“Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (Luke 9:58, also Matthew 8:20). Jesus was homeless. For him, it was not a tragic necessity but a choice. That is the context of the remark: a man approached Jesus and said he wanted to follow him, and Jesus was making clear to him what such a choice entails. Why homeless? After all, Jesus could surely have solved the problem of having a roof over his head. Again, the context of the scene clarifies: when the man says, before I follow you, first let me go home and bury my father, Jesus says to let the dead bury the dead. To follow him is to have no ties, no commitments. The choice is absolute, without qualification. It seems, at least at first glance, an extreme and otherworldly position: all earthly ties are temptations to be rejected.
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January 19, 2024
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“Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (Luke 9:58, also Matthew 8:20). Jesus was homeless. For him, it was not a tragic necessity but a choice. That is the context of the remark: a man approached Jesus and said he wanted to follow him, and Jesus was making clear to him what such a choice entails. Why homeless? After all, Jesus could surely have solved the problem of having a roof over his head. Again, the context of the scene clarifies: when the man says, before I follow you, first let me go home and bury my father, Jesus says to let the dead bury the dead. To follow him is to have no ties, no commitments. The choice is absolute, without qualification. It seems, at least at first glance, an extreme and otherworldly position: all earthly ties are temptations to be rejected.