Key Verse: Then he said to another, “Follow me.” “Lord,” he said, first let me go bury my father.” But he told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and spread the good news of the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:59-60 CSB)
As Jesus continued on the road headed to Jerusalem, He encountered another individual and extended an invitation to the man to be His disciple. The man expressed his desire to follow Jesus but had a simple and important request. “First let me go bury my father,” he said. Check out Jesus’ response: “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and spread the good news of the kingdom of God.”
Full stop. Does that sound like Jesus to you? Does that sound like the God of compassion and love, the One who wept at the tomb of His friend Lazarus? So what exactly is going on here with Jesus’ response?
A little context is always helpful when reading the Bible. First, as a Jewish man, Jesus understood that there was no greater duty than fulfilling this obligation as a child to a parent. If a parent died, it was of the highest importance as a child to make arrangements for them. Second, in Jewish culture, tradition typically required that a person mourns for 30 days after the death of a parent. However, the process could sometimes last as long as a year, after the body decomposed, the bones would be collected and then buried in an ossuary box. So in this man’s case, we’re talking about a process that could quite possibly take a very long time to complete before he was ready to accept Jesus’ invitation.
Ultimately, Jesus knew the heart of this man. While it may have seemed initially to be quite an insensitive and severe comment, Jesus was helping this man understand what was required for Him to truly follow Jesus. The key word in the man’s response is the word “first”. It was the issue of precedence. It was about what would take first priority in his life. In his heart, this man wasn’t ready to give Jesus His rightful place. He was distracted by other things, even good things.
Put yourself in the shoes of this man. As Jesus calls you to follow Him more closely and to be more devoted to His mission, what are the things that are competing for first place in your life? What are the things you would rather do first before you surrender more fully to the Lord?
It’s not that the obligations to family or work or anything else isn’t important. The challenge is to keep Jesus at the center of it all and to not get distracted from the mission. We are here to “go and spread the good news of the kingdom of God”. His mission must remain the priority.
Prayer: Jesus, I want you to be first above all. Reveal to me whatever is competing for that right now in my life. Show me what it looks like to keep you at the center of all that I do. Help me to not neglect the priority of your mission to the world around me. Amen.
Author: Jonathan Miller has served in pastoral roles for more than 13 years in churches in Barrie, Oakville and Burlington, Ontario. He currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Prison Fellowship Canada, a ministry that mobilizes and equips local churches to engage in the restorative work of prisoners, ex-prisoners, their families, and victims across Canada. Jon holds degrees from McMaster University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He and his wife Adrienne have been married since 2004, and live in Burlington, Ontario with their 4 children. Jon’s greatest passion is to know Jesus and to see lives transformed by Him and for Him.
