AM Jan 12th Matt 9

January 12^th       Some want to follow Christ

19: And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 20: And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 21: And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 22: But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Christ stills the storm

23: And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24: And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25: And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26: And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27: But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

Christ - the demon possessed

28: And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29: And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? 30: And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. 31: So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32: And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. 33: And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. 34: And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

A Scribe offers to become a disciple of Christ, but Christ describes the conditions of following him, which is that he will have no fixed abode. (being a disciple of Christ was not the same as being a christian. Being a disciple was a very common practise. John had disciples as did the religious leaders. It was equivalent to going to theological school today) Another person asks Christ if he will allow him to go and bury his father first but Christ says quite simply – let the dead bury the dead. Christ was saying leave the affairs of this world behind no matter how pressing. Christ was forever moving forward and it was up to his disciples to keep up. On the lake Christ demonstrates his power over nature. Next Christ demonstrates his power in the supernatural realm. Its one thing to control nature, but quite another to control super-nature. The demons make a foolish request and Christ grants them permission. The whole city was gathered around Christ not to learn but to ask him to leave. How sad.