18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”REFLECTIONSWritten by Eric Zhou“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”What a weird response to a seemingly keen recruit! One might think Jesus is trying to scare people away! But what I think Jesus is doing is simply being upfront about the commitment and sacrifice required to follow him. He wants us to know what we're getting into when we choose to follow him. Following Jesus will require giving up many earthly comforts. He doesn't want us to get into the race thinking it's a 100m sprint when it's a 40km marathon.So now that we know it's going to be hard, why bother? Is it worth it?Something that struck me was the way Jesus referred to himself here – “the Son of Man”, which comes from Daniel 7:13-14 (read it if you’re not familiar with it). In Daniel, “the Son of Man” is the one who would be given dominion, glory and a kingdom – yet during his time on earth, he didn’t even have a pillow, let alone a home!Why?Because the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matt 20:28).He did that to reconcile all things to God, by making peace through his blood (Col 1:20)so that we might have life and have it to the full. (John 10:10)So is following Jesus worth it? Absolutely!Which nuggets of biblical truths do you turn to, to remind yourself that following Jesus is very much worth the cost? Is there a friend you can share this with? – that it is costly but worth it to follow Jesus.QUESTIONWhat do you think is the hardest thing about following Jesus?ABOUT THE AUTHOREric is a member of our Bossley Park morning congregation.