Famous people always have great crowds following them. These famous people are called celebrities.
We’ve all seen special awards given to actors and actresses. They wear fancy clothing, eat fancy food, and drive around in fancy cars. And they get special awards.
Today in America we have a lot of celebrities. Some of the big-name athletes are celebrities. Sometimes, these celebrities promote a special product, like a nutritious cereal, or maybe they wear a particular brand of sneaker.
The idea is the people will want to eat that cereal, and wear that sneaker because a celebrity does—and everyone wants to identify with a celebrity.
Advertisers know that if you can get a celebrity to advertise your product, you will be more likely to sell your product.
But Jesus was not a celebrity and He didn’t want to be treated like one.
In Matthew 8:19–20 we read: “And a certain scribe came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee withersoever thou goest. 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.”
Now let’s stop here for a moment. This teacher of the law admired Jesus. He thought very highly of Jesus. He promised to follow Jesus wherever Jesus went.
That’s like a man coming up to a politician and saying to the politician: “I’m going to vote for you and support you in whatever you do.”
Jesus was being guaranteed this man’s support: “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
How did Jesus respond? Did Jesus promise this man all kinds of nice things? Did Jesus say, “Friend, I am so glad to hear that. I am going to take care of you and make sure you have a good life with everything you could ever want”?
No, Jesus told him that foxes and birds have places to live, but Jesus didn’t even have a pillow for His head.
Jesus reminded the man what following Him really meant. “You might not have a hole in the ground to live in. You might not even be as comfortable as a little bird who has a nice nest way up in a tree.”
Of course, Jesus didn’t see Himself as a celebrity and He wasn’t looking for a big crowd. He was looking for committed disciples.
Politicians are not always truthful. They tell people what they want to hear. But Jesus tells people what they NEED to hear.
If you are going to make a difference in today’s world you need to be a committed disciple.
Too many Christians today are not willing to be committed disciples. They want to be celebrities. They want the applause of men. They want to be joined to the rich and famous.
How about you? Are you really willing to follow Jesus?
