Let the dead bury the dead

Let the dead bury the dead.  What does that even mean?  How can one dead person bury another one?  Actually, the more common translation is “let the dead bury their own dead”.  But still – we’re not talking a horror movie here.  This is a quote from the Bible.  From Jesus.  I don’t remember ever reading about this verse in a book.  Don’t remember hearing it in a sermon either.  I only remember reading it in the Bible.  Right now though, I feel like I’m living it.

As mentioned, I have no memory of ever reading about this verse.  So I looked it up in my electronic library.  Out of more than 1800 books related to Christianity (no, I haven’t read all of them) I found only 18 references to this verse, excluding actual Bible translations.  That’s not a lot.

So – I’m going to go through a few them to let you know what others have to say.  Then, I’ll add my current experience.  They’re all important – to get a good idea of what this passage is about.  And what it means to us today.

You see, as we go through life, the way we read the Bible changes.  We learn more about it.  More about God.  We have new experiences.  Hopefully – all of that means growth.  Then, as we grow – and as we go through the ups and downs of life – we’ll see and understand the Bible in a different manner than we did before.

That’s not because the Bible changes.  It’s because we change.  And through all of that, God has designed this book of His Word to be useful to us in all times and in all situations.

But first – some context for “Let the dead bury the dead”

This statement about let the dead bury the dead occurs in two Gospels – Luke and Matthew.  Luke has a bit more to say, so I’m going to use his account of what happened.

The Cost of Following Jesus

9:57-60 pp — Mt 8:19-22

Lk 9:57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

Lk 9:58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Lk 9:59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

Lk 9:60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Lk 9:61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.”

Lk 9:62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Three men and Jesus.  Three tough messages.  Three different responses.  Including Let the dead bury their own dead.

From: The 10 Most Common Objections to Christianity

Common Objection:
“I’d be interested in Christ if it weren’t for
the Christians. Why would I want
to become one of them?”

I’ve spent most of this book refuting objections, saying why they are not true. But this one—well, I have to admit there’s a lot of truth in it. Many Christians—perhaps all Christians—are hypocrites. We don’t live up to our highest aspirations for ourselves. And we certainly don’t live up to the standard that God set for us in Scripture, or the standard that Jesus lived.
And church scandals aren’t just a twenty-first-century thing, you know. Throughout all history, Christianity has had more than its share of leaders who badly misrepresent the faith. Thanks in no small part to the false piety of a corrupt Church, the world sees Christianity as just another religion, just another lifestyle option—but one whose followers have no particular spiritual power aren’t particularly different in character and love from the followers of most other religions.

Guilty as Charged
Again, there is some truth to this accusation of hypocrisy. You don’t have to look far to see that most Christians don’t live up to the standard Jesus set. For example, Jesus told a rich young man who was satisfied with his wealth, position and piety, “Sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Matt. 19:21). He told another, who wanted to bury his father before he followed Jesus, to “let the dead bury the dead.” In fact, those of us who promote family values might find it hard to take these words of Jesus: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:37-38).
What was Jesus’ point? His point was that following Him requires everything.  ¹McFarland, A., & Strobel, L. (2007). 10 most common objections to Christianity, the. Grand Rapids, MI: Bethany House.

Yes – let the dead bury the dead sounds tough.  And it is – whatever it means.  But Jesus said it – so it’s important.

Before we get into what it mean’s though – let’s look at what happened in light of this common objection to Christianity.

This one disciple wanted to bury his father before joining Jesus.  We’ll get into more detail about that request shortly.  The key point here is that even something as important as burying one’s own father wasn’t a good reason to delay joining Jesus.  As the book says, Jesus’ point was that following Him requires everything.  Yes – everything.

There’s no room for hypocrisy, which was the point of the book.  There’s also no room for any reason to delay following Jesus.  None.  Maybe that’s because every moment we delay takes away from the time that God has to work through us.  Or maybe it’s because we never know when our life will end.  Waiting even a minute could mean the difference between eternity in Heaven – or eternity in Hell.  And there are probably all sorts of other reasons as well.  But the point remains – following Him requires everything.  Including every possible moment of our lives.

