Follow Me - Luke 9:59

The beloved physician Luke wrote “ it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow you whithersoever you go. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head”, and in chapter nine and verse fifty-nine of his book Luke shared how said to another man, “follow me” where we read:

And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

The verse reads, “And he said unto another, Follow me.” Luke began with the words, “And he said unto another” or “and Jesus uttered, declared, proclaimed and instructed another man”, “follow me” which means “join, side with and become a disciple of me”. Luke shared how Jesus invited another man to become a “disciple” of Him.

The verse goes on to say, “But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.” Luke continued with the words, “but he said” which means “however, nonetheless, notwithstanding and moreover the man uttered, declared, proclaimed and answered”, “Lord” or “One to whom whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, and the title given to God the Messiah”, “suffer me first to go and bury” which means “allow and permit the man beforehand and in advance of joining with Jesus to depart and leave to inter, entomb or lay to rest” “my father” or “the man's immediate male progenitor and ancestor”. Luke shared how the man Jesus asked to follow Him responded to Him by asking Jesus to allow him the time to lay his father to rest.

When we think through Luke's words in this verse, we see how this man gave an excuse and reason why he could not follow Jesus at this time because he needed to “bury” his father first. Upon first glance, this request may not seem unreasonable, however, the true meaning behind the man's words was, “let me wait to follow you until my dad dies and I bury him”. In other words, he wanted to “delay” his commitment to Jesus. God desires to have a personal relationship with every person through His Son Jesus, and the time to receive and follow Him is now. There is no promise of tomorrow for anyone, and now is the “right moment” to respond to His invitation to “follow” Him. Those who are wise choose to “follow Jesus” and let Him determine the direction, purpose and plan for their lives.

Next time Luke shares how Jesus says to the man, “let the dead bury their dead”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".