Matthew 8:22 — Community Reflections

MATTHEW 8:22 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.”

And Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead. The shocking instruction — leave the dead to bury their own dead — is one of the hardest sayings in the Gospels. The dead who bury the dead are those who are spiritually dead, the community that does not know the urgency of the kingdom moment. The call to discipleship creates a new ordering of priorities that can override even the deepest cultural obligations. Luke 14:26 says the disciple must love father and mother less than Jesus — the family bond is not destroyed but relativized by the priority of the kingdom's call.

Church Fathers on Matthew 8:22

Because Christ not only healed the body, but purified the soul also, He desired to shew forth true wisdom, not only by curing diseases, but by doing nothing with ostentation; and therefore it is said, 'Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he commanded his disciples to cross over to the other side.' This He did at once teaching us to be lowly, softening the ill-will of the Jews, and teaching us to do nothing with ostentation.
Chrysostom · 4th century

Or; He did this as one desiring to shun the thronging of the multitude. But they hung upon Him in admiration, crowding to see Him. For who would depart from one who did such miracles? Who would not wish to look upon His open face, to see His mouth that spoke such things? For if Moses' countenance was made glorious, and Stephen’s as that of an Angel, gather from this how it was to have been supposed that their common Lord must have then appeared; of whom the Prophet speaks,…
Remigius · 9th century

The name 'disciples' is not to be supposed to be confined to the twelve Apostles; for we read of many disciples besides the twelve.
Hilary of Poitiers · 4th century

Read all 27 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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