Notes on Luke 9:58-62

Jesus challenged the man (v. 57) to understand what it meant to follow Jesus. Being a disciple is not a path to fame, ease, wealth and comfort.

bury my father. In that day, the burial process could take up to a year. After death, the body would be anointed and then put into a tomb. Then, many months later, the bones would be collected and put into a box and laid aside in a family tomb.

Jesus was not against family (Matt. 15:1-9). However, he understood that this man was trying to delay his response to Jesus's command (v. 59). Leave the dead . . . bury their own dead. Jesus used a play on words. He meant, let the spiritually dead worry about burying the physically dead. Those who had no interest in Jesus were spiritually dead (15:24, 32; John 5:24-25; Rom 6:13; Eph. 2:1; 5:14). proclaim. We are called to make sacrifices in order that we might proclaim the kingdom of God. Nothing is more important than bringing the only message of salvation to sinners desperately in need of forgiveness from a holy God. The reconciling power of Christ's death and resurrection can only come to those who hear and believe (Rom. 10:14-17).

This section is covered in detail in the Gospel of Matthew (below). Potential disciples were tested. The first man made a good profession, but he had not realized that discipleship could mean homelessness. Serving Christ often means among other things not being comfortable; at times being really uncomfortable, having no place to rest, no creaturely comforts.

Moreover, the one who desired to bury his father means that if this man's father was still alive, that he wanted to continue to care for his him until his death. If his father were dead, Jesus' words were still shocking, for filial piety demanded that a son look after the burial arrangements for his father. In Luke 9:60 there is a word play on the term "dead." In essence, "Let the [spiritually] dead bury their own [physical] dead." Here the spiritually dead are those who do not follow Jesus (Luke 15:24, 32; cf. also John 5:24-25; Rom 6:13; Eph 2:1; 5:14). Jesus was stating that the demands of the Kingdom override all earthly loyalties.

In Luke 9:61-62, we observe the third man's request which was similar to that of Elisha in 1 Kings 19:19-21. However, while Elijah granted the young man's request, Jesus did not. God's Kingdom has come, it had been initiated (and continues even now), and the summons to follow Jesus takes precedence over everything else. The old family relationships are part of what one must leave behind to follow him (Luke 5:11, 28). The expression, "looking back" recalls 1 Kings 19:19. In Luke it refers to gazing back on the things abandoned in order to follow Jesus (cf. Phil 3:13). In this instance the reference is to family relationships (Luke 9:61), but the saying has broader implications as well (cf. 2 Tim 2:4). Jesus made it clear that the Kingdom requires people to move forward when they are called, not to look behind.

Elijah allowed Elisha to say goodbye to his family because it meant a formal break with them (1 Kgs. 19:19-21). He would never return home. Here, Jesus knew the man was tempted continually to look back to his old life. fit for the kingdom. The one who wavers in his commitment is not worthy of Jesus. This doesn't mean perfection is required to follow him. But it does mean willingly giving up control of your life to Jesus.