Oh, man! Had Easter been one week early, we might have had this gospel reading on Father’s Day, and had fun dealing with Jesus’ words about wasting our time burying our fathers:
To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Sound a bit harsh? Isn’t it a normal thing, a way of honoring your father and your mother, to give them a proper funeral? What kind of child would say, “Sorry – too busy,” to such a life moment? Well, maybe Jesus would answer, “The kind of child who sees himself first as a child of God. The kind of child who knows she is my follower first, and every other relationship second.” Does this sound like a cult? No doubt many of the families of those who left everything to follow Jesus did think they’d joined a cult. No one knew this cult would last 2,000 years and turn the world upside down.
What did Jesus mean by “Let the dead bury their own dead?” He meant that those who have been born anew in the Spirit are the living, and those who operate only out of their human, natural, “fleshly” life are as good as dead. (Perhaps he would also suggest that the energy and resources we put into tending and laying to rest the bodies of our loved ones after they have ceased to inhabit them is a misplaced priority for those who are called to proclaim life… but I’m not editorializing or anything… !)
Jesus was always redefining family values. Over and over he taught that the company of those who believe in him are the first family for his followers. Our primary job as followers of Christ is to proclaim the kingdom of God – the realm of God-Life. In the course of doing that we live in relationships with the people around us, including our families of origin – but we are not to value them more highly than we do our families of faith. And when our biological families distract from our discipleship, or worse become active obstacles to following in the Way of Jesus, we are to put Jesus first.
What reaction does this remark of Jesus’ provoke in you? Would it make you want to turn away and not follow him? Where might we see the life in his invitation to put the family of faith first?
It’s not all or nothing (at least I hope not!). I believe that as we claim the Life of God already given to us we become not the walking dead but the walking living. And as we get about the business of proclaiming that Life of God unleashed in this world, as we experience it, our priorities will be quite naturally reordered. Love is love.
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