The Dead Can Bury Their Own Dead

Public Meeting Week 7, Sem 2, 2022 | Luke 9:51-62

We come to transition in the gospel of Luke. Up to this point, everything in the gospel takes place roughly around Galilee, with the focus being who Jesus is. Beginning in chapter 9, you have Jesus turning to Jerusalem. As he begins his journey there the focus becomes what it means to follow him. The closer Jesus gets to Jerusalem, the more he has to explain to his disciples what he’s going to do. Because while they think Jesus is going to Jerusalem to become king, we know Jesus is actually going to Jerusalem to suffer and die. The first stop along the way is Samaria.

Luke 9:51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 

There is a lot of bad blood between the Jews and the Samaritans. If you didn’t know, the kingdom of Israel was at its peak during King Solomon’s time. He was the son of King David. After Solomon died the country fell into civil war splitting into two. 10 tribes in the north, which became Israel, and 2 in the south which became Judah. Then there’s hundreds of years of war which ended with both Israel and Judah being completely conquered by foreign countries and the people taken away into exile and the land given over to foreigners. The Samaritans were the descendants of those left behind in the north who inter-married with these foreigners while the Jews in the south were allowed to come back after many years and saw themselves as the pure bloods who remained faithful to God.

All of that is to say they hate each other. It's not surprising then that a village in Samaria refused to welcome a famous Jewish rabbi on his way to Jerusalem.

54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village.

You’ve got to love their response. Most of us would rightly be appalled at the disciples. Talk about overreaction. Someone is racist towards you and want to microwave the whole place. Why? Well, there’s actually biblical precedent for it. That’s what the prophet Elijah did when he was confronted by soldiers from Samaria – twice! You can read about it in 2 Kings 1. In fact the connection to Elijah can’t be more obvious when we consider what happened earlier in chapter 9.

Luke 9:28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

James and John didn’t come up with the idea to call fire all on their own. They were Jews who knew their bibles and their history. They recalled meeting Elijah who experienced similar rejection by the Samaritans. What’s going on is they had a pre-determined worldview by which they interpreted events. Their thinking has always been Samaritans are bad people. They turned away from God by mixing with foreigners, unlike us. So being rejected by the Samaritans only validated their worldview. These people obviously haven’t changed at all from the time they rejected Elijah. So isn’t it fitting to respond the same way as Elijah did?

And before you scoff at the barbarity, don’t you realise that we do the same thing today? Sure, we don’t go around blowing people up. We are civilised people. Yet like the disciples, we have an interpretive grid that colors everything we see. I’ll give you an example. Suppose you hear news reports of a crime being committed. How different would your reaction be if the perpetrators were aboriginal compared to white Australians? When you have a group assignment and you see the names of the people you’re going to be with and yours is the only English name, what will be your initial reaction? Don’t tell me there isn’t bias feeding into stereotypes and vice versa.

So while we are shocked at the disciples’ reaction in this passage, we can’t be too quick to judge because you know what, everyone does the same thing. After 2000 years, racism is still as strong as ever. There is even more animosity between people groups in Palestine today than back then. We can’t help ourselves. Everyone does the same thing. Except Jesus. His response is absolutely astounding.

55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village.

Jesus doesn’t just say no to the disciples. He rebukes them. Why? These guys clearly don’t like Jesus, they don’t care about him, they don’t want him in their town. These are the same people who think society will be better off without religion. No proselytising on the streets. No mentions of God or Jesus in schools. No special tax exemptions for churches. How do we react? Sure, we don’t burn heretics, not anymore at least. But I fear the difference between resisting secularism and calling down fire from above may be smaller than we realise. Jesus doesn’t just say refuse the disciples, he rebukes them. He defends the Samaritans. Isn’t that amazing? Why? The answer is in the second part of the passage.

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

At first glance, this sounds like Jesus giving people a disclaimer. Someone says to Jesus, I’ll follow you and Jesus responds you sure? It’s going to be hard. Like those checkboxes you have to tick to indicate you’ve read the terms and conditions, which we all tick but no one actually reads them. Is that what Jesus is doing here? Making sure we know how hard it’s going to be? It sounds like it at first, but the more I think about this, I think the point is not how hard following Jesus is going to be, but how different. It’s not how difficult, but how different. Take the first example.

Foxes have holes, birds have nests

What is Jesus saying to the first candidate? Follow me and you might end up homeless? But if that’s the case, the metaphor should be foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but my followers have nowhere to lay their heads. It doesn’t say that does it. First of all, notice Jesus uses the term Son of Man. Jesus says the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. If you were Jewish you know that’s wrong. The Son of Man can’t suffer and die. Even Peter took Jesus aside to rebuke him saying you’ve got it wrong Jesus. Remember that? You’re mistaken, Jesus.

The dead can bury their own dead

Jesus sent the first man home to think before committing. Here a man wants to go home and prepare before committing and Jesus says no? Why the double standards? Surely one of the most important duties for any Jewish person is to provide a proper burial for their parents. This is not just harsh, it’s almost scandalous. Besides, the dead can’t bury their own dead. They’re dead! What are you even talking about Jesus?

Don’t look back or you’ll be disqualified

It is here that things become clear. There is a connection to someone in the Old Testament and it isn’t Lot and his wife. It’s Elijah again. Let me read to you 1 Kings 19.

1 Kings 1:19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”

“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”

21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

Elisha first went to say farewell to those at home. Elisha quite literally had his hand on the plow and nevertheless turned back. And we know Elisha carried over Elijah’s prophetic ministry. Would you say Elisha is unfit? What’s going on? First of all, the word translated “fit for the kingdom of God” (v.62) has more to do with usefulness than qualification. It is to be fit for purpose. So what I think Jesus is saying is he doesn’t need followers like Elisha. No. It’s not how difficult, but how different. Jesus is not just another in a long line of prophets and rabbis. That’s why he rebukes his disciples for wanting to do what Elijah did. What’s the difference?

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 

If we had more time we’d go deeper into this, but this same language was also used with someone in the Old Testament – Elijah. But where Elijah was taken up to heaven on chariots of fire, Jesus was taken up on the cross of calvary. Elijah’s was a display of strength. Jesus on the cross was the ultimate display of weakness. The path into the kingdom of God is not by being the best person we can be, but by Jesus on the cross, carrying all the guilt we deserve. That’s the point of this passage.

His journey to Jerusalem brought us to God. Being a Christian is not about becoming the sort of person that gets into the kingdom of God. It is about Jesus who went to the cross and brought us in. That’s the difference. Follow Jesus not because you want to get in, but because you have got in.