MOMMY AND DADDY DIGGING WITH THE DEAD

MOMMY AND DADDY DIGGING WITH THE DEAD

It comes across to us as one of the most insensitive statements ever made. Jesus has been issuing a call for discipleship and when He invites one man to follow Him, the man tells the Lord, "Let me first go and bury my father." To this request, Jesus answers, "Follow Me; and let the dead bury their dead."

Good grief! Doesn't He care? This is outrageous! After the news of a death of a loved one, our humanity gives wide latitude to accommodate whatever a person says, be it said in anger, despair, or frustration. "Certainly," we'd say, "take as much time as you need." 

Is Jesus being harsh and out of bounds? Only if we give the text a superficial reading. 

What appears to be going on here is that the father of the man to whom Jesus has issued the call to follow Him isn't dead. The custom of the day was that when a person died in the sultry Near East, the funeral was that day, the interment within 24 hours. Had this man's father been ill and dying, the man wouldn't have been with Jesus, but would have been at home making the arrangements. How could he not be with the family at the time his father was to be buried? What was he doing out and about and in the presence of Jesus if that were the case?

No, what's much more likely is that the man is telling Jesus that he'll follow Him, but not now. "Wait until my father dies, then I'll join You," is what he's saying. How many years will that be? Who knows? He wants to delay doing what Jesus wants him to do now so he can see to his parent(s) in their declining years. 

No, that's not discipleship. In discipleship Jesus is first; He has the preeminence.

We learn from this that the permission of one's parents isn't necessary in order to follow Christ. He and His will have priority over parents. A disciple doesn't seek Mommy's or Daddy's permission to do God's will. This is a major reason why many never go to the mission field--they're caving in to Mommy and Daddy who've pitched a fit because they'll be taking the grandchildren away to some distant land; Mommy and Daddy must come first or they'll get all huffy.

Then comes Jesus' famous statement: "Let the dead bury their dead." This statement is a paronomasia. He's saying, "Let the [spiritually] dead bury their [physically] dead," using the same word ("dead") in two different senses. Brilliant!

Now, let's think further about this statement.

The marching orders for the disciples had nothing to do with mending society. Their message after Christ's earthly ministry was that all men everywhere needed to repent ("change their minds") about how one becomes righteous before God (faith in Christ alone, rather than works).

We believers are citizens of a kingdom which isn't here, Christ's kingdom, but it's coming. We've been removed positionally from the kingdom of darkness and transferred over the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:13).  Since we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Eph. 1), since our citizenship is in heaven, we're to set our minds on things above, not on the things of the earth (Col. 3:1-2). 

If we try to establish His kingdom now before He comes, what do we get in return? Absolutely nothing. We will fail, no doubt about it. Efforts to pass laws won't bring in His Kingdom. The unbeliever doesn't want His laws and is only embittered and angered when we try to force him to live like what he's not, a Christian. We have a problem if we expect the spiritually dead to act as if they are spiritually alive and will applaud our efforts to make them share a biblical worldview.

Remember the Reconstruction after the War Between the States? The radical Republicans tried to force the South to bend to its will and produced a region of the country called, "The Solid South." For a hundred years, because of the Radical Republicans, the south would vote for a yellow dog it it ran on the Democratic ticket rather than a Republican. If we expect the praise of the unbeliever, we'll wind up depressed and disillusioned, bitter and broken. 

I was in the home of a lady whose TV was tuned to MSNBC. It was constant and went on and on and on, no matter what happening in the home, even if we were trying to have a conversation. (A good practice to follow with guests in the home is, if you're going to watch TV, watch TV; if you're going to talk, talk, and turn off the TV.)

A woman once complained that I didn't visit her enough. But whenever I did, she never turned off "Jeopardy" or the weather report, or whatever was on, so I concluded she was a chronic complainer who really didn't want to visit, and I certainly didn't want to watch the weather, so I didn't return.)

I know what you're thinking: you're thinking, "MSNBC? What a waste of her time." But where's your focus? Fox News? Facebook? The Supreme Court? The Congress? The President? The Republican Party? The Tea Party? The Democrat Party? David Barton calls for Christians to focus on making the U. S. into a theocracy by taking over "education, the media, the government, religion, and entertainment." (This is called "Dominion Theology" but that's not the role of the church. He's basing this on Is. 2:2, a promise given to Israel at the Messiah's Second Advent, not something for the church to do.)

Our focus is to be on Christ. The man called to discipleship was focused on Mommy and Daddy.

The activities of the Congress and the Supreme Court are activities of the spiritually dead. The activities of the Tea Party and the Libertarian Party are the activities of the spiritually dead and to focus on those activities is to grab a shovel and dig with the dead. (The key words in this case are "focus" and "priority.")

 We have a higher focus--following Christ to make disciples. Like someone said, if we do that, if we make just one disciple, we'll do what the Apostles did--we'll leave the world a better place than we found it.
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Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, and the author of Truthspeak. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing sue.bove@gmail.com and requesting "The Hangar Bible Fellowship Newsletter."

Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:

notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org