Matthew 8:22

Follow me. See on Mark 2:14.

Let the dead. This statement appears on the surface to be rather harsh, but such is not the case when it is understood in the setting of the time when it was made. As pointed out (see on v. 21), these words are in part figurative, in view of the fact that the father was very likely still living and the time of his death was indefinitely in the future. What Christ probably means is, “Let the spiritually dead bury those who are literally dead.”

In the case of this man there was danger that procrastination would rob him of his good intentions, and it would be well for him to make the break with his old associations now while right impulses were strongest. The Christian, particularly the one who would be of service in the cause of Christ, must act promptly when God impresses his heart to do so (see Acts 8:26, 27). Discerning the man’s character, Christ presented for his consideration a picture of the fundamental change that must come about in his life if he would make a success of discipleship. He would have to make first things first and relegate non-essentials to a place of secondary importance. Christ’s response to his request was designed to stimulate him to action (see Luke 9:60).

For Christ to have reversed the counsel given each of these two would-be followers would have been most inappropriate, for it would have encouraged the scribe to follow his natural inclination by leaping into action without due consideration of what was involved, and the second man, to delay action in response to his own inclination.