From: Word Biblical Commentary

Regarding the importance of a son burying his father, this commentary says the following:

Indeed, this was required of a son by the Torah implicitly in the commandment to honor one’s father and mother and hence explicitly in later Jewish tradition (cf. Gen 50:5; Tob 4:3; cf. Sir 38:16; m Ber. 3:1, where burial of the dead supersedes other religious duties; in Lev 21:2 priests are allowed the defilement of touching the dead in the case of close family members); indeed, not to do so would violate the command of God. Yet Jesus in his response denies the legitimacy of such a delay. It is tempting for this reason to understand θάψαι τὸν πατέρα μου, “to bury my father,” in the sense of “look after him until he dies” (for evidence that the phrase could have been understood in this sense, see K. E. Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980] 26–27), but this too is required by the Torah. In fact, so important is the commitment to honor one’s parents that to fail in any of the following responsibilities is to be untrue to the Torah: to bury a father who has just died, to participate in the six days of official mourning after such a death, to look after one who is sick and perhaps near death, and to provide for an aging parent who may yet live many years. From the standpoint of the call to discipleship, the longer the delay involved the more reasonable Jesus’ negative reaction becomes (cf. 15:4). But the call to discipleship is for Jesus an absolute one that need not satisfy any normal canons of responsibility (Luz rightly uses such words as respektlosradikal; skandalös): “Follow [for the importance of ἀκολουθεῖν in Matthew, see Comment on 4:20] me, and let the dead bury the dead.” Jesus’ call in this case supersedes even strict obedience to the commandment of the Torah.  ²Hagner, D. A. (1998). Matthew 1–13 (Vol. 33A, p. 217). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

Jesus is putting the need to follow Him – to proclaim the kingdom of God even above the rules of the Torah.  Talk about no reason to delay!

There is some question as to whether the father is already dead, will die shortly, or is entirely healthy and death is in no way expected in the near future.  I think argument over that point is to miss Jesus’ point entirely.  The Torah command covers all of those scenarios.  And Jesus said that following Him is more important than the Torah command.  Jesus did not say more important unless the father is already dead and needs to be buried in the specified time-frame.  Nor did Jesus say unless the father is non his death-bed.

In fact, Jesus told the third person that even going back to say good-by to his (apparently “dead”) family would make him unfit for service in the kingdom of God.

So even in those most extreme and short-termed cases, Jesus says not to wait – but to follow Him and let the dead bury the dead.

From: Deliver Us from Me-Ville

Note: I am actually reading this book now, but haven’t yet reached this chapter.  Now I have more reason than ever to finish it.

This is part of what the author wrote about his experiences:

Then my grandfather died. A deeply religious man with a large and boisterous family, his funeral would be a significant event. Priests all over the Midwest would attend his funeral out of respect for his son, their fellow priest. Family members three and four degrees removed from my grandfather’s nucleus would be driving in from all over the country to give tribute to his memory. The first grandparent for most of his grandchildren to die, his funeral would be a seminal moment in the family history. But I had a gig.

At the time, I was playing saxophone for the high-school ministry’s worship team. Handfuls of people were counting on me week in and week out to supplement the singing and guitar playing and drum beating and keyboard pounding with my own horn honking—and when horn honking wasn’t appropriate, with more contemplative instruments like shaker eggs and the vibraslap.

The youth service was Sunday night; the funeral was Sunday morning. I was worried that I would not be able to do both. And I was sorely tempted to play the gig.

Eventually my brother convinced me that my place that weekend was with my family. But I think back to that moment every once in a while, because there were so many rationales available to me to justify staying to play the gig. Jesus, to begin with the most crass example, says point-blank: “Let the dead bury the dead.” The notion was that a funeral is at best a look backward, a self-indulgent practice of weeping over what we’ve lost and remembering all the good times we’ve had. Meanwhile kids are still living and thus still in need of guidance that only a saxophone player can provide. Who could know for certain whether that one night, one honk from my horn might mark the turning point for some kid surrendering his life to God? How could I in good conscience walk away from that just to indulge my grief and enjoy my family?

