Matthew 8:22
But Jesus said to him,
Follow Me,
and allow the dead to bury their own dead.
Study
Let the dead bury their dead.
The point of the half-epigrammatic, half-proverbial saying, lies in the contrast between the two meanings of the word “dead.”
- Let those who have no spiritual life linger in the circle of outward routine duties, and sacrifice the highest spiritual possibilities of their nature to their fulfilment.
- Those who are really living will do the work to which their Master calls them, and leave the lower conventional duties to be done or left undone as the events of their life shall order.
Something there was, we may be sure, in the inward state of the disciple which called for the sternness of the rebuke.
He had been called to a living work: but he was resting in a dead one.
Devotional
Isn’t that a little unfair of the Lord Jesus?
Now here is someone who is willing to follow Him. But he asks for a while, to bury his father.
Is it not harsh to refuse such a reasonable request?
No, not at all. This man doesn’t ask for a little time off for a funeral.
If his father had died, he would not be allowed to show himself among people.
His father is still alive.
His father’s life had not yet to come to an end.
▪︎ How long can it take?
▪︎ Should he wait for that?
Moreover, if the Lord Jesus grants him respite,
will he not regret his intention?
Wouldn’t he then, on reflection, maybe rather stay at home?
Follow Me, says the Lord Jesus.
For whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.
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