Mt 8:18-22
18When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side. 19A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” 21Another of [his] disciples said to him, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” 22But Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”
BURY THE DEAD: Among the Romans, burial for all persons was the norm because it was thought that to leave a corpse unburied had unpleasant repercussions on the fate of the departed. Against this backdrop, the Roman habit of refusing burial to executed criminals is all the more tragic.
Among the Jews, burial is a sacred duty. Looking after the parent and being present at the funeral are the last obligation of filial love that a child ought to do. Burying those who are not one’s relative is considered a charitable work. Tobit would give bread to the hungry, and if he saw one of his people who had died and been thrown outside the walls of Nineveh, he would bury him (Tob 1:17).
Could Jesus be unmindful of this sacred duty? Could he not concede to a prospective disciple a delay of a few hours so he could first do the last rites due his dead father?
It is hardly conceivable that the compassionate Jesus would not give consideration to someone to perform a sacred obligation. From all indications, the would-be disciple’s father is not dead yet. What the man wishes is for Jesus to permit him to wait first for his father’s death so that he could provide for his funeral and then leave. For Jesus this is too much attachment. One cannot wait until all family connections are satisfied, or one will never be able to follow the call.