died, and Jewish custom regarded the burial of parents and close relatives as an absolute duty.

Rabbinic teaching held that a person whose close relative had died was temporarily exempt from reciting the Shema until the burial was complete (m. Berakhot 3:1). The Shema—“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one”—stood at the heart of Jewish confession. The duty of burial took precedence even over its recitation.

Jesus places following him above that sacred obligation. He says, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead.” Those who do not possess salvation are spiritually dead, while Christ’s disciples have been made alive. The spiritually dead can attend to the burial of the physically dead, but the living disciple must place Christ first.

Unbelieving relatives may not understand such devotion. Commitment to Christ can appear unreasonable to those who remain spiritually blind. Yet Jesus calls us to follow him above brother, sister, father, mother, and every other earthly bond.

Our first priority is Christ and his kingdom; everything else takes second place. Discipleship is a total commitment to the person of Jesus as Lord. It is not merely loyalty to a creed, doctrine, or ideology, although truth matters profoundly. It is personal allegiance to Christ himself.

This is an all-or-nothing calling. We cannot reserve part of life for ourselves while offering another part to Jesus. There is no halfway discipleship.

The Worthy Redeemer King

Such a demand may sound unbearably heavy unless we remember Matthew’s order: healing comes before discipleship. Jesus first saves and then calls the saved to follow him.

He is the Redeemer whose miracles visibly proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. He is called Jesus because he saves his people from their sins. He gave himself as a ransom so that we might be forgiven. He calls us, therefore, not as a harsh master demanding that we earn his favor, but as the Savior full of grace and truth who has already purchased us.

All the blessings of God’s eschatological kingdom are gathered in Jesus, the King. Wherever he goes, he bears the kingdom’s glory and life: cleansing a leper, healing the sick, forgiving sinners, and calling disciples. He is the obedient suffering servant who submitted to the Father even unto death, carried our sorrows, sicknesses, and sins, and poured out his blood for our forgiveness.

This worthy Redeemer King calls us to leave everything and follow him.