Matthew 8:21

The Message

Another follower said, “Master, excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have my father’s funeral to take care of.”

Cross References

Haggai 1:2

A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: “The people procrastinate. They say this isn’t the right time to rebuild my Temple, the Temple of God.”

Matthew 8:20

Jesus was curt: “Are you ready to rough it? We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.”

Matthew 8:22

Jesus refused. “First things first. Your business is life, not death. Follow me. Pursue life.” * * *

2 Corinthians 5:16

Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.