Jesus was going to return to heaven, ie to return to His Father. The road there was via the cross, but there was still work to be done and some of that had to be done in Jerusalem. Jesus was resolute in His determination to go there. There has long been hostility between Samaria and Jerusalem, going back hundreds of years, and the people of the Samaritan village did not welcome the disciples. James and John were keen to call down fire on the village. Perhaps they thought they would gain favour with Jesus for this suggestion, but if so they were mistaken for Jesus rebuked them. We are on a love mission not a hate mission.
Along the way they met a more favourable reception from a man who wanted to follow Jesus. Jesus warns the man of the cost. There are no guarantees of the exact course of our lives when we follow Jesus. The world hates Jesus and His disciples, so we need to be prepared for the cost. There is no record of whether or not the man still chose to follow Him.
Conversely, Jesus calls another man to follow Him, but this man makes excuses, or at least tries to delay the decision. "Let me bury my father" probably means wait until my father is dead. Jesus tells him there is a more important task at hand, to proclaim the good news of the kingdom.
Then there is a third man and he wants to say good bye to his family. Jesus warns him that we need to be absolutely determined in our course of action.
So what are we to learn from all this? When we make a decision to do something for Jesus we need to be fully aware of the cost. When Jesus calls us to do something we need to say yes, allowing no hindrances or distractions to get in the way.
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