A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS

ZZ. Christ’s Requirements For Discipleship

(Matthew 8:19-22; Luke 9:57-62)

I. Introduction

A. Though Christ’s yoke is easy and His burden is light when a believer follows Him as His disciple (Matthew 11:3), Christ’s demands on His disciples’ commitment to Him are all-encompassing for them.

B. Matthew 8:19-22 with Luke 9:57-62 record Christ’s illustrations of these all-encompassing demands of commitment, and we view these passages for our insight, application and edification (as follows):

II. Christ’s Requirements For Discipleship, Matthew 8:19-22; Luke 9:57-62.

A. When three different men considered being a disciple of Jesus, their interaction with Him revealed that they were unqualified to be a disciple for three different reasons. (J. Dwight Pentecost, The Words and Works of Jesus Christ, 1991, p. 270-273)

B. We thus view these three cases to identify three requirements Christ has for one who would be His disciple:

1. A disciple must submit all of his personal interests to God’s interests, Matthew 8:18-20; Luke 9:57-58:

a. The first man, a scribe, told the Lord he would follow Him wherever He went, Matt. 8:18-19; Luke 9:57.

b. Scribes were experts in the Mosaic Law, leaders in rabbinic Judaism who typically so lusted after wealth that they would use their positions as jurists to adjust claims against wealthy widows to get them to bestow on them their estates (Z. P. E. B., v. Five, p. 301; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Matt. 23:14)

c. Jesus may have perceived that this scribe anticipated material remuneration for his association with Christ once Jesus had established His kingdom, so the Lord told him “that He had no material resources with which He could reward those who followed Him,” Pentecost, op. cit., p. 270; Matthew 8:20; Luke 9:58.

d. This man had to deny his own interests in wealth in favor of God’s interests if he would be Jesus’ disciple.

2. A disciple must unconditionally accept God’s assignment for him, Matthew 8:21-22; Luke 9:59-60:

a. A second man and asked Jesus to let him bury his father before being His disciple, Matt. 8:21; Luke 9:59:

b. Some believe that this man’s father had just died, and that he was asking Jesus if he could first attend his father’s funeral before becoming His disciple, a practice the inhumane rabbis did not allow their disciples to observe. (Pentecost, op. cit., p. 270-271, citing David Smith, The Days of His Flesh, 1911, p. 90)

c. However, had the man’s father already died, he would have been home preparing his father’s body for burial since immediate internment was necessary in the “sultry East,” Smith, op. cit., p. 91. Rather, the man’s father was still alive, and he was asking Jesus that he delay his calling from Jesus to follow Him during his father’s declining years until his father had eventually passed away, Ibid.

d. Jesus answered that this man should be committed to God’s assignment for him instead of replacing it with other assignments that either he or other people might create for him, Matthew 8:22; Luke 9:60.

3. A disciple must follow Christ alone, Luke 9:61-62:

a. A third man told Jesus that he would follow Him, but he asked Christ’s permission first to go and say good-by to his family at home, Luke 9:61.

b. “This man’s request showed that his loyalties and affections were divided, and hence Christ said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God’ (v. 62).” (Pentecost, op. cit., p. 272) If a plowman looked back, he took his eyes off of plowing, creating crooked and hence troublesome furrows. One had to keep his eyes on plowing if he wanted to plow successfully!

c. We note that Jesus did not condemn this man’s saying good-by to his family. Even when Elijah led Elisha to be heir to his office (1 Kings 19:15-17), he let Elisha return to his people, say his farewell, kill his oxen with which he had plowed, cook them over a fire made of his wood plow against returning to his former farming occupation and feed the meat to his associates! (1 Kings 19:19-21) Rather, what Jesus condemned was this man’s divided loyalty – part loyalty to Christ and part loyalty to his family! If one wants to be a disciple of Christ, he must follow Christ with an undivided commitment to Him and not to other parties.

Lesson: To be a disciple of Christ, we believers must submit all of our personal interests to God’s interests, we must unconditionally accept God’s assignment for us and we must follow Christ alone.

Application: (1) May we believers so favor God’s interests for us that we deny whatever interests we have that counter His interests for us. (2) May we believers unconditionally accept God’s assignment for us. (3) May we believers follow Christ alone.