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Jesus’ Interactions with minor characters

Throughout the Gospel, Matthew recounts the various encounters Jesus had with different people. Each encounter reveals something more about the personality and character of Jesus. Each encounter reveals further his ability to relate and interact with people from across society. Apart from the lessons to be learned from Jesus, there are also lessons to be learned from the minor characters. Today, we will look at the unnamed disciples in Matthew 8.

Matthew 8:18–22 - When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake. Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.’ Another of his disciples said, ‘Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.’ But Jesus told him, ‘Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.’

Here, we see that Jesus gave different instructions to different people about the same issue suggesting that He knew people individually. Jesus was trying to separate Himself from the crowd but allowed a group to follow Him. We can imagine Him trying to make His way to the boat and perhaps allowing a small group to continue walking with Him as He made His way. Or perhaps He stopped to hear the questions from these two disciples.

The first teacher of the law then claims he will follow Jesus wherever He goes, possibly implying he would like to be included in the group that got into the boat and went with Jesus. In response, Jesus explains to him that where He is going is undefined. He has no fixed abode.

Matthew 8:19-20 - Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.’

To be clear, this was not meant to be a deterrent to the teacher but was in fact a statement of fact. Jesus must have known him well enough (whether by personal interaction or spiritual discernment) to know that the lack of stability would have been an issue for the man. Jesus was simply reminding him of what it means to follow Him.

Another disciple who was following heard the discussion and was not deterred by the lack of certainty. His issue was that he wanted Jesus to wait for him while he sorted his life out.

Matthew 8:21-22 - Another of his disciples said, ‘Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.’ But Jesus told him, ‘Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.’

To this disciple, rather than explain the difficulties of following Him, Jesus told him to drop what he was doing and follow immediately. In other words, Jesus gave two different pieces of advice to two different people who wanted to do the same thing. As leaders, it is our responsibility to know the people who are following us so that we can advise and help them according to their individual situations. Good leaders ought to know that blanket instructions do not always help their followers.

Questions: Do I know the people I am leading? Am I able to tailor my advice to suit their unique circumstances?