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21 Then another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." 22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead." ~ Matthew 8:21-22
Today, we return to our study of Matthew 8 where the Lord Jesus drew a clear contrast between the valued traditions of Judaism and His culture. For years during the time of the patriarchs and the prophets of Israel the Jews were defined by God. But, as time meandered on, the emphasis in the teaching of the religious leaders of Israel came to emphasize the wrongs things such as obedience over a broken heart before God. This is why the Lord Jesus presented the Beatitudes to the people.
In the context of today's passage, the Lord Jesus had been telling the crowds they would lose comfort if they desired to be known as His disciple. Like the Jews of that day, we value comfort too much. In fact, I'd say that the number one god in America today is comfort. The American culture is perhaps the most comfort-driven in history. Evidence for this is everywhere. Pain and hardship are always considered bad. And, when we run from the hardships that come along in this life, we discover that we are running from God. Tragedy is sometimes a great tool in discovering what is most important to us.
Given our fallen state, it is God's design to use our pain to force us into a personal or a deeper relationship with Himself. While most reveal their inability to think deeply, we tend to blame God for our pain. Our short sidedness was born in us long ago when we invited the culture of the devil into our souls. Every pain in our lives invites us to kick out the flimsy props that we have always depended upon to support our comfort. When in pain, we can either curse God or fall upon His greatness. The better part of wisdom, which begins with fearing God, leads us to use the pain as a tool to trust Him further.
In v.21 of today's passage we read, "Then another of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.'"
In the previous two verses a Scribe had approached the Lord Jesus expressing his desire to be His disciple. We are trichotomous beings, we have a spirit, a soul, and a body. When we were justified by believing in the Lord Jesus we were born again in our spirit. Being born again and being justified before God are synonymous. Sanctification is the salvation of the soul and our souls are made of our mind, will, and emotions. Sanctification which includes discipleship is the changing of our mind, will and emotions. After the Lord Jesus informed the Scribe that He had no place to lay His head, the Scribe vanished into thin air. The Scribe did not utter another word which gave clear indication that he was not really serious about being a disciple of the Lord Jesus.
It was at that point that one who had previously chosen to follow the Lord in discipleship came to Him requesting a time of leave. In Jewish culture there was something called the second burial in which the surviving family members a year after their death would rebury the bones of the dead after the flesh had decomposed. The response the Lord Jesus gave to this man was not that he shouldn’t honor his father as the Law commands but rather which one of these two endeavors has the higher duty. His point was that there is no earthly duty that is more important than following Him.
In v.22 of today's passage we read, "But Jesus said to him, 'Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'"
When the Lord Jesus said, "Let the dead bury their own dead," He meant, "Let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead." In other words there are some tasks that nonbelievers can do as well as believers. And these choices are not usually between something good and something evil but between something good and something better. As followers of Christ, there are certain things that only we can do due to the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
We live in a world which increasingly is not defined by God. We must not fall into its trap of comfort and unbelief. Granted, it is not our performance as disciples of the Lord Jesus that gets us into heaven, however, now that we know our sin is forgiven, our natural heart response is to invest fully in Christ's kingdom because it is the best for us and it is the best for all who would look to us for answers. When we follow the Lord Jesus, we point others to Him. The indwelling Holy Spirit equips us to not only follow the Lord Jesus but also to be useful in the furtherance of His kingdom in this world.
We must be wise to not trade our souls for the lesser things of this world. From this posture we do well to remember that it was the Lord Jesus who said, "If you will follow me, be ready to be hated." Even though our loyalty to the Lord will garner hatred from some, His worthiness bursts us into obedience to Him. He is worthy of our faith due to His long track record of faithfulness to us. It helps us in this endeavor to remember that as believers in the Lord Jesus we follow a homeless man who owns everything. And, the more we get to know Him, the more we will recognize that our investments made to His kingdom will last much longer than any other investments we may make.
