#295 Gold, Silver & the Week Ahead w/ Raymond Crews

Matthew 8:19-22

”Just then, a religious scholar approached him and said, “Teacher, I’ll follow you wherever you go!” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no true home in this world.” Then another man spoke up and said, “Lord, I’ll follow you, but first I must take care of my aged father and bury him when he dies.” But Jesus said to him, “Now is the time to follow me, and let those who are dead bury their own dead.”“

I always found this scripture so shocking and kind of offensive. But the Passion Translation explains it better than I’ve understood it. It explains that in Jewish culture at the time of Jesus gave the family the responsibility of a re-internment of the bones of the deceased into an ossuary one year after death. And goes on to say, it’s possible that this man’s father had passed away but the year had not yet completed. He was saying I’ll follow you after the year is completed. Jesus is not telling him to dishonor his father by not doing a burial. But the custom of waiting a year - the tradition - must never trump following Jesus. And what struck me this morning before I read the footnotes is - if they truly understood that Jesus was the Messiah, what could have possibly kept them from following him? This is the Son of God who holds the key of David. This is the only one who can save your soul. What could be more important than following Him? And that should still speak to us today. The order set out by the scripture is this - love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength  and then love your neighbor as yourself.