Daily Devotional For Thursday, October 2, 2025
Good morning Southside! If you have been reading these daily devotionals, we are making our way through the Gospel of Matthew and picking up where we left off yesterday. We read this in Matthew 8:21-22, “Another of His disciples said, ‘Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.’ (22) But Jesus told him, ‘Follow Me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead’” (NLT). Does Jesus seem callous, cold-hearted, insensitive to a man whose father has died? Now before we jump to conclusions and throw Jesus “under the bus” or to the lions, we need to understand the context here.
The Greek New Testament text implies a future event that has not happened in the present. Meaning, the man’s father has not died yet. He simply wants to put off following Jesus until his father dies and he inherits all his father’s wealth. It is possible that this man did not want to incur the wrath of a father for him dropping everything to follow an itinerant Jewish teacher. We are never told how Zebedee responded when his sons, James and John, the “sons of thunder,” who dropped everything in the family fishing business to follow Jesus.
It seems to me that this man did not want to follow Jesus at that moment and Jesus picked up on his hesitancy and asked him to pay the cost of discipleship. Jesus understood Jewish culture laws and traditions of funerals and burial requirements, and He is not asking this man to ignore them or abdicate his responsibilities in fulfilling these. A loving son would fulfill these even if he was following Jesus.
It seems this man had divided loyalties. He was torn between following Jesus in the present if it cost him his inheritance in the future. This reminds us of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money” (NLT). There are no exceptions here especially to those “health & wealth” Christians.
Jesus’ response is part of the radical discipleship theme: “Let the dead bury their own dead.” Jesus made sure those who wanted to follow Him counted the cost and set aside any conditions they might have. “The dead” in Aramaic can also mean “the dying.” So, it is possible that what Jesus was saying was, “Let the dying bury the dead.” In other words, let those who are spiritually dying (those who have not responded to the call to commitment) stay home and handle responsibilities such as burying the dead.
New Testament scholar Bruce B. Barton writes this: “While to us this may sound heartless, it was not without precedent. A high priest and those who had taken the Nazirite vow were required by the law to avoid the corpse of even a parent (Leviticus 21:11 and Numbers 6:6).
"A later Jewish precedent says that if there were enough people in attendance, a student of the Torah should not stop his study to bury the dead. Jesus placed commitment to God even above these precedents. As God’s Son, Jesus did not hesitate to demand complete loyalty. Even family loyalty was not to take priority over the demands of obedience. His direct challenge forces us to ask ourselves about our priorities in following Him. We must not put off the decision to follow Jesus, even though other loyalties compete for our attention” (Source: Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary, “Matthew,” pp. 160-161).
What we see in this “would-be” disciple is a strategy used by many not to follow Jesus now – delay. Jesus knows us well. Where we have another “first,” we will also have another “second” and “third.” We can give all kinds of valid reasons in our minds for procrastinating in following the Lord. Jesus demands an unconditional commitment to follow Him.
What is confusing here is that when we read or hear “disciples,” we automatically assume the original 12 disciples. In the Greek New Testament, the word is [μαθητής, mathetes]. The word literally means “one who sits at the feet of.” In this case it is a general word to refer to any kind of student who wants to learn from a master teacher. This man must have been following Jesus for some time and he wanted “in” – but only on his terms. If the man’s father had actually died, then following Jesus would be a violation of the Jewish law since he was required to fulfill his responsibilities as the first-born son.
This man wanted to remain at home on the family estate and then handle all the arrangements for his father’s burial after he died and then be head of the family with all the rights it gave. This man delays because he wants a “piece of the pie" from back home. To those of us who wish to follow Jesus, there can be no wait, or delay. They follow Him now without any reservations or hidden agendas. If you have reluctance, then it is because Jesus is not your #1 priority nor is discipleship. Everyone it seems wants Jesus on their terms, not His.
Assignment: Are you willing to abandon all for Jesus? Are you willing to follow Him no matter where He leads you? Do you have any excuses or obstacles that keep you from doing this? If this was you coming to Jesus as this man did, what do you think Jesus would say to you was necessary for you to follow Him with no strings attached?
Scripture To Meditate On: Luke 14:26-27, “If you want to be My disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be My disciple. (27) And if you do not carry your own cross and follow Me, you cannot be My disciple” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I know I do not follow You the way I should. I want both at times – Christ and my culture; You my Master and money; Your will and then my will. I want Your heart and commitment to do what God the Father sent You to do. Please forgive me for my half-heartedness and vacillation between Your call on my life and the world’s. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly