The scribe no doubt supposes that he is paying a high price in volunteering to follow Jesus; such a decision will cost popularity in some circles, and going through the process of discipleship after already being a scribe would be a humbling experience (like having to repeat high school after finding out that one's school was unaccredited).

Jesus, however, warns his prospective disciple that even such a sacrifice may be inadequate. Jesus is, after all, the Son of Man who must suffer before his exaltation (compare Dan 7:13-22). As the Arab Christian commentator Ibn Sa'id remarked on this passage, the disciple "does not understand that `follow' means Gethsemane, and Golgotha, and the tomb" (Bailey 1980:24). Although Jesus still had a home base in Capernaum (Mt 4:13), his traveling ministry left him and his disciples at the mercy of others' hospitality. In practice, then, Jesus was essentially homeless. Matthew records Jesus' words not merely as a matter of historical interest but as a call to his own generation, and by implication to ours: are we ready to follow Jesus even at the cost of all securities (10:5-14; compare Heb 11:38)?