Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead:
but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. Luke 9:60
In other words, let the world take care of worldly things,
don’t be involved with them, don’t waste your time.
A few reactions:
Gasp!
smh
That’s cold! How can Jesus not care about us burying our parents?
When Jesus puts a call on your life, it might not be convenient.
It might ruin some things, some important things even
Oftentimes, when Jesus asks us to do anything,
it doesn’t always come at a good time
It can be an interruption of what we think of as important
Going out of your way to do
whatever it is you know He is asking you to do
Convenient?
Since when is following Jesus convenient?
Believing in Jesus is convenient,
following Jesus takes effort on the part of the follower
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Luke 9:23
The disciples left all to follow Jesus.
They were in the middle of things,
fishing with their father,
in the middle of his job of collecting taxes,
another one was mourning for his father,
another one wanted to say good-bye to his family,
Most of us will never do that: leave all to follow Him.
Not most, some, but not most.
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough,
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Luke 9:60
The cost of following Christ is high.
Devaluing the world is hard.
The world we can see, touch, smell, hear,
instant gratification,
the world that is right in front of us,
demanding our time and attention constantly.
Finding your treasure in heaven takes a lot of effort.
Because you have to value it first and in order to do that,
it takes time seeking the Lord
and learning about His majesty and righteousness.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments,
and shall teach men so,
he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven:
but whosoever shall do and teach them,
the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:19
Great and least in heaven?
Not exactly sure what that means,
but I know enough about God’s wondrous glory
to know that I don’t want to be least in the Kingdom of Heaven.
While it seems to be unholy to work toward the goal
of being great in the Kingdom of Heaven,
it also shows the value you place on the things of God.
It would also go along with
not doing your alms before men to be seen of them.
Do them for a heavenly reward, do them to please Jesus.
He’s the one that brought up the subject of rewards, not us.
Whatever that means or looks like,
we know it’s going to be more wonderful than we can imagine.
For since the beginning of the world men have not heard,
nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God,
beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
Isaiah 64:4
Waiting for Him sounds easy, but it isn’t.
If waiting brings such beautiful rewards,
imagine what doing and teaching His commands might bring.
This might be difficult to relate to
as we’re taught we don’t work for salvation and it’s a gift.
It is a gift.
There are many works the Lord speaks of, even requires of us,
and obedience that He might ask of us.
That would be the heavenly work referred to in the Bible,
the kind of work Jesus did for the Father.
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day:
the night cometh, when no man can work.
John 9:4
Not fleshly work or worldly work.
Obedience to God:
like building the Ark,
like marching around the walls of Jericho,
like building an altar to God before the prophets of Ba’al,
like sharing the gospel,
like taking up your cross and following Him, even when it’s hard,
like defending His word, even when it’s unpopular.
Each of us will have to reconcile what these works mean in our lives.
How to use our talents for the kingdom, how to bear fruit.
Who we help, who we dismiss.
These are individual decisions
and while we all may have general commands like:
Love your neighbor as yourself,
how you do that is between you and God.
He is, after all, the One Whom we will face
when we give account to how we live our lives and what things we value.
Scriptural References:
And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way,
a certain man said unto him,
Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
And Jesus said unto him,
Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests;
but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
And he said unto another, Follow me.
But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead:
but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee;
but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough,
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Luke 9:57-62
And as Jesus passed forth from thence,
he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom:
and he saith unto him,
Follow me.
And he arose, and followed him.
Matthew 9:9