A few days ago I stumbled upon a story in the Gospel of Luke that reminded me of a trip I made to Israel recently:
“To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’”
(Luke 9:59-60 ESV)
This conversation always puzzled me… Jesus just sounds so harsh here! I finally understood what Jesus meant when I walked through the garden of the Dominus Flevit church on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
In that garden they found an ancient burial place from the time of Jesus. You can see the graves that are cut out in the rock. And then there are ossuariums, small boxes in which they would put the bones of the deceased person.
When a person died, their bodies would be put in the rock cave, until the body was all decayed. A year after the burial the second burial would take place, and the bones of the person would be put in the ossuarium, so the grave could be used for the next deceased person in the family.
The person in the story in the Gospel of Luke who wanted to come after Jesus only after he buried his father didn’t really want to follow Jesus. His father must have just passed away. The first burial in the rock cave must have taken place. And now he wanted another six months or year before he was ready to follow Jesus, until he would have been able to put his father’s bones in the ossuarium.
Jesus challenged him: “Leave the dead to bury their own dead.” In other words: “Don’t wait for the perfect time to follow me. There never is a perfect time. Follow me now!”
The call to follow Jesus is always a call to follow him NOW. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next year. Now!
What is holding you back from wholly following him now? Surrender yourself to him today!
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