Seek and Save VII Two Interviews-The Second

Two Interviews Part Two

Seek and Save VII

Matthew 8:21-22

Last week we looked at the interview between Jesus and a Scribe who came to him. Today we have a second interview that seems to come right after the first. The conjunction liking the two narratives seems to indicate this. It is simply, Then. The action appears to be right away—this, then the other. It also implies a contrast. It is between the religious scribe and a follower of Jesus, though unnamed. It is a shorter narrative, but still of great importance.

The text:

4. The Second Intrusion

21 Then another of His disciples said to Him,  “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

5. The Shocking Answer

22 But Jesus said to him,  “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

The exposition:

4. The Second Intrusion

21 Then another of His disciples

This time it is a disciple who has been following Jesus and at this point is coming to Jesus for advice. One who is supposed to be on the straight and narrow way.  This is no mere outsider, this is a disciple. He comes with what appears to be a legitimate request.  Before they set sail in the boat, the disciple....

said to Him,  “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

There are two ways this phrase has been understood.

1. The first is that the disciples father had actually died and that he wanted to go straight away to the task of burying his father, settling the estate, and all that goes with a parent’s death.

2. The second seeks to soften the answer of Jesus a bit and with some commentators it seems a bit of a stretch. It is that the disciple is anticipating the death of his father and wants to go set things in order, then take care of the affairs of burial, etc. Before returning to follow.

Whichever the case may be, the disciple wanted to do something other than following the Lord Jesus Christ on that particular day. It seems to be a legitimate inquiry due to a real need in the disciple’s life. His father has died and needs someone to attend to his body and remains.

Jesus had given the Scribe a picture that would make him consider the cost of discipleship. So too, in contrast, the need to consider the cost of following Jesus addressed to the disciple.

It would do us well to consider what this means in our day. If we profess to follow Jesus’ words and ways, we should regularly consider the cost. What may I have to give up to follow Jesus? Is it a career of teaching in a seminary or university environment in order to minister and disciple some of Jesus’ flock? In my case, yes. What is it you might have to forego in order to follow Jesus?

This disciple in our narrative speaks inappropriately to Jesus with an imperative verb. Implicit in his words is this: you must permit me to go first to bury my father. It is not the place of a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ to tell him what he must do. Perhaps, Peter was not the only impetuous disciple, or this may have been Peter—we don’t know for sure.

It is not God’s will just when we find it agreeable. God’s will is always to be followed. We must do whatever he commands and not do whatever he forbids. That in the most basic summary form is the revealed will of God to us. We find it in his Word. But, his hidden will that occurs in our life will never ask us to break his revealed will. When the secret will of God is supported by the revealed will it is a wonderful thing.

The concern of the disciple to go bury his father was legitimate, but the way in which the concern was expressed was not. Thus we have....

5. The Shocking Answer

22 But Jesus said to him,  “Follow Me,

In a word, No!  There is something else of greater importance for you at this time, follow me. Sometimes we forget that the ways of the Lord are higher and better than our own. I fear we are a lot like this disciple, or rather, he is a lot like us….

Jesus would not let the disciple off the hook. He uses those two familiar words he had used when calling disciples to leave their own concerns behind and—Follow me. Jesus speaks in the imperative mood in the present tense to the disciple in response to his inquiry. In Greek, the present tense has a sense of continuing indefinitely. In other words, follow me now, and keep on following me. Continue to do what you are already doing. It is of paramount importance.

This is the most basic formula to see if someone really believes—are they following Jesus no matter what?

A popular answer is Yeah, but…. And then an excuse follows. There are no excuses that excuse us from following Jesus—even in ignorance. Ignorance of God’s revealed will is no excuse.

Then Jesus adds another imperative:

and let the dead bury their own dead.”

How is this to be understood?

Firstly, what is implied is that this disciple is alive in whatever sense Jesus is addressing.

Literally?  No. The physically dead cannot bury their own dead because the physically dead cannot do anything with their bodies for the simple reason that they are, hmmm, dead. It must mean something else.

Maybe the context of that day gives us a clue. If this is that day Jesus taught the multitudes in parables, what he said about the masses that day can aid our understanding.

