“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
We tell Jesus that we will follow him and we do so sincerely, believing ourselves to mean what we say. But Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows that when we say "wherever" it still comes heavily laden with a set of expectations.
Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
We know that Jesus does indeed call us to come to him, to take his yoke upon us and learn from him, to find rest for our souls (see Matthew 11:28). So we legitimately seek Jesus for the rest he promises. But this rest is not ever going to be anything outside of Jesus himself. It is not a place to which he can lead us and then depart. There is not a den of a fox or nest of a bird for Jesus or those who follow him. Those in the world may try to find rest in the structures of the world. But followers of Jesus only find rest in him. This means that, paradoxically, it is only by continuing to move when Jesus moves that we are able to remain at rest in him. It is not the sort of static inactivity that feels safer to imagine but rather a dynamic rest within activity that is available to us. It is precisely for this reason that it is durable no matter the circumstances. Dens of foxes might be found out by predators, nests of birds might be burned in fires, but those who remain in Jesus, who stand fast in him, are safe, and can therefore be at peace.
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.
We want to be the places where the Son of Man can rest his head. He himself said he desired to dwell in our hearts, that he does dwell in our hearts by faith, together with the Father and their Spirit. But do we allow our hearts to be a place of rest for him, our hearts which are so very often like boats in a storm? Can we allow him to rest his head within us even when the circumstances look desperate? When he is present within us that should be enough to set our hearts at ease even when he appears asleep. If we need to wake him to ask for help, we are meant to be able to do so calmly and confidently, and not out of fear that we are perishing.
Another of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But Jesus answered him, “Follow me,
and let the dead bury their dead.”
Putting Jesus first is something more than fitting him into the matrix of our existing priorities. Even family must take second place and could potentially become a hindrance if they would prevent us from listening to the call of Jesus. Jesus is the only path to life. Without him even the living are not alive in the way they are meant to be. We simply can't allow ourselves to try to balance any temporal good against the life which lasts forever. Rather than leaving Jesus to bury the dead we can follow Jesus and cooperate with him to bring them to everlasting life.
May we allow Jesus to dwell more fully in our hearts so that we can receive all of the life and the rest that Jesus desires for us. He shows us the ways in which we are not yet fully committed to his mission precisely so we can see that those worldly commitments fail to satisfy us, and then resolve to follow him more completely.
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
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