The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 9:57-62 comments: let the dead bury their dead

Luke 9:57 ¶  And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 58  And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 59  And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60  Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. 61  And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 62  And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Here, Christ responds to a request with a metaphor. After one man promised to follow Him wherever He went another man asked that he be permitted to bury his father. Jesus replies with two meanings for being dead. He tells the man to let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead and go preach the kingdom of God. Keep in mind how the fisherman disciples left their work immediately to follow Him. Another person wanted to go home and say goodbye to his family and Jesus told him that a person who couldn’t just walk away without looking back was not fit for the kingdom of God. We also have the statement in Luke 14:26 that anyone who holds his family in higher regard than Jesus can’t be His disciple.

These are important doctrinal statements. But, are we, as Christians, to be like Buddha and abandon our families? Is Christ giving us a warrant to refuse to honor familial obligations, duties and affections that God gave us?

Or, is this strictly for the time that Christ was walking on the earth, the daytime in a spiritual and very miraculous sense before the night would fall and He would not be physically walking in the flesh with His disciples? Notice how Jesus and Paul use day and night as metaphors for the periods of time before and after the crucifixion and resurrection.

John 9:4  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Romans 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

There is another set of verses that gives people today trouble like these in Luke.

Mark 3:28  Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: 29  But he that shall blaspheme

against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

30  Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

Is this possible today, after the Resurrection? Can someone commit such a sin that they have no possible chance to be forgiven by God?

Many preachers would say yes. They would encourage you also to walk away from family obligations or at least put them on the back burner so you can do what they require you to do. They will say you aren’t fit for God’s kingdom if you place your family above service to God, which really means you aren’t fit, in their words, if you don’t place your devotion to the preacher’s will and whims above your family.

But, does that represent the entirety of Christian teaching? When we look at the entire New Testament and specifically the commands given to us by Paul we get a larger perspective. First, remember that Jesus is talking to His Jewish followers and would-be followers before His crucifixion and resurrection. He is announcing Himself to the Jews and He is on the way to the Cross. Time is very short.

Let me start backwards with the Mark, chapter 3, verses on blaspheming the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, the very mind of God as Christ is the very body of God and God the Father is the very soul of God, the seat of will and self-identity, always points to Christ and never to Himself. He is the spiritual counterpart to a John the Baptist announcing Christ in the flesh. He points at the Saviour of mankind.

John 14:26  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

What prompted Jesus’ statement in Mark 3 was that those speaking against had said about Him as He walked the earth He hath an unclean spirit. The idea that the very mind of God, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, that is present moving in all creation from the beginning and does His will in every cell function, heartbeat, wave of the sea, or fluttering of a bird’s wings is an evil spirit and that was what was the operational entity behind Christ’s work of salvation would not be overlooked. It was an unpardonable sin.

Typically, when you hear someone reject Christ today they will deny He exists or existed, claim He was simply a remarkable teacher which propagandists created a whole deity mythology around, or that they’re good people and they don’t need to be saved by Him or anyone else. I have never heard anyone reject salvation through Christ because they said that Christ was an evil person intent on creating havoc and causing harm or that He was demon-possessed. They might say that about Christians, though. No, that was something the people who opposed Him at the time said.

We Baptists, for the most part, do not believe you can lose your salvation because you did not save yourself.

John 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Titus 3:4  But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6  Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7  That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

And we are sealed until the day of redemption, our resurrection.

2Corinthians 1:21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Ephesians 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 4:30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

So, since you cannot lose your salvation the only way to interpret the Mark 3 verses for us is to say that there are those who will never be saved as they will always be against God’s work of redeeming mankind to Himself, or at least as much as will accept His free gift of mercy. But, for those at that time walking on the earth with Him it was an apparent danger. The time was filled with spiritual warfare and the unseen world, which we are sometimes given a glimpse of, is very hard at work.

It is true that Jesus told His disciples in their time that to hold their own families in higher regard than Himself and the gospel message made them unworthy of Him. By cross-referencing the following verses we see that to hate can also mean to love one less than another.

Luke 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And we see, in the context of riches, Peter’s lament and Jesus’ promise in this verse.

Matthew 19:27  Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? 28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

But, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, wrote about family relations. First, the responsibility of taking care of one’s own family.

1Timothy 5:8  But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

2Corinthians 12:14  Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

1Timothy 5:4  But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.

(nephew at one time also meant grandson)

There is no general warrant in Christianity for anyone to willingly abandon their family. The message here in Luke was for the first century AD followers and would-be followers of Christ in the flesh as He marched on His way to glory.

Still, much good preaching can be made and has been done regarding walking away mentally and spiritually from your past ways of looking at things, regarding sin, and on what justifies you. And, of course, as Jesus notes in 12:53, your family may resist your faith in Christ. Add this to the difficulty of suffering as a Christian, and you can see many parallels between Jesus’ statements and the decisions a new Christian is often forced to make to stay true to their faith.

Jesus, with no home of His own, whose own family He regards as those who obey His word, looking beyond the grave to eternity, is on His way to the Cross and the Empty Tomb for the salvation of mankind. Those who will follow must drop everything and follow Him now, not looking back, or longing for the life they had.