The Miscalculated Cost

Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Matthew 8:19–20

It is a common mistake to see another person’s life and assume it is easy, enchanted, and virtually costless. People hear a piano player give a soul stirring concert and they say, “I’d give anything to play like you do.” And of course the pianist may respond, “But will you give up two hours every day for ten years to learn?” What we assumed was mere raw talent required more sacrifice than we imagined.

A teacher of the law saw Jesus in similar light. He listened to Him teach, saw Him heal, saw Him interact with others and thought it was all mere talent. The question smacked of greed, thinking that with this much popularity there was surely money to be made somewhere — a great amount of it. If you could heal any disease, surely you could turn this into a profit.

But the teacher had miscalculated the cost of Christ’s devotion. The power to heal came from utter and complete holiness. A single greedy thought would have undone the Messiah’s sinless purity and power. He lived in utter faith one day at a time.

Christ did not condemn the asker harshly. Christ’s response gave a mere gentle rebuke, and perhaps the teacher of the law held yet some promise as a disciple. Perhaps he could become a follower of Christ if he recalculated the cost properly and perhaps he did. The story is left unfinished in the Scripture, but we know there are two types of responses to Christ’s invitation to follow Him.

The first response is of faith, and says, “Yes, Lord.” This person picks up his cross of self denial and self-ambition and reckons himself dead to trespasses and sins and follows after Christ. This responder becomes a believer in the Lord, a new creation of God, a branch connected to the Vine, and produces eternal fruit. This is the person who finds a treasure in the field and goes and sells all that he has in order to buy it.

The other response is of unbelief, and says, “No.” Whether it is because of the cares of the world, the fears of discipleship, greed in his heart, laziness in his bones, or pride in his mind, he refuses to do what Christ did, to accept Him as the way and the truth and the life. This is the person who seeks to save his own life, but still loses it.

Some are excited to follow Christ simply because of the excitement, of lights, beautiful music, to be the center of attention, lustful after popularity or praise or power or something that appears beautiful and impressive. But if that is all it is, then the commitment will not last. The cost was miscalculated not estimated properly.

We cannot out give God. It is more blessed to give than to receive, and He will bless us more than we could ever bless Him. But it must start with a willingness to follow no matter what, even if the way seems less profitable or entirely unprofitable. We must follow in faith or not follow at all.