In Matthew 13:14-15 we read:

14 “And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:  ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive;  15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’

 

The healing in view is not one of physical health, but of spiritual well-being. They can see according to the flesh, but they do not see the point of the teaching. They can hear, but are unable to take up what they hear and act on it by faith. They understood something, but not the full weight of what they were being taught. They could not make the connection to themselves in order to apply the truth of the message. The healing in view in Verse 15 is a spiritual healing.

In the same vein, I would offer that the best understanding of this metaphor of dead burying their own dead refers to the spiritually dead multitudes. Disciples during the ministry of the Lord Jesus had more important things to do, and more important lessons to learn about life in Christ’s kingdom than burying their own parents.

 

Don’t you find that shocking?

 

What does it teach us as those who profess to be Christ’s disciples?

Nothing in this life, even the legitimate concerns of the world, can be let in to choke out the Word that has been sown.  Life in Jesus’ kingdom is all-encompassing. We owe to him our allegiance, our affection and our attention to his word. We owe him our very life. We must never presume to tell him what to do and how he must do it. Life in the kingdom is about submission to Jesus as Lord, as master, as king. Many are precommitted to not following Christ’s words unless they like what they hear. We do it in subtle ways, don’t we. We hear the Word when we should also be doers James 1:22.

You see, the scribe acts like the true disciple by saying wherever Jesus goes he will follow. The disciple is distracted by the concerns of the world. These two interviews are a paradox.

We always need to be reminded of our primary concerns as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we become a follower, a disciple of he Lord Jesus Christ, we must be ready to do his will in response to the grace he has given. Jesus warns people of the cost involved. Being a disciple may mean a change in our perspectives, a rearranging of priorities, the mortification of our pet sins, a radical shift in our ambitions, a quest for something totally different than what we have been looking for. Or in the pointed words of Jesus from another place, Matt. 10:38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. These are strong words! They apply to all believers throughout all of the age.

If you profess to be Christ’s disciple, you show it by taking upon yourself his burdens and do what he has said. It is not only the best way to live, it is the only way to spiritual life and godliness.

This is not about the way men are brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as much as it is about the expectations Jesus has for those who profess to follow him. May those who come to be called disciples and those who already are, be told the truth about following Jesus.

Following him, living by faith, being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is not brought about on our terms. That would make Jesus our Lord. It is life lived on the terms Jesus has revealed. Luke tells us what Jesus told this disciple to do:

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

He was to take up the cross, the work that needed to be done to make known to others the kingdom of God. What is of importance to Jesus in the midst of his earthly ministry? He desires his disciples to do what he is doing. Giving his all to take the message to mankind.

 

Actually, while we are here, In Luke’s gospel we have a third interview that makes the point about the importance of whole-hearted, undistracted following. This statement is blunt and makes this important point—Having begun to follow the Lord Jesus, disciples must continue to follow him.

 

Listen to his blunt words to another inquirer on that day: Luke 9:61 And another also said,  “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”  62 But Jesus said to him,  “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

 

Have you put your hand to the plow? If so, set your blade and make the furrow of faith. If not, consider the cost and the need. The cost is a life of following Jesus as your master in all things. The need, without a whole-souled trust in him alone for your soul’s salvation, you will be forever damned. I guess the message is consider the cost of discipleship weighed over against the value of your eternal soul. Following is more important than death and familial conventions. In this third interview it is more important than going to say farewell to family.

 

If you don’t value your soul, you can live without worry in this life, but an accounting will come at the end of your earthly existence. If you value the preciousness of your soul, consider the cost of following Jesus. Then, with the measure of faith you are given, Follow the Lord. Go wherever he guides and more importantly, do whatever he wants you to do. Remember the Great Commission? To teach them to do whatsoever Jesus commanded and upon that process is placed the promise of Christ’s presence—lo, I am with you always, even or especially to the end of the age. Jesus will be with us through joys and sorrows to bring us safely to heaven. There we will be in his glorious presence forever.

 

There is a burden, but he promises it will be light when compared to the weight of worldliness and its effect on the mind and soul. The Lord Jesus is a refuge for the weary in soul. Come to him for your soul’s everlasting rest. Then, in coming, follow him. Don’t look back, don’t be distracted by earthly and worldly things. Look to Jesus and live to the profit of your soul. Amen.