"Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
Matthew 8:22
Jesus may have sounded a little uncaring toward someone who needed to bury his father, especially when that man had just said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go" (v19). Commitment to a Teacher (Rabbi), to become a disciple, a follower of Jesus is not merely done on a convenient Sunday morning with a latté, but in surrender as an obedient disciple—that’s discipleship. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it like this, “Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life.” Discipleship is proactive, it is for now and for the future of everyone we come into contact with, lastly, even for ourselves.
What is Jesus teaching? In example, when do you pray, after your beautiful world turns in to a heaping mess? When your child is in trouble as a young adult? When do you find the need, time to witness the gospel that comes by hearing, not by your silence? What does burying the dead have to do with all this? Let’s see:
Prayer, like evangelism, is to be proactive—we witness to the living, not the dead—likewise, our prayer and intercession is effective as a discipline, preparing our steps. But, it seems that we pray as bad as we witness. Prayer shouldn’t be reactive; it is to be disciplined and proactive to thwart reactionary pleading. When Jesus taught us to pray (Luke 11:1-4), he said, “give us this day,” the day was not over, it was just starting, we are to pray before the need arises—not after one of life’s cave-ins. To be a disciple requires the following of Christ and his Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), to bring “good news” (the gospel) to those not yet dead, but nonetheless dying eternally. We need not worry about burying, but saving.
So, what was Jesus saying to the man having a father needing to be buried? Being a Christ follower, embracing Christianity is not a moment of convenience, a mere afterthought. Don’t pray because of a calamity, pray to prevent one. People’s eternal souls are not to be an after thought; the gospel is of no use when shared in a cemetery.
Being Proactive, Thinking—praying, witnessing—Ahead, Always,
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