My first date with my now wife was sort of an accident. I mean, it wasn't an accident that I didn't want to go on a date with her. I liked her a lot. It was just, you know, tough not to crack. She wasn't showing a ton of interest. But all of our friends mutually thought it would be a good idea if we were together. So they conspi one night to all go to the second run movie theater in Highland Park, Illinois, where you can go to a movie for a buck twenty-five or whatever. It was real close to our college. And it was kind of a tradition that we were all into. So it didn't seem weird or like some grand conspiracy here. But one at a time, as we got over to the theater, people dropped out. And then finally at the front door of the theater, the last couple of participants dropped out. Like, oh, we got some other things we have to do. We're going to skip it. You guys can go if you want. And I was like, ah, I think I see what you're doing. And I really, really like you for it. So I was so interested in the girl. I didn't even look at what the movie was, whatever. I mean, there's only one movie. You just go to whatever's there and you hope it's good. It's cheap, right? So we go in and I see on the way in, oh, it's got Demi Moore in it. Oh, I know who that is. And the movie we went to is called Disclosure. And if you've ever seen it, you know that that was probably a really uncomfortable experience for two pastors kids from conservative homes who weren't even admitting that they liked each other yet or were on a date. Because it's a corporate legal thriller about sexual harassment. And boy, do you get a good look at that sexual harassment in action so you know just how bad it was. Well, I thought like maybe I should leave some I'm like 18 and it seems like this is naughty. But then the other part of me was like, but also I'm on a date with the girl that I like. So we just rode the thing out, and now it's a really great laugh. But what would have been nice is if somebody had taken the time as they were coming up with this conspiracy to disclose what disclosure was about. Because disclosing is a really nice thing to do for people. It's a gesture of ultimate respect where you turn over all of your cards and you say, here's exactly what I'm going for. Here are exactly the terms of what I'm throwing out. Here are my motives, here's my angle. Now everybody knows everything, and we can all make informed decisions. And disclosing is a nice gesture, I guess, when you have to do it. Like if you buy a house, you know, you the people who are selling, they have to disclose what's going on with the house in terms of repairs and things like that. If you get a loan, they have to disclose the terms and all of that kind of stuff. But it means even more when it doesn't really benefit a person to disclose, and they do it anyway. There's no legal obligation to disclose, and they do it anyway, and that raises the question, well, why would anyone disclose if they don't have to? That takes away some of your ability to manipulate and get the things you want out of other people. Well, I think the answer is right there in what I just said. Someone would disclose and tell the truth about the thing when they don't have to, because they value the truth and they value the person they're talking to. I think another reason is because if you're inviting people to sign up for something or be a part of something, you're actually gonna have better results when people sign up knowing what they're actually signing up for. And that theme of disclosure is pretty pronounced as we get to Matthew 8 and verse 18, or coming on the heels of three anecdotes where Jesus goes and connects with weird outsiders who shouldn't be a part of his kingdom superhero Goonies squad, but he likes their weirdness, and weirdness is allowed and welcome, and it was always for the weird, this kingdom of God thing. So he invites them, and even though people are maybe trying to figure out what that means socially, they're also really excited about all the miracles and stuff getting healed and fixed. And so we start to get the impression in the previous passage that we looked at yesterday that stuff is getting crazy. There are long lines of people who want to have their problems fixed, demons cast out, things like that. And Matthew says, as we looked at from Isaiah 53, that this is all occurring to fulfill what was predicted about this servant who would come and redeem everything, that he would take up our infirmities and bear our diseases. Well, the more infirmities and diseases you bear, the more people are like, I want me some of that. So the crowds get crazy, and verse 18 that I'm about to read is the moment at which we start to see this dynamic of Jesus always having to contend with his own popularity, always having to contend with crowds that would disrupt what his mission is. Which is a really fascinating question, because if Jesus' mission was be popular, this friction wouldn't exist. The more people, the better. Get more subscribers, get more downloads, please review the podcast, so more people will listen. I mean, that's the game all of us play who make things on the internet, but Jesus has some other end game in view, and we'll have to explore that as we go along. But look at the way he discloses here, starting in verse 18 of Matthew chapter 8. Says when Jesus saw the crowd around him, all the people who are like, ah, heal me and stuff, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, Teacher, I'll follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied, Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Another disciple said to him, Lord, first let me go and bury my father. But Jesus told him, Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead. What are you doing, dude? Do you not want your thing to work out? It seems abundantly clear that Jesus understands that he's like the link between God and man, that redemption and hope and fixing all the things that are broken and awful, it all hinges on him. You want people to sign up for it. Why would you have just told people how to sign up for it in the Sermon on the Mount? Why would you have given that prayer that's like, hey, pray this? And it's a prayer of submission and fealty to the king. If you didn't want people to actually pray it, why are you making it harder? Make it easier. And I know there are a lot of people who are in charge of making churches that are dedicated to Jesus bigger today who would agree with me that that is a very poor growth strategy. And what you want to do is sweeten the deal. You want to get people in the door. Like you can hit them with the harder stuff about Christianity later. But looking at this text, it makes me wonder, is that really how church ought to work? Because Jesus is disclosing. He's giving two disclosure statements to two different people that are effectively saying, hey, know what you're signing up for here. So the first one's a teacher of the law. And for any of you who've been around the Bible a decent amount, you might be like, oh, well, that kind of reminds me of the whole John 3 thing where Nicodemus