Session 5 Let the Dead Bury the Dead

Background

Our study of this chapter demands concentration, or we will miss the central teaching of Jesus and of Luke on the commitment demanded of a disciple. This lesson forces you to decide to be or not to be. This chapter shows us who Jesus is, what his mission is, and how we find into that mission. This chapter requires us to volunteer for mission or reject mission in favor of earthly goals. Is Jesus’ mission too hard for you? Do not try to water it down and think you are still on mission with Jesus. This chapter defines what mission is. Do you have a cross over your shoulder weighing you down? Or are you fulfilling earthly responsibilities until the right moment comes to try to catch up with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem?

Our study of this chapter demands concentration, or we will miss the central teaching of Jesus and of Luke on the commitment demanded of a disciple. This lesson forces you to decide to be or not to be. This chapter shows us who Jesus is, what his mission is, and how we find into that mission. This chapter requires us to volunteer for mission or reject mission in favor of earthly goals. Is Jesus’ mission too hard for you? Do not try to water it down and think you are still on mission with Jesus. This chapter defines what mission is. Do you have a cross over your shoulder weighing you down? Or are you fulfilling earthly responsibilities until the right moment comes to try to catch up with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem?

The exchange here is similar to one in Luke 9:59–62. In both passages, potential disciples hesitate in light of their earthly responsibilities. However, Jesus is concerned with discipleship, not familial obligations.

The urgent matter of the kingdom of God, inaugurated by Jesus’ presence, requires His followers’ full attention. Jesus’ statement here should be understood as hyperbole—a deliberate exaggeration for rhetorical effect. Since any man whose father had just died likely would not be out in public listening to Jesus, this man’s request probably reflects an indefinite postponement of joining Jesus’ disciples. The phrase “bury one’s father” could be understood as an idiom for the man’s familial responsibilities for the remainder of his father’s life.

Luke 9:57-58

9:57. Commitment in words often appears to be just what Jesus ordered. Any commitment in words calls for further examination. Have you counted the cost? Do you realize what you are setting yourself up for? Are you ready to cut past ties and depend absolutely on the commitment to God in the future? What do you really mean when you say I will follow you wherever you go? Are you following to see miracles, be where the action is, and gain God’s blessings? Or are you following because you are devoted to the mission and ready to take up the cross?

9:58. Jesus knew the cost. He did not have a resting place as secure as the fox’s den or the bird’s nest. He owned nothing and had no assurance of a place to sleep. Is that what you are ready to commit yourself to—Jesus’ dedication to the Father’s mission? Is it your dedication to preaching the kingdom and healing the sick?

9:58 The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head is Jesus’ challenge to a would-be follower, reminding him that the path of following Jesus is not easy and comfortable, for ultimately Jesus is not at home in this world. In this and the following two brief stories (vv. 59–62), Luke does not tell his readers how the person responded.

9:57 I will follow you. Disciples normally chose their own teachers, volunteering to follow them. Although some radical Greek teachers called some disciples (as Jesus did with some of his disciples, and as Elijah did with Elisha, 1Ki 19:19), most teachers depended on pupils who came to them. Jewish teachers likewise taught students who enrolled in their schools.

9:58 The proper response to a warning about difficulty (e.g., 2Sa 15:19–20) was to follow anyway (2Sa 15:21–22).

Luke 9:59-60

9:59–60. In verse 57 a man declared his commitment to Christ, and Jesus told him what this commitment meant. Here Jesus initiated the action, inviting the man to follow as he had invited his original disciples (see 5:27). This man hesitated. He had parents who were dependent on him. He would follow after they died, and he could bury them. He would commit the uncertain future but not the present concrete moment.

Jesus’ answer shocked the man. You are not responsible for the dead, but for the living. People with no commitment to me—people dead spiritually—can bury those who die physically. Leave the burying task to them. Commitment to me takes precedence over all commitments that earthly traditions would place on you. Yes, caring for parents in their final days is important. But you are not the only one who can do that. You are the only one who can answer the call Jesus gives you. When he calls, you must answer here and now and follow immediately wherever he leads even when it means leaving very dear and important tasks and people behind. The kingdom of God is more important even than family obligations. Come! Follow! Now!

9:59 To go and bury a deceased parent was an important duty, and Jesus clearly upholds honoring one’s parents (Matt. 15:1–9). The request seems reasonable on the surface, but this man’s first response was not to obey Jesus immediately (as others did, cf. Luke 5:21, 28) but to make an excuse for not following him. Burial at this time in Judaism often involved a year-long period from the time when the body was first buried until a year later when the bones of the deceased were placed in an ossuary box. Though this was a basic family obligation, Jesus is teaching the priority of the kingdom over family.

9:60 Leave the dead to bury their own dead constitutes a pun in which “dead” means both “spiritually dead” (cf. 15:24, 32) and “physically dead.” Here (as in 14:25–26) Jesus insists that following him must take precedence over every other relationship and obligation. This does not imply that Jesus’ followers can never care for their family obligations, but when they do, it must be out of obedience to Jesus, not instead of obedience to Jesus. In this man’s case, Jesus was clearly not his highest commitment (see 9:59).

