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From: Genesis 18:16-33

Abraham Intercedes For Sodom

[16] then the men set out from there, and they looked toward Sodom; and
Abraham went with them to set them on their way. [17] The Lord said, "Shall
I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, [18] seeing that Abraham shall
become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall
bless themselves by him? [19] No, for I have chosen him, that he may charge
his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by
doing righteousness and justice; so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what
he has promised him." [20] Then the Lord said, "Because the outcry again
Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, [21] I will go down
to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry which has
come to me; and if not, I will know."

[22] So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham still
stood before the Lord. [23] Then Abraham drew near and said, "Wilt thou
indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? [24] Suppose there are fifty
righteous within the city; wilt thou then destroy the place and not spare it
for the fifty righteous who are in it? [25] Far be it from thee to do such a
thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as
the wicked! Far be that from thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do
right?" [26] And the Lord said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the
city, I will spare the whole place for their sake." [27] Abraham answered,
"Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust
and ashes. [28] Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Wilt thou
destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And he said, "I will not destroy
it if I find forty-five there." [29] Again he spoke to him, and said,
"Suppose forty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of forty I will
not do it." [30] Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will
speak. Suppose thirty are found there." He answered, "I will not do it, if I
find thirty there." [31] He said, "Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak
to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of
twenty I will not destroy it." [32] Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be
angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there."
He answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it." [33] And the Lord
went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned
to his place.

Commentary:

18:16-33. When interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham argues in terms
of collective responsibility, as understood in ancient times in Israel: the
entire people shared the same fate even though not all of them sinned, for
the sin some affected all. According to that way of looking at things, if
there were enough just people in the city (Abraham did not dare go below
ten) God would not have destroyed it. This way of thinking also shows how
the salvation of many (even if they are sinners) can come through the
faithfulness of a few, thereby preparing the way to see how the salvation of
all mankind is brought about by the obedience of one man alone, Jesus Christ.

The final outcome of this episode shows that, even though he destroys these
cities, God saves the righteous who live in them. God does not punish the
just man along with the sinner (as Abraham thought); a person is allowed to
perish or is saved depending on his personal behavior. This truth, which is
found in the Bible from the start, will be given special emphasis in the
teaching of the prophets, particularly Jeremiah and Ezekiel (cf. Jer
31:29-30; Ezek 18), who stress individual and personal responsibility before
God.

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: Matthew 8:18-22

Demands for Following Christ

[18] Now when Jesus saw great crowds around Him, He gave orders to go
over to the other side. [19] And a scribe came up and said to Him,
"Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go." [20] And Jesus said to
him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of
Man has nowhere to lay His head." [21] Another of the disciples said to
Him, "Lord let me first go and bury my father." [22] But Jesus said to
him, "Follow Me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

Commentary:

18-22. From the very outset of His messianic preaching, Jesus rarely
stays in the same place; He is always on the move. He "has nowhere to
lay His head" (Matthew 8:20). Anyone who desires to be with him has to
"follow Him". This phrase "following Jesus" has a very precise
meaning: it means being His disciple (cf. Matthew 19:28). Sometimes
the crowds "follow Him"; but Jesus' true disciples are those who
"follow Him" in a permanent way, that is, who keep on following Him:
being a "disciple of Jesus" and "following Him" amount to the same
thing. After our Lord's ascension, "following Him" means being a
Christian (cf. Acts 8:26). By the simple and sublime fact of Baptism,
every Christian is called, by a divine vocation, to be a full disciple
of our Lord, with all that that involves.

The evangelist here gives two specific cases of following Jesus. In
the case of the scribe our Lord explains what faith requires of a
person who realizes that he has been called; in the second case--that
of the man who has already said "yes" to Jesus--He reminds him of what
His commandment entails. The soldier who does not leave his position
on the battlefront to bury his father, but instead leaves that to those
in the rearguard, is doing his duty. If service to one's country makes
demands like that on a person, all the more reason for it to happen in
the service of Jesus Christ and His Church.

Following Christ, then, means we should make ourselves totally
available to Him; whatever sacrifice He asks of us we should make: the
call to follow Christ means staying up with Him, not falling behind; we
either follow Him or lose Him. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew
5-7) Jesus explained what following Him involves--a teaching which we
find summarized in even the most basic catechism of Christian doctrine:
a Christian is a man who believes in Jesus Christ--a faith he receives
at Baptism--and is duty bound to serve Him. Through prayer and
friendship with the Lord every Christian should try to discover the
demands which this service involves as far as he personally is
concerned.

20. "The Son of Man": this is one of the expressions used in the Old
Testament to refer to the Messiah. It appeared first in Daniel 7:14
and was used in Jewish writings in the time of Jesus. Until our Lord
began to preach it had not been understood in all its depth. The title
"the Son of man" did not fit in very well with Jewish hopes of an
earthly Messiah; this was why it was Jesus' favorite way of indicating
that He was the Messiah--thereby avoiding any tendency to encourage
Jewish nationalism. In the prophecy of Daniel just mentioned this
messianic title has a transcendental meaning; by using it Jesus was
able discreetly to proclaim that He was the Messiah and yet avoid
people interpreting His role in a political sense. After the
Resurrection the Apostles at last realized that "Son of Man" meant
nothing less than "Son of God".

22. "Leave the dead to bury their own dead": although this sounds very
harsh, it is a style of speaking which Jesus did sometimes use: here
the "dead" clearly refers to those whose interest is limited to
perishable things and who have no aspirations towards the things that
last forever.

"If Jesus forbade him," St. John Chrysostom comments, "it was not to
have us neglect the honor due to our parents, but to make us realize
that nothing is more important than the things of Heaven and that we
ought to cleave to these and not to put them off even for a little
while, though our engagements be ever so indispensable and pressing"
("Hom. on St. Matthew", 27).