Gospel (Mt 8,18-22) - At that time, seeing the crowd around him, Jesus ordered them to cross over to the other side. Then a scribe approached him and said, “Master, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." And another of his disciples said to him, "Lord, allow me to go and bury my father first." But Jesus answered him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

Jesus lets himself be approached by our humanity, but to change it. He is a true master, a friend who, precisely because he loves us, helps us to be different. A scribe approaches him and respectfully calls him by the title of "master" and expresses his willingness to follow him. This scribe seems to be like the seed that falls where there is no soil, that is, where the heart is missing. Without roots the seed is soon burned by the sun of adversity and is lost, it becomes an illusion like many others. Jesus wants the seed to bear fruit, because otherwise our life remains sterile. Jesus, in fact, replies that following him means living like him, that is, having neither a home nor a place to lay your head because your whole life must be spent for others. Jesus did not come to earth to offer guarantees and security for himself and his children. The Christian is not created as a son to close himself in a small and safe universe, but to go to the ends of the earth. The Christian is always a missionary, a man who goes out of himself to find his salvation. Even when, like most of us, the disciple has a stable home, he is still called to nourish and cultivate passion and interest for the world and for the needs of the Church spread throughout the earth. With the same radicality, Jesus responds to the disciple who asks him to go and bury his father before following him. Jesus' response is paradoxical. In fact, it is not a question of hardness of heart or lack of mercy, but of the absolute priority of the choice for the Lord. Without leaving everything we do not understand the love of the Lord.