And Jesus said unto him,
The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.
Read Chapter 8
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
By the fox is meant craft and cunning, by the birds pride. Thus then our blessed Lord answered him; pride and deceit dwell in your heart, but you have left no place for the Son of Man to rest his head, who can rest only in the meek and humble. (St. Augustine)
Jesus Christ rejected this scribe, because he wished to follow Jesus rather through the desire of glory and wealth, hoping to be great in his kingdom, than with the design of perfecting himself in virtue; so that our Saviour answers him: You cannot expect riches from me; who am poorer than the beasts of the field, or birds of the air; they have a place of rest, whereas I have none. (Menochius)
Now these were not the words of one turning Himself away, but of one who while putting to the proof his evil disposition, yet permitted him (if he were willing with such a prospect) to follow Him. And to convince you of his wickedness, when he had heard these things, and had been proved, he did not say, I am ready to follow You.
5. And in many other places also Christ is clearly doing this; He does not openly convict, but by His answer He manifests the purpose of them that are coming unto Him. Thus to him again that said, Good Master, and had thought by such flattery to gain His favor, according to his purpose He made answer, saying, Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.
And when they said unto Him, Behold, Your mother and Your brethren seek You; Matthew 12:47-48 forasmuch as these were under the influence of some human infirmity, not desiring to hear something profitable, but to make a display of their relationship to Him, and therein to be vainglori...
Every Christian who wishes to hide his sins is spiritually a fox. For just as the fox lives in a hidden place because of its deceit, so also the sinner conceals himself in dens, guarding silence because of his knowledge of his sins. Just as the fox does not dare to manifest the deceitfulness of its deeds in the midst of society, so also the sinner is ashamed to confess the wickedness of his life in the midst of the church. One is a fox who sets up a snare for his neighbor, who daily strives to nibble away at others’ property, steal their fruits and devour their animals and—what is common in our day— seize swine like wolves and not only chickens, as the foxes do. Although he is strong enough to live by his own labor, he prefers to take pillage like the madness of a wild beast.
Joseph and Daniel served as slaves, but you are the slaves of no one, insofar as you share in those who serve Christ, who has freed you from the captivity of the world. You act after the Lord’s pattern. He walked in humility and obscurity. He had no definite home. “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” He is unadorned as to dress. He exercised no right of power even over his own followers. In short, though conscious of his own kingdom, he shrank back from being made a king.
. A scribe is one who knows the letter of the law. When this scribe saw the many signs which Jesus did, he imagined that Jesus was making money from them; hence his eagerness to follow Him so that he too could collect money. But Christ answers this thought of his as if saying to him, "You expect that by following Me you will make money. Do you not see that I am homeless? So too must My followers be." Jesus said this to persuade him to change his ways and to follow. But the scribe departed. Some say that the foxes and the birds mean the demons. So Jesus is saying, "The demons take their rest in you, and I, therefore, can have no rest in your soul."