sneaks over to talk with Jesus and he's like, all right, so I've been wondering about this whole thing and how can I be born again? And this is where you get the famous John 3.16 thing. But even bigger than being reminiscent of that heartwarming tale of somebody from the other team signing up to follow Jesus, or at least considering it, is the fact that at this point in the narrative in Matthew, the teachers of the law are completely opposed to Jesus. Think about what it would do strategically as an optic here if Jesus just got one of these guys to break ranks and come over to his side and be like, no, I'm over here now. Jesus could trot this guy out on Twitter, he could make him the poster child for why Christianity good and old rules dumb and bad. He could really use the credibility that having a teacher of the law sign up would bring to him. So, first time reading through Matthew, I'm guessing that most readers, if they were paying attention, are like, okay, a teacher of the law came to him and said, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you what? No way. He got one of them to sign up. Wow, after the stuff John the Baptist said to them about the axe being at the root of the tree, like this guy heard it and he believed after the Sermon on the Mount, after touching a leper and breaking the rules, this guy is so convinced that he's gonna sign up. You gotta be kidding. But Jesus, who knows everything about everybody and knows right where they're at, goes on to say the thing I just read to you. Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. And that's the end of the anecdote. We don't hear anything about the guy being like, oh, okay, I don't mind some homelessness. That's cool. No, what's being intoned is that Jesus is like, you know what you really like though, more than following me wherever I will go, is your comfort and the stuff that you're actually into. So that stuff is gonna have to go away if you're gonna follow me, because I don't do the best hotels and all of the things that you well-funded teachers of the law do. I do poverty and homelessness. So if that sounds good, then sure, you can follow me wherever I will go. I don't know if the guy signed up or not. I kind of suspect that he didn't. We'll see this theme play out more distinctly in Is it chapter 19? I think Matthew 19 is where we get the story of the rich young ruler. So then we get a second anecdote where Jesus chooses to disclose instead of sweetening the deal to sell his product. Another disciple said to him, Lord, first let me go and bury my father, which is the most reasonable request ever. Now, at this point, what happens a lot of times when you hear sermons on this or you read commentaries is people will draw on a bunch of stuff that is vaguely, maybe possibly true from the first century and be like, well, culturally, this is how burial worked, and it would have taken a long time, and this guy was kind of making an excuse, and what they're trying to do is make Jesus look better to you. Like he wasn't being mean or harsh. But the reality is Jesus has got stuff to do. He's gonna be dead soon, and waiting around on people to do things that are of competing importance with following Jesus, I guess that's just not who he needs in the inner circle right now. So he goes full-on disclosure. But Jesus told him, follow me and let the dead bury their own dead. Whoa. Which again sounds like a the meanest thing you could ever say to somebody who is grieving, b a terrible strategy for growing your movement, and three, a huge turnoff to anybody else who heard you say that. And they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, how serious is this thing? Like, there have been other messiahs and stuff, then it was kind of a fun thing, like a summer music festival, and we kind of followed them around. We ate some different food, we met some people, nobody could really say we were being irresponsible because we were trying to follow God, and then you know, summer wraps up and we go back home and maybe we do it again next messiah season. But this is intense and hardcore. So why is Jesus doing this? Well, I think we've spoken to it already a whole bunch. To put it very simply, he's disclosing. Here is what the level of devotion to the king and the kingdom that Jesus is expecting looks like. By saying this stuff, Jesus is making it crystal clear. Here's the pecking order. I'm the king, and not just a king, I'm the ultimate king, and to follow me is to follow completely. Even today, I'm guessing that there are some of you listening to this who are like, and that's one of my problems with Christianity. I'm just not sure enough that Jesus is that to be able to do it. And maybe you're in the same boat that I've been in a whole bunch, which is okay, if Jesus is who he says he is, and he does have absolute, total, complete authority, a concept we're not even familiar with, that doesn't exist in humanity apart from maybe this, then sure, if I knew that, nothing else would make sense. And I would go all in, and I probably wouldn't even worry about funerary customs or anything else. I would be like, this is my one moment, my one opportunity for the truest, realist thing. I I suppose that would resonate, but it's that threshold of belief that everybody has where it's like, well, if I'm 80% sure that he's the king of all things and God in the flesh, and that I could get to hang out with the one who's the author of existence and then redemption right now for the next little chunk of time, would I be worried about orchestrating an elaborate funeral for my dad right now? I mean, he is my dad. I'm obligated to do this even by the law and cultural expectations. Ah, I don't know, but what if you were 90% sure? Would that be enough to be like 90%? I gotta follow this guy right now. And so there really is an equation that is happening off-screen here for the teacher of the law about his comfort and his stuff, and off-screen for the disciple, the the guy who's really mostly in already, who isn't quite sure how in he wants to be. And they're running these equations and trying to figure out whether it makes sense to follow Jesus a little bit, a lot, completely, hyper completely, forfeiting everything else. And we'll see people wrestle with that throughout the rest of the Gospel of Matthew. And if we're being honest, I think you'll see yourself and people you care about wrestle with that as we cruise along through this as well. Whatever the case, Jesus disclosed, which I think is a gesture of honesty and integrity and even respect. And if I'm being asked to sign up for something that is my whole life, I would like to know everything about it on the front end so that I can decide whether or not I'm doing the math right and whether or not this thing is worthy of the investment of everything that I am. Jesus accommodates that. And so whether I or anybody signs up to actually follow him on his terms or not, gotta give him props for doing the right thing there and turning over his cards. I'm Matt, this is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. Let's do it again tomorrow.