Devotion (The Trumpeter):
Let the dead bury their dead

Luke 9:59-60NIV

He said to another man, “Follow me.”But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Jesus responded to a man who has asked for the permission to go and bury his father and after will come and follow Him saying,
“Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Let a Pastor make such a statement, they would describe him as insensitive and overbearing.

Was the Master against funeral and burial? Not at all? The Bible says,

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn……..Romans 12:15KJV”

Jesus even talked about His own burial.

“She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial…….Mark 14:8KJV”
Again, children are to honor their parents. So why then will the Lord make such a statement?

There are some who even think the man was asking for a reburial of the bones of the father as their Jewish customs demanded but this surely is not the case here.

The emphasis that the Master is making here is about priorities, what should be most important in our lives.
He said

“Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of
God.”

The Jews who were busying themselves with taking care of the funeral and burial rites of the dead were as dead as the dead person himself, only that they didn’t know and understand.

Prior to this time, the man himself was a living dead and here he was offered a chance to life but was still having a misplaced priority.

First, be in life before you go thinking about the dead. The essence of the whole existence of creation has to do with the Kingdom of God. The primary reason for the Christian being on earth is to proclaim the Kingdom. Nothing should come first before that and nothing is more important than this. No matter what you have achieved in life, if you are not helping in the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, you are failing.
There are Christians who can follow traditions to do wake keeping on the body of the dead but have not ever prayed through the night for the salvation of family members.
If the family member dies, she will do wake keeping. What is more important?

The salvation of his soul or the wake keep?

As Christians, the Lord wants us to think differently from the world. We have been
taught what is more important, what will matter at the end. Let’s go for that which
really matters.

The Preacher says,
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, “I have no pleasure in them”;while neither the sun nor the light, nor the moon nor the stars be darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain;in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and the eyes that look out of the windows be darkened; and the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low; and he shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way; and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets;…..Ecclesiastes 12:1-5KJV”

God bless you!

Weekly Prayer
· Pray and intercede for unsaved souls in your family, immediate and far
· Pray for a harvest of souls into Light embassy ministries

Scriptural reference: John 4:35, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4, Acts 16:31,