“There a certain scribe came and said to Him, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever You go.’  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 8:19-20; Luke 9:57-58).   

Animals generally have some place that they regard as home.  (1) Foxes have their homes.  They have holes, burrows, earths, or dens.  One source describes these underground homes, in these words – “Foxes sometimes take up residence underground in excavations called earths or dens – these terms are used interchangeably, although earth tends to be a British term, while den is more commonly used in American and European literature.  In some early, particularly hunting, literature an earth is occasionally referred to as a ‘kennel’ or ‘lair.’  At its most simplistic, an earth is a hole dug into the ground, with a hollowed-out chamber at the end of the entrance tunnel where the fox sleeps and in which cubs are raised.  The chambers are typically between one and three metres (3-10 feet) below ground, with tunnels generally leading to more than one entrance (a main entrance and emergency exit); in his Walker’s Carnivores of the World, Ronald Nowak gives the largest number of entrances for a single earth as 19.  The entrance tunnel is typically between 5 and 7 metres (16-23 feet), although they may reach up to 17 m. long (56 feet)…  In a survey of fox earths and various habitats around Saarbrucken in western Germany, Darius Weber found that foxes dug 44% of earths themselves, with the rest either being the work of other animals, or situated in bunkers, caves or craters.  In this study, foxes frequently used rabbit burrows or badger setts; the use of the latter by foxes has been well documented in Britain and Europe” (Red Fox Dens / Earths & Resting Sites, wildlifeonline.me.uk).  Foxes also live in hollows of trees, caves, under sheds, and beneath wooden decks.  (2) Birds also have their homes. (a) Some are large.  Eagles make huge nests and sometimes use these nests for many years. “The largest Bald Eagle nest on record was near St. Petersburg, Florida.  It measured over nine feet wide, 20 feet deep, and weighed over 4, 400 pounds!  Another in Ohio was used by a pair for 34 years and weighed over two tons.  Their nests are huge because eagle pairs reuse the same nest for decades, adding new material every breeding season” (Birds That Build the Largest Nests (The Bald Eagle Tops the List!), a-zanimals.com).  The Orange-Footed Scrub Fowl, is a ground dwelling bird which is native to Australia.  It is an amazing builder.  Its nest which is built on the ground can reach 15 feet high and 30 feet in diameter (ibid). (b) Some are small. Guessess World Records says, “The smallest nests are built by hummingbirds. That of the vervain hummingbird (Mellisuga minima) is about half the size of a walnut shell, while the deeper but narrower one of the bee hummingbird (M. helenae) is thimble-sized (Smallest bird nest, guinnessworldrecords.com). (c) Some are used for many years. The Cliff Swallows of San Juan Capistrano, California are famous.  Each March millions of these Swallows return to the same site in California from their winter home in Goya, Argentina.  That site is Mission San Juan Capistrano.  They stay until October and then leave again for Argentina.  The dates are very predictable.  The arrive on or about March 19.  They depart on or about October 23.  They have been doing this since the early 1800’s.  This was disrupted for a while in recent years.  A restoration of the mission occurred in the 1990’s.  The mud nests that were used year after year were removed.  The birds returned to town but built elsewhere.  An effort was made to lure them back by building man made nests.  It successfully worked (see The Swallows of Capistrano, March 19, 2017, birdnotes.org; Also, Why the Swallows Stopped Returning to San Juan Capistrano and how People Brought Them Back by Kurt Snibbe, November 21, 2018, ocregister.com).

Jesus had no home of his own.  He and his disciples stayed in the homes of others (e.g. Luke 9:1-6; 10:1-12; 19:5).  He was constantly on the move. Many preachers today also live without a long-term place on earth that they can call home.

This scribe needed to understand what it would mean to follow Jesus.  He needed to count the cost (Luke 14:28). 

Are we willing to pay the cost that is involved in following Jesus?  He must be first.  We must be willing to give up anything which stands in the way of following him.  He said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple… Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:25-33).