Another more insidious rationale most likely fed the first and fueled the others: Jesus said that to love him we must hate our father and mother, the insinuation being that our families can sometimes get in the way of an authentic relationship with Christ. Many of the family members I would see at this funeral were at best distantly related; in fact I had no meaningful relationship at all with some of them. Maybe my family was my past; my church was, perhaps, my future.

More to the point, I think, however, was the fact that at the funeral I would be one of hundreds of mourners, but at the gig I would be the only saxophonist. Jean Vanier says that “we all have this drive to do things that will be seen by others as valuable, things that make us feel good about ourselves and give us a sense of being alive.” I could anticipate nothing at the funeral that would allow me to stand out, to make my mark; at the gig I would be on display, doing something I loved and was good at. At the funeral I would feel the curse of death; at the gig I would feel the sense of being alive. It’s a wonder, really, that my brother was able to get through to me.  ³Zimmerman, D. A. (2008). Deliver us from me-ville. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook.

Yes, “Let the dead bury the dead” does sound crass.  But as we see from this example – it requires a lot of thought when we consider it properly.  Are we looking at what Jesus really meant?  Or are we looking at it as an excuse to do something selfish?

For instance, in the previous examples – did these men want to go back in order to get the inheritance before following Jesus?

It’s only with God’s help that we can answer that question honestly.  And then, respond accordingly.  After all, if we try to follow Jesus for a selfish reason – we will fail.  Eventually, we will find a reason to walk away.  One has to know that if either of the two men who wanted to go back to their families did so in order to gain an inheritance – if they returned to Jesus after that, He would have immediately told them to sell it and give everything to the poor.

Why?  Because following Him requires everything.

From: Believer’s Study Bible

“Let the dead bury their own dead” acknowledges that the proper duty of the son to bury the father must be made secondary to the claims of Christ. “The dead” who are to do the necessary duties are obviously those who do not respond to Jesus’ call.  ⁴Criswell, W. A., Patterson, P., Clendenen, E. R., Akin, D. L., Chamberlin, M., Patterson, D. K., & Pogue, J. (Eds.). (1991). Believer’s Study Bible (electronic ed., Lk 9:60). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Such a short comment.  This is the entirety of the text from this book on that passage.  And yet – it’s the one I see as the pertaining to the situation I’m now in.  Not to say the others are wrong or in any way inaccurate.  Just that this one is relevant at this time in my life.

Why I choose to “Let the dead bury the dead”

My mother went under hospice care a couple days ago.  She’s a believer.

Her husband (my father) was not.  One time when I was talking to him about the importance of her belief in God, he told me – and I quote – “She has me.  What else does she need?”  I do not expect to see him in Heaven.

Their daughter has sole responsibility for my mother’s care.  That’s because her father wrote me out of the will and explicitly stated in all power of attorney documents that I was not allowed to have any say in anything.  This happened the day after that conversation I just mentioned.  She says it’s nice that I get some comfort from believing in a God that doesn’t exist.  She’s an “intellectual”.  She doesn’t need Him.  Short of a miracle, I don’t expect to see her in Heaven.

Their other son – well, I don’t know about him.  I’m sure he wasn’t a believer.  I don’t even know if he’s still alive.  I don’t expect to see him in Heaven either.

You can probably tell by the way I refer to the rest of the family that it’s pretty messed up.  I don’t do that in real life.  They really are my father, brother and sister.  Although – there have been times I wished I was adopted.  But really – I only refer to them in that manner for literary effect.  So you know how messed up and twisted the relationships are.  Especially when you hear that they all claim to love each other – and me.  That is one corrupted version of love.

