Several years ago, Norma Jean and I were blessed to travel with Barry Britnell and a group of fellow Believers to Israel. It was a great trip. One I highly recommend to all Christians.
Today’s text reminds me of the day we entered the village of Capernaum, billed as “The Town of Jesus.” As we entered I snapped this picture of the statue of “Homeless Jesus” by Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmaz.
The statue and inscription refers to the interaction Jesus had with a Scribe as He was about to leave this sea-coast town and go to the other side.
“Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go,” said the Scribe.
Jesus responded, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
This passage speaks to the issue of discipleship. Of counting the cost. Of paying the price required to follow Jesus.
Our Bible Lands trip was during a period in our lives that we were traveling full-time. I often joked “We’re homeless.” We literally didn’t have a home for 33 months. Just a storage unit. And a P.O. Box. However, through homeway.com and airbnb.com we had access to plenty of comfortable places to “lay our head.” These sites have parameters so that you can weed out places that don’t have the amenities you require. I prefer a King-size bed but will settle for a Queen.
My wife wanted to know about other amenities. Does it have a dishwasher? A washer and dryer? An iron? Plenty of kitchen appliances and utensils? An ice maker? What’s the location? The size? You get the picture. But we were not “homeless” in the sense Jesus was.
Through the years of doing meeting work, I’ve been put up in all kinds of accommodations. A fold-up couch in the basement where everyone had access. Sharing the kids’ bedroom. Having a little bed where my feet hung off. A bedroom with zero closet space for my clothes. And sometimes a single bathroom you share with the family. Preachers accept that’s just the way it is and try to be gracious. Other times the accommodations are spacious and comfortable. Or maybe you enjoy the privacy of a hotel room.
Yet, when I read this passage and think about that park bench in Capernaum, it reminds me of how blessed I am. Jesus had no place to lay head. No home to call his own. No comfortable bed.
Jesus didn’t want His followers to get caught up in the excitement of the moment and say, “I will follow you,” without considering what it meant. The heading in my Bible says, “The Cost of Discipleship.”
At this point Jesus was popular. Large crowds were following. People were praising Him. But soon the time would come when the tide of public opinion would turn against Him. The road would be rough. The scribes and Pharisees would seek to kill Him not honor Him. Some admirers would be secret disciples fearing the scorn of the Jewish leaders. The cross to bear would be heavy.
Following Jesus would exact a serious price to be paid. It would not be popular. It would lead to betrayal, denial, and arrest. It would end in a kangaroo court of a trial. And shameful execution. The disciples would be scattered. Fearful. And hiding. Wondering what was next.
And even after Jesus’ appearance following the resurrection and their sadness turned to gladness, the divine record tells about persecution, suffering, and martyrdom for following Jesus. Paul would later write that the apostles had been reviled, slandered and treated like “the scum of the world, the refuse of all things”(1 Cor 4:12-13).
Few of us have touched the hem of the proverbial garment when it comes to understanding sacrificial discipleship. Oh, yes, there will be challenges. Problems. Trials. People who will treat you unfairly and unkindly because you’re a Christian. There may be ridicule. Scorn. Slurs. We may be branded with a social stigma or even financial repercussions. Yet, at the end of the day, we probably have a place to lay our head.
Furthermore, when I walked past the bronze statue lying on a park bench, I recall thinking about my attitude toward the flesh and blood homeless today. How often have I been judgmental? Condescending? Inconsiderate? Unkind?
The Savior we follow, who had no place to lay His head, calls for us to have a heart for the hurting (Lk 10:32). To attend to the needs of the fatherless and the widow (Jas. 1:27). And to minister to “the least of these” (Matt 25:31-44). We can do better. I can do better.
Following Jesus is not for the faint of heart. Or the casual inquirer. Or the Sunday morning only attendee.
Discipleship demands my heart. My life. My all.
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
ThePreachersWord 
One of the disciplines of the Orthodox Tradition is to fast. I’ve been brought up in a tradition that claims to have a bias for the poor and the outcast and the homeless etc. The purpose of the Orthodox Fast is to help the follower of Jesus get a grip and govern the body’s desires and appetites so followers will learn to heed and execute God’s Will…God’s Word, God’s plan.
When people are confronted with human suffering it is so very human to want to ease that suffering. As a Mom I know this first hand. When my children suffer, I want to rush in and take over and provide comfort and aid. I truly have to hold back and not get too caught up in the mistakes and choices they have made that have brought this suffering upon them.
And yet, holding back my praise, my encouragement and my help is sometimes the very thing they need. It is so easy to become enablers to their desires and their suffering.
Sometimes the wisest thing is to let them think the worst of you and let them get so angry with you that they will straighten up and do what they need to do get their life in order and find their true purpose and calling in life.
This may seem heartless and cold. And yet, we are all children of God even Moms and Dads. We are still learning ourselves how to live eternal lives and we like innocent loving children want to save our pets and all the homeless pets we find, and the homeless person. We want and expect our Mom and our Dad and all our siblings to suffer and give up their beds and their supper to feed God’s creatures.
Indeed it is so very hard to love God with all our heart, mind, body and soul and our neighbour as ourself. Jesus comes to us through the Bible and into our world and it does take time and maturity to get to know the Man Jesus called the Son of Man and the Man Jesus called Barabbas.
When Jesus the Christ was executed according to God’s plan, the crowd gathered to watch were in favour of crucifying the Christ and releasing Jesus the Barabbas from prison!
When people heard this news, they were indignant. They were so sure that this event that was described so graphically and so cruelly was the worst thing that one could ever imagine. Down through the ages, this event has been retold that way.
And yet, God’s plan was to use this event to bring about the Resurrection and the Ascension and glorify the Son of Man and the Father. Modern people rightly ask, but what about the Daughter of Woman and the Mother?
It is fair to say, modern people have lost the ability to hear the word Him…and see the little woman and her children in that Pronoun.
It is also fair to say misogyny and chauvinism with a dollop of idolatry have crept into biblical interpretation.
A fourfold Jesus as Son and Daughter and Mother and Father (Isaiah 9:6) seems unimaginable.
Even though the Gospel tells the story of how Mary and Martha and the Teacher and Lazarus came together in the home of Simon and also in the home of Martha. Many will quibble and doubt saying Lazarus was not Simon the Father of the Oral Tradition and the Law! (Luke 7: 35-50). Others can and did see how these people came together with the Resurrection of Lazarus and the Resurrection of the Son of Man…and were and are blessed to be a blessing.
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