Today's Gospel: What does it mean?

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The Gospel reading today (July 1) has never been explained adequately to me.

It’s Luke 9:51-52
"When the days for Jesus’ being taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
“Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?”
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.

As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him,
“I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him,
“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

And to another he said, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
And another said, “I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”
To him Jesus said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.’"

Everytime I hear it, I wait for the priest to explain what Christ meant by “let the dead bury their dead.” And, isn’t it our Christian duty to take care of our families? Of course, following Christ is supposed to be the focal point of life, but isn’t it also our responsibility as fathers to lead our families to Him?

I keep thinking Christ has some deeper meaning in mind – perhaps that, when all is said and done, the only thing that matters is to follow Him, that everything of this world will pass away and that only Christ matters.

My family and I were discussing this perplexing reading after mass tonight, and we’re kind of stumped.

Any thoughts out there?
 
I know that Jesus wants us to take care of our family responsibilities.

I think what Jesus is saying here are two things.
  1. You need to respond to him fully, not holding anything back.
  2. You will receive life if you accept him, if you don’t then you are ‘dead’.
Hence, let the dead bury the dead, if you don’t respond fully to his call, and hold back because there is something in your life you want to take care of before you fully commit your life to Christ, then you are ‘dead’.
 
My family and I were discussing this perplexing reading after mass tonight, and we’re kind of stumped.
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This particular gospel reading has always bothered me, too. I can’t help but associate the line “let the dead bury the dead” with Marie Antoinette saying “let them eat cake”. It sounds callous.

Intellectually, I know our Lord is asking us to put Him above all others in our lives, but isn’t also through serving others that we serve Him? The corporal works of mercy include burying the dead, don’t they?

My other thought was that this reading has a particular implication for those called to the religious life. They leave family behind in a much more concrete way than those of us called to the married vocation, especially the cloistered orders.

I also think that Jesus is calling us to a certain detachment mentality. After all, there are people who really do place their family members over and above Jesus, are there not?

At any rate, it is a gospel reading that I struggle with as well.
 
Our beloved priest explained this verse in context with the other two admonitions given by Our Lord. Taking the statement “let the dead bury the dead” literally misses the mark when it stands beside the other two comments. According to our Pastor, the Lord was saying that when we attach ourselves to the things of this world rather than accepting His invitation to follow Him, we are like the dead burying their dead. All three statements were excuses given to avoid following the Lord. In the first, Christ Himself provides the speaker with the excuse (foxes have dens…), perhaps realizing the man was not ready to follow Him. The other two speakers had ready excuses to refuse Christ’s invitation to follow and so in response, the Lord likens them to the dead burying their dead.

Wow. Our priest did a much better job in his homily! I hope that made some sense!
 
ABsitively said:
This particular gospel reading has always bothered me, too. I can’t help but associate the line ]"let the dead bury the dead"
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with Marie Antoinette saying “let them eat cake”. It sounds callous.

Intellectually, I know our Lord is asking us to put Him above all others in our lives, but isn’t also through serving others that we serve Him? The corporal works of mercy include burying the dead, don’t they?

My other thought was that this reading has a particular implication for those called to the religious life. They leave family behind in a much more concrete way than those of us called to the married vocation, especially the cloistered orders.

I also think that Jesus is calling us to a certain detachment mentality. After all, there are people who really do place their family members over and above Jesus, are there not?

At any rate, it is a gospel reading that I struggle with as well.

I think Jesus is probably talking about those who are spiritually dead.
 
Thanks to you all.

Please, anyone elese with a thought, chime in!
 
I read once somewhere (I’m not sure how trustworthy the source was) that the phrase “bury my father” was an idiom for “go on caring for my aging father for what remains of his life, then bury him when he dies”.

That would mean the man was asking to be allowed to defer his duty to follow Christ till his (still living) father’s death.
 
Another thing to keep in mind is that the Gospels don’t tell us everything, and we don’t know what happened after this exchange.

I once heard someone else talking on this very passage, and the hypothetical “next statement”. It is entirely possible that after being told “let the dead bury the dead”, the man said “okay, you’re right, let’s go” and Jesus then told the man, “before we leave, go back and bury your father”.
 
blessedtoo said:
Our beloved priest explained this verse in context with the other two admonitions given by Our Lord. Taking the statement “let the dead bury the dead” literally misses the mark when it stands beside the other two comments. According to our Pastor, the Lord was saying that when we attach ourselves to the things of this world rather than accepting His invitation to follow Him, we are like the dead burying their dead. All three statements were excuses given to avoid following the Lord. In the first, Christ Himself provides the speaker with the excuse (foxes have dens…), perhaps realizing the man was not ready to follow Him. The other two speakers had ready excuses to refuse Christ’s invitation to follow and so in response, the Lord likens them to the dead burying their dead.

Wow. Our priest did a much better job in his homily! I hope that made some sense!
Click to expand...
Thanks! Both you and your priest did a great job of explaining it. I do understand better now
 
Footnote from the NAB:
Let the dead bury their dead: i.e., let the spiritually dead (those who do not follow) bury their physically dead.
Click to expand...
 
From what I understand, the gospel message is about our following Jesus – surrendering to him and making Him our number one priority, no matter what our distractions and concerns may be. Being committed disciples sometimes requires us to let go of things we may prefer to attend to, in order to follow God’s plan for each of us and to do a greater good (according to God’s will, not our own). I read or heard something about the verse “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Plowing isn’t an easy job – when a farmer plows, he has to put a lot of concentration and hard effort into it. If he looks away, he can mess up the entire job or ruin the plow by leading it into a boulder. He’s got to look ahead for the unexpected at all times.
 
I heard a priest explain it to us this way:

The man’s father must have still been alive, reason being; that if the man’s father was dead then the man himself and his family, would have wrapped the deceased father in burial garments. For a Jew to touch a dead body meant that they would have been deemed unclean until after the burial, and would therfore not be allowed to mingle with others.
So the fact that this man was still mingling with others, meant his father had not yet died, and that he wanted to wait an unknown amount of time until his father died before he would follow Jesus.

Now I don’t know ANYTHING about Jewish customs, but even if this is not the custom, it would still make sense that this man was just procrastinating. He wanted to follow Jesus but was giving himself an excuse, to do it later! The whole passage is about not finding excuses to “put off” following Jesus 'til later, but to do it now!
 
I believe it comes down to the last line:
STJOMO said:
To him Jesus said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."
Click to expand...
Jesus is issuing a warning. Those who delay their commitment to the Kingdom of God in order to chase earthly pursuits are rejecting Him. Our dedication to God comes before pursuit of earthly duties and pleasures, even family.
 
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