9:59 bury my father. Many considered honoring parents a son’s greatest obligation (e.g., Josephus, Against Apion 2.206), and burying them was the greatest expression of that obligation (e.g., Tobit 4:3–4; 6:15; 4 Maccabees 16:11). The obligation fell most heavily on the eldest son. To neglect this duty was unthinkable; it would make one an outcast from the extended family and dishonored in one’s village, normally for the rest of one’s life. But a son whose father had just died would not normally be out talking with a rabbi; on receiving the news, he would immediately see to the father’s burial. Some scholars note that, “I must first bury my father” sometimes functions as a polite request for delay until the father dies—sometimes a delay of years—so the son can continue with filial obligations in the meantime. Others suggest that this son refers to secondary burial—the custom of reburying the father’s bones a year after the initial burial. On either of these views, the son could be requesting a considerable delay.

9:60 Let the dead bury their own dead. Even if the son is asking for a considerable delay (see note on v. 59), Jesus’ response would be shocking; burying one’s father was one of society’s greatest obligations (see note on v. 59). In mainstream Jewish society, only God could claim honor above parents. Ancient sources sometimes refer to the spiritually (or socially) dead; alternatively, Jesus could refer to the literal dead, using shocking, graphic language to make his point, as he often did.

Luke 9:61-62

9:61–62. Another man declared, “I will not be long. I am not looking as far into the future as that man was. I just want to run home a minute, let Mom and Dad know where I am going, and then I will come follow you.”

Again, Jesus’ answer shocks. The job is now. The harvest is ripe. Do not start to work and then find something else with more importance, even if for a minute. The call to follow is a call to follow without excuse, without delay. Come. Follow. Now. Once you answer the call, you have a permanent job. No looking back.

9:62 Followers of Jesus must have a singular focus on the work of God’s kingdom. This may be an allusion to 1 Kgs 19:19–21.

9:61 As in v. 59, this man’s halfhearted discipleship begins with a “but”: I will follow you, Lord, but. This recalls 1 Kings 19:19–21, where Elijah permitted Elisha to say farewell; but Jesus does not permit this. Jesus’ summons to discipleship takes precedence over everything else.

9:62 Anyone who puts his hand to the plow has to keep looking forward to guide the plow, for if he looks back the plow will quickly veer off course.

9:61–62 say goodbye to my family … hand to the plow. When Elijah called Elisha to follow him, Elisha was plowing. He requested a delay so he could bid farewell to his family; in that case, it included organizing a farewell party. Elijah permitted this (1Ki 19:19–21). Given Elisha’s 12 yoke of oxen, he was a wealthy man sacrificing much to adopt the rugged lifestyle of an Israelite prophet. Service in God’s kingdom, however, is even more demanding than being an OT prophet.

True Discipleship

There are some people who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior, but do little to act on their belief (James 1:27; 2:14–26). Others actively follow Christ: They live as true disciples, passionately pursuing the Lord’s will in all things. These are the ones who take their relationship with Christ seriously.

Ask yourself: Are you merely a believer or actually a follower of Jesus? Trusting in Jesus Christ is fundamental, but it’s only the first step. Your primary purpose is to take a lifelong journey following in the Lord’s footsteps—honoring Him with your actions and speech and increasing in biblical wisdom.

A Christ follower’s life is summed up in the phrase, “Complete obedience.” In fact, Jesus defined true Christians as those who prove their love for Him by obeying His teaching (John 14:23). When it comes to obeying God, our only response is I will or I won’t. It’s tempting to say, “I will, but …” as some of Jesus’ would-be disciples did, but that’s a roundabout way of saying no (Luke 9:57–62). Followers remain faithful to the Lord’s plan whether doing so is easy or hard. Not only that, but they proclaim Him in both blessing and calamity, and they follow Him even when they are uncertain where He is leading.

Followers pursue the Lord because they know that the reward is a deeper, more passionate relationship with Him. They are not just waiting to spend eternity with God in heaven; eternity begins now, as they accompany Him on the righteous path He has set before them.

Matthew 22:14 says, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” The call has gone out, and it is still going out. Whatever your background, you are being called to Christ—away from sin, to Him. Some take the call seriously. They are the ones who take the time to hear from God. They are the ones who actually do something. The call has gone out, and some will allow following Jesus Christ to shape their entire lives.

Jesus made it clear that being called as one of His disciples has a price. He said, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross every day and follow me” (Luke 9:23). To the original disciples, crosses represented torture, physical abuse, and death. Jesus’ reference to “take up the cross” must have sent waves of fear through the ordinary people whom Jesus had called into extraordinary lives.

The conversation that followed could have gone something like this: “First you asked me to leave my business and my family to follow and learn from you, and now you’re telling me that you’re going to die and that I have to deny myself and follow in your steps! Don’t you think that’s asking a bit much?”

But Jesus responds: “The one who finds his life will lose it, and the one who loses his life because of me will find it” (Matt 10:39). It was only as His disciples acted on Christ’s call that the true significance of His words became a reality for them. In time, confusion would disappear, and they would experience the exhilaration of giving their lives totally for the cause of Christ.

So, the question remains: Are you a believer in Christ or are you follower? Remember, being called to Christ means being called away from sin. That requires repentance. Realize you have sinned—repent and place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Then study God’s Word and be obedient to it. Listen for God’s direction in His Word and do it. Expect exciting days ahead as you live your calling.