This past Sunday, Michael preached a sermon that he titled, “Jesus Chose Homelessness to Make a Home for His People.” He preached from Matthew 8:18–20.
Leading into these verses, Jesus has done many profound and powerful things. He has preached the sermon mount, astonishing many with his unscribelike, authoritative teaching. He has cleansed a leper. He has healed a centurion’s servant by his word alone without even seeing him. He has healed an entire town. Impressive, to say the least. It is safe to say the buzz around Jesus and his ministry abounds at this point. Little wonder, then, when a scribe comes to Jesus in Matthew 8:18 and expresses his desire to “follow [him] wherever [he goes].” Jesus then proceeds to utter some pretty memorable words,
And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20).
In his sermon, Michael rightly pointed out to us that what Jesus says here isn’t so much meant to impress upon us how hard it is to follow Jesus. Rather what we’re meant to see here is the worth of Jesus. This scene should arouse in us the question of whether or not we see Jesus as worth such a life.
Now, Jesus shines in various arrays of multifaceted beauty, like a diamond. One of the breathtaking arrays of Jesus’ beauty that this passage points us to is the fact that in his gospel ministry, Jesus essentially chose a homeless lifestyle. Not only that but as the Son of God, he also chose to leave the bosom of his Father, his heavenly home, to walk the earth to his death as the incarnate man, Jesus Christ. And he did all this for the purpose of bringing us back home to God,
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).
This refracted beam of Jesus’ beauty is worth gazing at a bit longer.
In the Beginning, the Son Was Home with the Father
Before time, Jesus Christ, the living, breathing Word of God on earth was with God the Father in perfect harmonious, joyous relationship.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God (John 1:1).
In fact, John describes the closeness that Jesus enjoyed with the Father in the most affectionate of language,
No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known (John 1:18).
The relative clause “who is at the Father’s side” is much more intimate in the original Greek. It reads something like this: “who is in the bosom of the Father.” When John reflects on leaning upon Jesus at the table of the last supper meal in John 13, he uses the same language: “One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table in the bosom of Jesus” (John 13:22, my translation).
Here is a picture of the Son at home with the Father, resting in the loving bosom of his Father’s embrace. And Jesus would leave that for the sake of the gospel.
The Father Sent the Son
The Father sent the Son from his side, from his heavenly home to earth as the man Jesus. And the Son did not disobey the Father.
John tells us, Jesus the Son of God is from the Father,
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
Jesus himself says, God the Father gave his only Son,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
And Jesus says that he came from the Father,
I came from the Father and have come into the world (John 16:28).
Furthermore, Jesus says the Father sent him into the world,
As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world (John 17:18)
And again, John says the Father sent the Son,
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world (1 John 4:14).
Admittedly, the mystery of the incarnation is thick. Nothing tears the Holy Trinity asunder, not even the incarnation. The persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit remain in their subsisting relations. The Son is always with the Father and yet the Father truly sent the Son, and he truly left the Father’s side in the incarnation. And the incarnate Son would again choose to leave home, his earthly home, for the sake of the gospel.
The Incarnate Son Chose Homelessness
Then of course we come to the passage at hand, Matthew 8:20. We see that not only did the Son of God truly leave his heavenly home in the incarnation, but once he began his ministry, Jesus the Son of God chose a lifestyle of homelessness for the sake of the gospel.
And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20).
Jesus left his house. Jesus left his mom, Mary. Jesus left Nazareth. Jesus left the synagogue he knew. Jesus left his business. Jesus left home. And for three years, Jesus slept not in his own bed but wherever his Father gave him to sleep.
Why?
The Son Left Home and Became Homeless in Order to Bring You Back Home
Jesus the Son of God did all of this home leaving in order to bring you back home. Where is that exactly? His home. The home he left. God the Father.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).
This is Jesus’ hope and prayer at the end of his earthly life, that you and I might see him and be with him where he was before time begin—in glorious bosom of the Father,
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).
This is your home. And Jesus left his twice to get you back to it. And in him, you have a taste of home right now.
Home with God Starts Now
Here is one of the marvelous bits of the gospel. In Jesus, being back home with God starts right now.
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:23).
By the Holy Spirit God makes his home, his dwelling place, with you right now (Ephesians 2:22). Spiritually in Christ right now you rest your head in the bosom of the Father. You are home. But there is more to come.
The Fullness of Home with God Is Coming
Though you are home now, the fullness of your home with God still sits on the horizon. Not idly, though. No, your heavenly home charges ever closer, ever nearer to you. Jesus your King eyes the day when he will pierce the sky and bring your heavenly home down to you here on earth. Then you will dwell in the house of God tasting of the full satisfaction of his goodness forever,
Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple! (Psalm 65:4)
Enjoy your home with God now as a foretaste of the feast to come, and long for that future home,
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah (Psalm 84:1–4).
Make that future home your hearts one desire and request,
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple (Psalm 27:4).
God is your home. And he will bring you home by bring your home to you: God dwelling with you forever.
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God (Revelation 21:3).
Jesus the Son of God brought you home and will ultimately bring you home. All this, by leaving his.