Anyway – back to the hospice situation.  Even though I have no ability to do anything about my mother’s care – she is literally minutes away from where I live.  Her daughter lives several hours away.  That gave me some time to visit her before her daughter showed up.  Because once she does – I’m not allowed there any more.

As a believer already following Jesus – I said my good-by to my mother.  I don’t know if she understood or not.  I told her that if I didn’t see her at the facility – I would see her later.  With Jesus.

And then I left to let the dead to bury the dead.

You have to understand, this is what the word we translate as dead meant in Jesus’ time:

3498 νεκρός [nekros /nek·ros/] adj. From an apparently primary nekus (a corpse); TDNT 4:892; TDNTA 627; GK 3738; 132 occurrences; AV translates as “dead” 132 times. 1 properly. 1A one that has breathed his last, lifeless. 1B deceased, departed, one whose soul is in Hades. 1C destitute of life, without life, inanimate. 2 metaph. 2A spiritually dead. 2A1 destitute of a life that recognises and is devoted to God, because given up to trespasses and sins. 2A2 inactive as respects doing right. 2B destitute of force or power, inactive, inoperative.  ⁵Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.

It should still mean this to Christians today.

It’s about more than whether the body is dead or not.  It’s about whether the soul is dead.

And so I said my good-by to my mother’s living soul.  Before her body dies.  I don’t expect to see her again on this earth.  And that’s OK.  I will see her again.  There’s no sadness.  After her tortured life – going home is a relief. I’m happy for her.

And I let the dead bury the dead.  My sister – with her dead soul – will bury (actually cremate and spread the ashes) of her physically dead mother.  Not realizing that her mother actually lives – soon in a place she herself doesn’t believe in and therefore will likely never see.

Let the dead bury the dead.

And let the living rejoice for the living.

Conclusion

I expect that some of you will want to pray because of what you’ve just read.

If that’s you – here are some ideas.

A prayer of thanks – that my mother will soon be in a place where love is something so much greater than she ever dreamed of.  And she’ll be getting a hug from the person of whom she once told me, “Jesus is everything!”.

For my sister – a prayer that she will understand, before it’s too late.

For my brother – all sorts of prayers, assuming that it’s not already too late.

For my mother, again – a prayer of thanks, that through all those years of domination by a husband who thought her belief in God was stupid, she managed to hang on.  She reminds me of Jesus’ letter to the church in Pergamum.  She has such a mix of beliefs.  She is Catholic.  Interested in Judaism.  For a time, also Islam – although when I told her what the Qur’an says about Jesus, that was when she told me, “I can’t believe that.  Jesus is everything!”  And then she removed all of her Islamic stuff from the house.

To the Church in Pergamum

Rev 2:12 “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13 I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.

Rev 2:14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. 15 Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Rev 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.

Surely, she has overcome in the family where “Satan has his throne”.  She must be surviving on hidden manna.  Can’t wait to find out her new name.  And to know her the way she was meant to be – rather than the way she was in this life.

If you must pray for me – make it also a prayer of thanks.  Thanks that, when needed, I was able to walk away from the dead – rather than become one of them.

And that now, I’m at peace – God’s special peace that defies understanding – having said my temporary good-by to the living, until we meet again.  Maybe some day I’ll have another chance to talk to my siblings about God.  That’s not really my call.  But for now, I’m grateful that I can let the dead bury the dead – knowing that the death of the body doesn’t have to be the end – but can be a new beginning.

Footnotes

• 1
  McFarland, A., & Strobel, L. (2007). 10 most common objections to Christianity, the. Grand Rapids, MI: Bethany House.
• 2
  Hagner, D. A. (1998). Matthew 1–13 (Vol. 33A, p. 217). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
• 3
  Zimmerman, D. A. (2008). Deliver us from me-ville. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook.
• 4
  Criswell, W. A., Patterson, P., Clendenen, E. R., Akin, D. L., Chamberlin, M., Patterson, D. K., & Pogue, J. (Eds.). (1991). Believer’s Study Bible (electronic ed., Lk 9:60). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
• 5
  Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.