The Fountain of Life Church: Follow Me:Let the Dead Bury their Dead

Let the Dead Bury their Dead

Third Sunday after Epiphany

If it’s not about Jesus, it’s not about anything

Motto of the Fountain of Life

SPS: What is the cost of discipleship? This message reviews three responses in the scriptures about the call to follow Jesus. One response was too rash, one too slow, and one too weak.

VERSE: Matthew 4:18-19: And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called St.Peter and St. Andrew, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me.”

Follow me. In Judea of the 1^st Century A.D. the invitation “follow me” was understood by all in as implying a call to discipleship.

For this message, we are not overly concerned with apparent chronological inconsistencies concerning the calling of the various disciples. For example, St.John’s purpose was to illustrate that Jesus was the Son of God who came in love. He chose examples of Jesus’ life to illustrate that. Those examples need not be chronological for that task. St.Matthew wrote to show the Jews that Jesus was the promised Messiah. He chose examples from Jesus life and set them into order to prove that. The examples he chose need not be chronological for that task.

MY FATHER’S BUSINESS – All through the land

When He was 12 years-old, Jesus told Mary and Joseph that he must be about his Father’s business. The Holy Spirit was in fellowship with Jesus from birth, and Jesus grew in wisdom and favor among men. 18 years later and not much more than 40 days before calling St.Peter and St. Andrew in Matthew 4:18-19, Jesus followed the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. During these 40 days in the wilderness His father’s messianic business for Jesus began. The Holy Spirit entered into a messianic fellowship with Jesus, which was manifested in the form of a dove at the Jordan River when John baptized Jesus.

The heavens opened and “lo, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” During the transfiguration of Jesus, this seal of the Father’s business is solidly confirmed. We read in Matthew 17:5: “While He spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, ‘This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him.’” (Also, see Luke 9:34-35)

“Hear Him.” That is what the voice said. Jesus came to teach and proclaim the Kingdom of God (Matthew 4:17 & 23). That is what the people heard, the preaching of the Kingdom of God. He healed all types of illnesses and all manner of diseases; all manner of divers torments, expelled demons. These signs of messiahship were upon Him. As the man, blind from birth, who Jesus healed told the Pharisees in John 9:33, “If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.” This was His Father’s business, and Jesus conducted it throughout the land, with much traveling to city to city.

St.John the Evangelist relates the story this way: John 1:29. The next day John saw Jesus coming unto him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.” In this way, John, bare witness that this is the Son of God. Vs.35. And again, the next day after John stood, with two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard John speak. Vs. 38-39. They asked Jesus, Rabbi, where do you live. Jesus said come and see. Jesus invites; they follow.

Jesus begins his ministry by choosing 12 close associates, the 12 apostles. In Matthew 10:1 "Jesus gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” People began to listen to Jesus and many become disciples – not all were apostles.

THREE COME TO JESUS

THE YOUNG RULER: In Luke 18:18, the rich young ruler asked “What shall I do to inherit eternal life”? Jesus said to him in verse 21, “you lack one thing, sell what you have and follow me.” The young ruler was sorrowful and Jesus commented that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the into the Kingdom of God.

Of significant interest is an additional comment given in Mark 10:21, “Then Jesus looking at him loved him.” Why? The young man approached Christ with respect. Jesus detected great sincerity in the man’s question, “what else do I lack to be saved”? Perhaps Jesus also recognized that it may have cost the young man some of his personal reputation with the other rulers to acknowledge Jesus; it may have taken some social courage, perhaps even political courage, for one of his social class to acknowledge Jesus.

Alas, the young man had divided interests, and worldly interests preoccupied him. Was the young man surrendering his only offer for salvation over money? Commentators are divided. He publicly acknowledged Jesus, that shows that he already had a personal investment in Jesus. I believe he was not surrendering his salvation. Perhaps the ruler was declining a special call to become an apostle and literally follow Jesus along with the 12.

But the point remains that the young man was not 100% surrendered to this specific invitation to service. That is not to say that he rejected Jesus’ call to personal discipleship. He departed sorrowful because he had much riches. Perhaps he went forward with the love of Christ in his heart and turned his sorrow into service; resumed his first calling to be a ruler of the people; became a good ruler; using his riches for good. I want to believe that the young man became a solid follower of The Way.

THE SCRIBE: From Matthew 8:18-20 a man volunteers to follow Jesus. “Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side (of the lake). And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whither soever thou go. And Jesus said to him, ‘“The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.’”

THE DISCIPLE: Matthew 8:21-22 related a second man approaching Jesus. “And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.’”

Several commentators, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Matthew Henry link the incident of the scribe and the disciple this way. From Bonhoeffer’s book, “The Cost of Discipleship” we read, “The first disciple [the scribe] offers to follow Jesus without waiting to be called. Jesus damps his enthusiasm by warning him that he does not know what he is doing; He shows the would-be disciples what life with him involves [not having a place to lay his head] … The second would-be disciple wants to bury his father before he starts to follow. He is held bound by the trammels of the law.”

