“Then another of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'”

Matthew 8:21-22

At first glance, this seems to be an extremely harsh, cold, abrasive comment Jesus made to the would-be disciple. It sounds heartless and cruel for Jesus to make such a cutting remark as this. After all, it sounds as if the person making this request was sincere in his desire to follow Jesus – to be a true disciple. And it sounds as if he was simply wanting to take time to mourn his father’s death. What would cause Jesus to respond in such a way as this?

It is of great interest to note that this individual was already a disciple of Jesus. Matthew records: “another of His disciples…” So, in some sense this person was already following the Lord. Perhaps he was one who was following out of curiosity, having heard about Jesus and the remarkable things He was doing and saying, and was now following to learn more about this Man. Or it could be that he was genuinely striving to be a sincere follower and was now in a predicament that caused him to ask permission from Jesus to bury his father.

There are different ways this statement has been understood and interpreted, sometimes with the intent to soften the words of our Lord. One such approach views this as a request to be permitted to go home and bury his father, who has just passed away. He is only wanting enough time to go home and attend to the arrangements, and then go to the funeral, of his deceased father.

There are several reasons that this is probably not the intent of the would-be follower. It is very unlikely that he would be there, in that crowd, if his father had just died. He would have been there, by his father’s side, in those moments leading up to his death. He would have been tending to the needs of his family as they mourned the patriarchs passing. But here he is, amid the throng of people trying to get close to Jesus.

Many interpreters of Scripture believe that the man’s father was not dead but was perhaps at the point of death. If this is true then the request is not to go home and bury his father, but to go home and wait for his father to die. This could be in days, weeks, months, or even years.

However, at other times it is viewed as a stark demand of Jesus as He responds to this man’s request. He is simply, and profoundly, stating that this man’s concern should not be about burying his father, who was already dead and awaiting interment, but rather it should be about following Him. If this is the correct understanding, then Jesus was saying that this man should resolve to follow Him, and “let the dead bury the dead.”

So we see two distinct interpretations of this statement. Before attempting to make sense of it, we need to note a matter of extreme significance. Jesus says, “Let the dead bury their own dead.’ This is obviously a play on words Jesus used to make His point. How can someone who is already dead bury someone who has just died? It is obvious that Jesus’ words carried a specific meaning. Perhaps it would help us understand this confusing statement by inserting a couple of words (please note that I am not adding to the word of God, but rather giving an explanation of what Jesus’ intent may have been). Perhaps Jesus was saying, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own physically dead.”

There are actually two distinct “kingdoms” of God at work in this present era: the physical kingdom, and the spiritual kingdom. The emphasis of Jesus may have been that the would-be disciple was placing more emphasis on the physical kingdom than on the spiritual. Jesus would have detected this and may then have been responding to what He perceived to be an insincerity on the part of the man.

If this is the case, then Jesus was basically saying that total commitment to Him was the call of true discipleship, and nothing, even the death of a loved one. should take precedence over that. Perhaps we are to understand this as we did when discussing Jesus saying that our love for Him should be so great that all other relationships should seem as hatred in comparison. Here, He is instructing this man that His commitment to Jesus must be first priority in His life, or he cannot be a disciple at all.

The Bible instructs us to care for our loved ones, and to be there when difficulties arise. Yet, even in those adverse circumstances, our commitment to Him must come first. So, when it comes to every aspect and avenue of life, we must seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Everything else will then fall in place in proper order of priority.