Companionship with Jesus: Matthew 8:19-20: No Place to Lay His Head

Suppose you could be transported back in time to Palestine, in the time of Christ. What would it mean to you to be able to welcome Jesus into your home for a meal and maybe to stay the night? What would it mean to him? Is there a way that we can have this blessing even now?

MATTHEW 8:19-20: NO PLACE TO LAY HIS HEAD

INTRODUCTION

In the book of 2 Kings, in the Old Testament, we read of a wealthy woman who used to invite the homeless prophet Elisha to come into her home for dinner.
One day she said to her husband, “Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who is continually passing our way.
Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.”

You can read the story in 2 Kings 4:8-10. And then you can read on and learn of the blessing that came to that woman and her husband as a result of her generous hospitality to the prophet.

Nine centuries after Elisha’s time, there came another homeless prophet. His name was Jesus.
We don’t read that anyone made him a little chamber with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp.
But we do read that some who loved him took him into their homes and offered him their hospitality.
We read of one time when he was in Peter’s house in Capernaum and another time when he was welcomed into Martha’s home and still another time when he invited himself to Zacchaeus’s house.
Surely there were many more. I doubt that Jesus often slept under the stars.

I. Text: Matthew 8:19-20

“A scribe came up and said to Jesus,
‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’
“And Jesus said to him,
‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’”

We read in 2 Corinthians 8:9:

“For you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.”

When I read that Jesus had no home—no resting place, not even so much as the foxes and birds had, then I realize how poor he became that he might live among us and become our Savior.

When he told the eager scribe that he had nowhere to lay his head, he was warning the scribe that following him might involve more sacrifice than that would-be follower has bargained for.

II. When Jesus says, “…the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” He is speaking not only of his poverty but also of his loneliness.

A. Throughout Jesus’ childhood and young manhood he must have been well-liked and admired.

We read that he “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

B. Jesus’ life was a lonely one. He had no kindred spirit. No one really understood him, even his family. We read that after he began his ministry “even his brothers did not believe in him” (John 7.5).

We read that on one occasion the crowds became so dense that he couldn’t even eat (Mark 3.20-21). His family came out to take charge of him, for people were saying, “He is beside himself.”

Sometimes even in a big crowd we can be lonely. So was Jesus.

C. There was no place where Jesus was “at home.

”There was no place where he could lay his head, and there was also no place where he could rest his heart.
In public Jesus was often surrounded by crowds of people, made up of a mixture of the spiritually hungry, the curious, and the hostile.
Even with his dearest friends—Peter and John and Mary Magdalene and the other disciples—he was often misunderstood and frustrated by their lack of understanding.

D. So when he could, he escaped to be alone with his Father. Sometimes this meant spending the night in prayer.

III. But the “hospitality” that delighted Jesus was something more than a welcome into a house.

A. Jesus was happy to be welcomed into Martha’s home where Martha always tried to have a special dinner for him.

But his soul was ever more refreshed when Martha’s sister Mary sat at his feet and eagerly listened to his teaching.

B. I think of that day at Sychar, in Samaria, when Jesus sat on the well and told that lonely Samaritan woman about the water of life that would well up in her unto eternal life.

So much delight did he have that day that when his disciples got back with lunch and begged him to eat, he said, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
That conversation was so nourishing to our Lord that he didn’t need food that day.

CONCLUSION

Now the Lord Jesus is at home with the Father. His homeless days are over.

But yet, still, Jesus craves a home—a home in the hearts of his people.

In the Book of Revelation we read of the risen and glorified Jesus saying to the church at Laodicea:

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me.”

You and I can welcome Jesus into our lives and provide hospitality for him.

We can enjoy his fellowship and delight him with our attention whenever we meditate on his Word, whenever we open our hearts to him in prayer, and whenever we express his love to others.

So when you hear Jesus knocking at your heart’s door, invite him in, make him at home, and let him be your constant companion.