Jesus gave orders to cross the lake to the other shore. Matthew does not explain why Jesus reacts to the crowd like this, for he is simply giving the setting for what follows, and the important thing is that Jesus leaves the place where he is. Immediately a scribe offers himself to Jesus as a disciple. Matthew intends this passage to focus on the cost of discipleship and so he has succinctly established two important elements in discipleship: leaving and following. In the different gospels, we frequently see Jesus leaving to go somewhere else. To be a disciple involves "leaving". Discipleship may not involve leaving the place where we live, but it will certainly involve other forms of leaving. We must leave aside every form of worldliness and selfishness to centre our lives on Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We must leave aside what distracts us from God or draws us away from the light of Jesus into the darkness of sin. Without this spirit of "leaving", we may very easily become enmeshed in a world where the love, peace, justice and holiness demanded by the gospel are absent.