Let the dead bury the dead?

Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:70, NKJV) 

At first blush, this is not a particularly easy saying. 

Jesus had just spoken to the man, telling him to “follow me.” The man is agreeable to the proposition, with every indication sincerely so. However, he makes what appears to be a reasonable request, which both honors his parents as the commandment requires and is consistent with Jewish cultural practices: first he would bury his recently dead father and then he would gladly join Jesus as a disciple. 

Jesus rejects this request. Why? 

There have been many explanations designed to soften Jesus’ meaning, most along the lines that Jesus actually meant something like “there are professional undertakers—let them handle that dirty job” 

I don’t think so. 

I think it has exactly its seemingly hard meaning: Let those who are (spiritually) dead bury those who are truly dead. 

Note it is no reflection on the man’s father, who may have been saved. We don’t know. But it is a reflection on who should handle this particular burial. Those who have no business in a matter at hand, a matter of extreme urgency. The kingdom is at hand. 

Jesus is not giving us a prescription for all time, that from this point forward the burial of dead parents is to be considered a trivial matter, best left to infidels. No, Jesus is saying this: my ministry is entering a phase of cosmic importance and under these unique circumstances it is best to delegate that task and follow me. 

We can see this in the context of this statement. Earlier in the same chapter Jesus elicits from Peter the great confession whereby Peter acknowledges that Jesus is the Christ. And then he “springs” on His followers the great surprise and shocker that though he is the Messiah he is not the one they are expecting—He is going to die, and die soon, without achieving any political victory. In the parallel passage in Mark, Peter is severely rebuked for boldly telling Jesus that such a tragedy will not occur on his watch. To top it off, Jesus tells them that they likely face a similar fate, and they will have to pick up their cross and walk their own death-walk to complete their role in inaugurating the kingdom. 

The kids' stuff is over; it is time for the big boys to come out and play.

This is the context in which Jesus tells the man to allow the dead to bury his father. All of redemptive history is about to reach its apex. There are more important tasks at hand than to bury this father—in fact the man is given a chance to participate in something that, if successful, is the only way for the man to have any hope that someday his dead father would not remain dead, he would be raised.