Matthew 8:21 Commentary and Bible Study

But now the opposite case is given – the one who is too slow. This apparently takes place on the same occasion, after Christ has announced his intention to cross over Galilee. This man counts himself to be a disciple, but Christ is about to depart and he is in danger of being left behind. He has a choice to make – will he follow the Lord now, or will he put off following in order to bury his father, and risk losing his desire to follow. He is full of reluctance and hesitation. It may be that his father was still alive, and that he wanted to wait until he passed away in order to receive the inheritance before he began to follow the Lord. That seems rather unlikely since he implies he is going to follow in due course, and if he had to wait for his healthy father to die, he could not be sure when that would happen. Also, Christ calls his father dead, by which he means dead spiritually, not belonging to the elect, and that is not something he would have revealed about an individual who was still alive. Alternatively, it could be that his father was sick and about to die and that the man wanted to support the family at this time. For the same reason, that too seems a remote possibility, and it is also hard to understand how the Lord would not want him to support his mother, unless she herself was already dead. However hard the saying appears to be, it is surely best to understand that his father had already died. He is asking to stay behind and complete the burial ceremony, and then come and follow the Lord. Crucial to the Lord’s answer is the fact that his father has died an unbeliever. He is not only dead physically, but he is also dead spiritually. The man comes from an unbelieving family, and he is perhaps the only one who has been brought to faith. His father needs to be buried, but there are others who can bury him. Because he has died an unbeliever, there is no hope for him. There is nothing more his believing son can do for him. It is the will of God that his father is not to be saved, and this hard fact must be accepted by the would-be-disciple son. That is Christ’s solemn but clear direction to him. He is being called to follow now. He must now let go of his father as one who is eternally lost. There is a burial to be performed, but that can be carried out by those who like his father are – currently – still dead in their sins. Just as the Lord’s mother and brother and sister are those who do the will of his Father which is in heaven (Matthew 12:24-50), so those who do not believe and who love the world, belong to another family. That family can look after its own.As far as this man is concerned, the Lord’s departure is bad timing. If only it had happened a day or two later, he would have been happy to join the Lord and follow him wherever he went. But the Lord’s timing is never wrong, and this has happened to test the man, and to allow Christ’s words about discipleship to be recorded in Scripture. If it is right to follow the Lord tomorrow, it is right to follow him today. This is not like some decision that can legitimately be delayed for practical reasons; discipleship is not something that can for any reason be put off. It is always right to begin immediately.