Bonhoeffer paints this as a crises decision for the disciple; Jesus or the law. Alfred Edersheim, in “Jesus the Messiah” echoes another common view of the two men and writes, “The intenseness of the self-denial involved in following Christ, and its contrariety to all that was commonly received among men, was, purposely, immediately further brought out.” These views paint, to me, views of Christ’s calling as a duty and a trial, rather than as following Jesus into a relationship to be embraced.

Matthew Henry’s commentary indicates that from the tone of Jesus’ answer to the scribe he regarded the scribe’s decision to follow him as rash, while the decision of the young man was too slow. Examples are a good teaching tool to illustrate responses to the call to discipleship. They are a good example that Jesus offers us a free will decision to follow Him. But, in my opinion, the commentators seem to present the call to Christ as a now or never proposition; a one-time only offer for all scenario for salvation. That seems dissonant to the logic of grace as understood in the trinitarian community. The Holy Spirit never gives up on us. It is God’s will that all be saved, and come to the knowledge of Christ; 1 Timothy 2:4.

Returning to Matthew 8:21-22: Matthew calls this man a disciple. It is good to remember that important point. Alfred Edersheim gives this insight into Jewish burial practices. “Again, no other duty would be regarded as more sacred than they, on whom the obligation naturally devolved, should bury the dead. To this everything must give way – even prayer, and the study of the Law.”

Jesus was certainly aware of this. Consider the portrait of events surrounding the death of Lazarus. There were mourners. Consider when Jesus healed the widow of Nain’s only son in Luke 7:11. There was a procession with a large group of people following the funeral bier. A burial event could not last but a few days because of decay. Much activity surrounded a burial. There was the gathering of the funeral spices, the linen wrappings and the preparation of the body. Mourners had had to be gathered. The burial event required planning and organization.

Considering the above, a valid question is, was the disciple’s father dead? If yes, why was the son there with Jesus and not at home making arrangements? If the father were dead and awaiting burial, the son had already chosen Christ over the trammels of the law. Why then did the son request more time and why did Jesus stress time urgency?

R.C. Sproul tells this story of Dr. Adam Smith, an authority on the Middle East. Smith asked a young Arab to be his guide. The man said, “I first have to bury my father.” Smith could see the father in front of his hut. Sproul says, “What the young Arab really meant was that he could not leave because he would have to care for his father until he died.”

The call to discipleship involves faith in Jesus. The call of a disciple to a specific office is a different thing, which does not involve salvation, but involves sharing the work of the gospel with Jesus. St.Matthew and St.Luke present two similar yet different calls to disciples: the call of the 12 and the call of the 70.

Matthew 10:1: And when he had called the 12 to him, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of disease. This mission of the 12 was their appointment to the Apostolate; the mission was evangelistic and missionary. It was given with the confirmation and manifestation of the power. Authority was given to them.

Looking at the call and mission in Luke 10:1 we read that…after this the Lord appointed other 70 and sent them out two by two and sent them ahead of him to every place where he was about to go. No power or authority was given to them. It is highly unlikely that St.Luke confused this mission with that of the 12. The mission of the 70 was temporary. It had one stated purpose, to prepare for the coming of Jesus in the places to which they were sent. Their selection came from a wider circle of disciples.

Now let us speculate with chronology, language and cross cultural meanings which are separated by 2000 years. Jesus in Matthew 8 is ready to depart to the other side of the lake. If the scribe wants to accompany him, he must tell Jesus immediately or literally miss the boat. Perhaps, in a burst of enthusiasm, he did not count the cost of traveling with Jesus, and Jesus kindly gave him a moment to reconsider the conditions of travel involved. Not getting into the boat with Jesus that day, did not mean that the scribe missed the boat for salvation.

And what about the disciple? Burying his father would in no way effect his personal discipleship. It does not seem that Jesus’ call to “Follow me” was a call to personal discipleship. He already was a disciple. However, if Jesus’ call to “Follow me” were a call to be one of the 70; then the need for commitment may have been immediate, because Jesus was entering into the boat; starting to the other side to preach; beginning to go to the town and villages. Perhaps it is that call to a special task, to announce Jesus’ visits throughout the land, which the young man declined, not his own personal discipleship. If the call were to actual apostleship, then urgency was not required since the young man could certainly catch up to Jesus in two or three days after performing his family duties.

Let us now consider the notion that when Jesus says, “Follow me,” He is calling us into trials and difficulties. Granted, St.Peter gives us realistic news: 1 Peter 4:12 tells us, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you.” Yes, we realize that life in general has trials. Nonetheless; we have the GOOD NEWS found in Matthew 11:28-30. “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your soul: for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light".

Without Jesus, we are burdened and we groan under sin. We have no rest. With Jesus, we have love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, meekness, patience, faithfulness, and self-control. We willingly take his yoke. What is that His yoke and burden? It is an easy yoke, it is gracious and pleasant. His yoke is His commands. What do we do when we Follow Jesus? What are His commands? We read His commands in Colossians 3: “put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication. Do not lie. Be kind to one another, forgive one another. And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”

Without Jesus, these are impossible commands to keep. With Jesus, we have a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 32:26). Through grace these commands become life and breath to us. They become the mind of Christ in us (Philippians 2:5)

Brethren, go and put on charity; and bear fruit for the glory of Jesus.

Beloved in Christ: The Grace and Joy of Jesus be with you through all your times and purposes. Amen.