The 3 Men...Part 2...Luke 9:59-60

Burial...

⁵⁹Jesus told someone else to come with him. But the man said, "Lord, let me wait until I bury my father."

Jesus specifically targeted this man, the second He spoke to in this section, and asked him to follow His lead. The man really wanted to, he was keen to do the right thing, but first he had to bury his father. Now this sounds like a fair enough request, Jesus surely would understand the importance of family and especially the importance of Jewish burial process. The Jews believed in the principle of k'vod hamet, honouring the dead, which, among other things, saw the body watched or guarded from the moment of death until after burial, and burial occur as quickly as possible. The only way that burial could be postponed for one day was if immediate family were in transit or there was not enough time before the Sabbath or a holiday, but if it was delayed for any other reason it was considered to be 'humiliation of the dead'  (http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=937). As an orthodox Jew, Jesus would have fully understood the necessity to honour the dead and therefore the importance for this man to return to his family before he could become one of His followers. Surely this was just one of those times when family takes priority.

Response Number 2...

⁶⁰Jesus answered, "Let the dead take care of the dead, while you go and tell about God's kingdom."

The Orthodox Jewish Bible uses the word 'mesim' for dead in this verse, meaning those who are spiritually unregenerate, or without renewal, perhaps making use of this situation to make another statement against the religious ones who were caught up in traditions that had grown over time at the cost of what the Torah and the Prophets were calling the people to. This calling was what Jesus was referring to, 'go and tell about God's kingdom' to the living which was much more important than taking care of those who were already dead. This was another harsh reality check for those who were thinking about dabbling in the teachings of this Jesus guy, it was going to be harder than just being nice to people. It would involve sacrifice.

There is an argument (and perhaps a common assumption) that this man's father was not already dead when Jesus called him. Going on the above understanding of death and burial, If his father had recently died then why was he following Jesus around and not assisting with the process of burial, or why was he not in mourning? It is possible that his hesitation was not about honouring the dead at all but he was actually waiting for his inheritance so he could look after his needs on the road. This was not what Jesus was looking for at all, especially as He knew what lay ahead for His followers (Luke 10:4).

So, this second man was stopped short by Jesus with what initially seemed like a heartless response, but in actual fact it was really another part of His litmus test for those that wanted to follow Him.