[21] Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” [22] And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
(Matthew 8:21-22 ESV)
To the disciple who asked to first bury his father before following Jesus, Jesus proclaims to the disciple to follow him and to let the dead bury their own dead.
What could be the meaning of Jesus’ words? Obviously, the physical dead cannot bury the deceased.
What does it mean to be dead? What does it mean to be alive?
Leave comments below!:)
CloudIn 
feelin like you already know – but he is referring to the call to being a missionary and let the spiritually dead or those who refuse the call (dead) worry about those things so that we can focus on the task at hand – let the nations glorify the name of our Lord
Hmm interesting point!
I see that you’ve pointed out that the spiritually dead are those refuse the call of mission – do you have any verses to support/related to that? 🙂
how many verses can I share with you that declare that our love for God comes with obeying His commandments – and this commandment is to go – and not just a command, but a slew of equipment and the power of the Holy Spirit to go along with it – enabled and ready to go – only needs a heart passionate to serve and spiritually alive
I see what you are saying and yes Scripture says that obeying God’s commandments is the love for God (1 John 5).
But I was interested in seeing what you thought about the relations between missions and spiritual death and supporting your thought with Scripture. I don’t think we can just claim that this verse (Matthew 8) is strictly pointing out that because we refuse to go to missions, we are necessarily spiritually dead. Jesus simply says to first follow him and to let the dead bury their own dead. By this, we can’t just make conclusions that he is talking about doing missions or the lack thereof.
Even the Pharisees and Sadducees went on missions (Matthew 23:13-15) but just because they went on missions did not mean that they were spiritually alive. And these high official/ Jewish priests had zeal and willing heart but not on the matters of God’s righteousness (Romans 10). What they preached and spoke was based on their thoughts, traditions of elders, and teachings of men mixed with God’s words (simply lies) thus doing the work of Satan instead of God’s (John 8:44~). In other words, even though the Pharisees and Sadducees were supposedly doing “missionary” work or teaching “God’s word,” they did not have truth nor did they speak it, which makes them spiritually dead since God’s word is spirit and life (John 6).
In conclusion, from the Matthew 8 verses, we cannot make a claim that because one refuses the call of mission is necessarily spiritually dead. Making claims of what we think could be the possible answer to this verse, we need to look at this verse to find what it actually means to be spiritually dead through the Word.
I guess we are back to square one, what could it mean to be spiritually dead or alive?
It was the eldest Son’s basic responsibility was to bury the Father. There was two burials. One immediately after death, and a second burial one year later, after the flesh had rotted away from the bone, the Son would then re-bury the bones in a special box inserted into the tomb’s wall. So the son in this scripture could be asking for as long a period of time as one year?
So Jesus demanded that the Son place Him over his responsibilities to his deceased, was a greater responsibility. In the Jewish honoring Father and Mother was the greatest commandment.
Great points here! 🙂
But what do you think about Jesus mentioning “to let the dead bury the dead?”
How can the dead bury the dead – what do you think?
I agree with Clark’s commentary on this scripture:
“Let the dead bury their dead – It was usual for the Jews to consider a man as dead who had departed from the precepts of the law; and, on this ground, every transgressor was reputed a dead man. Our Lord’s saying, being in common use, had nothing difficult in it to a Jew. Natural death is the separation of the body and soul; spiritual death, the separation of God and the soul: men who live in sin are dead to God. Leave the spiritually dead to bury their natural dead. All the common offices of life may be performed by any person; to preach the glad tidings of the kingdom of God is granted but to a few, and to these only by an especial call; these should immediately abandon worldly concerns and employments, and give themselves wholly up to the work of the ministry.”
I wish I could remember where I read or heard this – it’s not much use without the source – but it could be interesting to consider. I either read or heard that “Let me bury my father” at that time would have been an expression, a way of referring to the last filial obligation. In that case, the father was not actually dead – what the man is saying, essentially, is “Let me first fulfill my family obligations, then come to you when I am free of those.” Then Christ’s response would be that he needs to re-order his priorities, let the (spiritual) dead bury the dead would be a piercing play on words to explain that following Christ is more important than his other obligations.
I also agree with Clark if one is a sinner then they are as a dead man. Good question to ponder on.
To be “alive” is to be a branch in the Vine. To be “dead” is to be a branch pruned from the Vine and left for the fire.
Thanks for the reply and very interesting point! 🙂
To continue this thought…
How do you think a believer can distinguish whether he/she is part of or apart from the Vine?
Distinguishing anything with certainty is difficult, especially in one’s spiritual life. The Holy Spirit’s whispering counsel often encounters the pinball-like environment of our flesh; bouncing off the bumpers of pride, ego, lust, anger, and doubt before finally entering our own kindred spirit. As a result, our psyches taint & dilute the purity of the original counsel, and we end up misinterpreting the Lord, who passionately desires us to know both who He is and who we are “in Him”.
Sensitivity is a vital; cooperating with the Spirit to understand the nature of your body.
Your tongue shapes sound into language. But it also a corrupting fire (Jam. 3:6). Your heart cycles blood through the tiniest capillary and back. But it’s also an incurable deceiver (Jer. 17:9). We perceive ourselves masters of our destiny. But both our lives and our afterlives have their being by His Word (Prov. 16:9, Matt. 10:28).
The more aware I am with His purposes for my body, the more I can live in fellowship with His nature, by the power of Christ the Vine.
Yes, you’re correct when you say distinguishing one’s spiritual life is difficult. Since in Hebrews 5, only those who are mature (who are able to eat solid food) in the word of righteousness and those who have the powers of discernment (trained by constant practice) can distinguish good from evil.
And in 2 Corinthians 13, Paul warns us to examine and test ourselves whether we are in the faith, which coincides with the passage in 1 Corinthians about those who think they are standing firm [in faith] that they do not fall. Because we all know that in Matthew 24, even the elect are capable of being deceived by false prophets and by false wonders and great signs.
Therefore, Paul, in 1 John 4, states that we must not believe every spirit but to test the spirits whether they are from God or not since there are many false prophets out in the world.
So, again, it comes down to the point that we must be able to distinguish whether we are constantly in the faith (able to distinguish good from evil so that we may follow the good, to distinguish which spirit (God’s or Satan’s spirit) is leading our spiritual lives, and to distinguish whether we are connected to the Vine or not) even though it may be tough.
And yes, our sensitivity to the Spirit and our consciousness can be a factor to our faith walk (and discernment) but not the standard, which raises the question what would be the underlying factor and standard for our sensitivity and consciousness. (As we are all aware, it is critical for us to be able to distinguish because of 2 Corinthians 5:10)
In other words, many believers can have a different standpoint of sensitivity, consciousness or emotion on different matters of their faith walk. These would no be a credible or solid base for our faith and just opinions. If everyone has their own standards of faith, it cannot be fundamentally true according God.
So, like the above verses state and like the opening question, what must be the standard to distinguish ourselves whether we are part of or apart from the Vine (in the faith or apart from it)?
*Once again, Eddie, thanks for your reply and interesting points! Looking forward to hear your response!