21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. Matthew 8
I confess that when I have read these verses in the past, I have thought that they are hard sayings. Yes, in my head I could understand. Jesus is worth more than social niceties. He is worth more than my own pet desires. He is worth more than my own family.
But my heart would be thinking, "Wow, that seems harsh. Doesn't Jesus, Who loves so much, care about those that lose loved ones?"
But maybe there is more to this than meets the eye. Maybe this verse reveals something about my base assumptions about life. And even about Jesus.
Here's another verse that I may have misunderstood:
35 Jesus wept. John 11
This is in the middle of the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. When you read the whole chapter, you'll notice that Jesus is alone in not worrying in the slightest about Lazarus's health. For He knows what is to come. Those around Him are hoping for Lazarus's recovery (the disciples), or are wishing that Jesus had arrived sooner to heal him (Martha and Mary), or are weeping with and trying to comfort those that have lost a loved one (the Jews).
Jesus arrives on the scene, and starts asking some interesting questions:
21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give [it] thee. 23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? 27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. John 11
Then Mary arrives, and basically says the same thing, wishing that Jesus had arrived sooner.
32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34 and said, Where have ye laid him? They say unto him, Lord, come and see. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! 37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? John 11
I have for a long time assumed the same thing that the Jews assumed. Wow! Look! Jesus is crying! He must have really loved Lazarus! Too bad He didn't get here earlier.
But I think Jesus wept for a different reason.
Here is the Resurrection and the Life, standing in the midst of a funeral, and everybody is weeping as if Lazarus was gone for good.
Logically, what is this saying? It implies that everyone else there (except perhaps Martha and the disciples) believed that while Jesus was great enough to heal the sick, and heal everyone He touched, that when it came to death itself, death was more powerful than Jesus.
Their weeping either testified to their belief that the Creator of the world was limited to its laws and to death itself, or that they didn't really believe that Jesus was the Creator of the world.
They were weeping because of the pain of Death, while Life stood right beside them.
I think that's why Jesus was weeping.
Is Matthew 8:22 making more sense yet?
I must be dim, because even after seeing John 11:35 more clearly, I still didn't get Matthew 8:22.
Then recently I was watching TV and happened to hear a snippet of a sermon by Joseph Prince, and he pointed out that nobody ever died around Jesus.
People were healed. Multiple people were even raised from the dead. But nobody ever died.
Even the men who were crucified with Him only died after Jesus did.
Now it started to make more sense. Indeed, it was the only logical thing to say. Why spend any more time following Death when Life is right in front of you? When Life calls you to follow Him, there's no time for anything else. Isn't it rather dumb to postpone Life in order attend to death? Why mourn over the dead when Life has work for you to do?
And Paul says the same thing:
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thess. 4
Here's Luke's version:
59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. Luke 9
So what are we supposed to do? Paul tells us that we are not supposed to sorrow like those who have no hope, because we are supposed to be the ones who believe! And with this belief we are to comfort one another when our loved ones die. For this is real hope and glorious hope.
And from what Jesus says, I believe that we are not to waste our time mourning the dead when we are alive, when we have the promise of life in Him, and when we have this message of hope which the dead need to hear.
Believing that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life should energize us right now. We don't have to wait for the last day, like Martha thought.
The kingdom of God is a kingdom of life. Believe and enter!