Let the Dead Bury Their Own Dead?

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
A certain scribe came to Jesus and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go” (see Matthew 8:19). This was Jesus’ response: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (vs. 20). In other words, Jesus was telling him that it might be a good idea for him to find out more about what it means to follow Him before he commits to the journey.
I find it interesting, especially in light of Jesus’ caution to this scribe, that most people in evangelism NEVER caution people to carefully consider what they are making a commitment to; instead, they make it sound like following Jesus is the easiest and most productive thing on earth. As you know, the message is this: If you will just follow Jesus, if you will do the simplest thing you could ever do, everything will be fine, your problems will go away, your bank account will increase, your health will be perfect, and your marriage will be blissfully wonderful, et al.
Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father” (vs. 21). In other words, he was saying, “I have thought this thing through, and I really want to follow You, even if the scribe changes his mind, but my father just died and his funeral is tomorrow, so give me enough time to bury him, and I will be ready to follow You wherever You go.” In my opinion, this was a reasonable request by anyone’s standards, but this was His response to him: “Follow Me; and allow the dead to bury their own dead” (vs. 22). Tough, if you ask me! In my opinion, His methods of evangelism did not attract too many followers.
Again, I find it interesting, especially, in light of Jesus’ response to this grieving son, that most people who are trying to encourage others to follow Jesus, NEVER tell them that Jesus does not play “second fiddle” to anyone.
Years ago (actually 1961), as a sophomore at Asbury College, I was dating a girl, whose mother did not like me. She knew that my family was in the funeral business and in-formed her daughter that the Bible said, “Let the dead bury their own dead” and, therefore, she should have nothing to do with me (she believed that the only vocation worthy of her daughter’s boy friend was the ministry). Somehow, I think she missed the point. Although she never convinced me that Jesus was opposed to a man taking the time to bury his own father, nor did she convince me that He was against the funeral service profession, I never have forgotten her bizarre interpretation of Jesus’ words. Another example of the misuse of the Scriptures.
Rest assured that Jesus is A-OK with you taking the time to bury a loved one, UNLESS you think it is more important to bury the dead than it is to follow Him.
You think about this—