Paragraph 126

In another passage of the Gospel it is written: “And it came to pass that on a certain day the father of one of the disciples of Jesus had died. That disciple reporting the death of his father unto Jesus, asked for leave to go and bury him. Whereupon, Jesus, that Essence of Detachment, answered and said: “Let the dead bury their dead.”

Wow. What an interesting quote to put here. As we just saw, the previous paragraph references these two possible paths that we can tread. The first began with our spiritual life, while the second started with our spiritual death. Is Baha'u'llah reminding us of what the ramifications of this second path are?

Possibly.

But before we get into that, let's think about how this passage has been traditionally understood. In many churches, it is defense for a non-compassionate, condemnatory attitude. There is a story of a missionary in one such organization whose father had passed away while they were on mission overseas. They asked for permission to fly home to attend the funeral, but the church fathers said no, citing this reference. They felt that it was not a worthy use of the money. Needless to say, when this missionary did go home later, they left that particular church.

Is this what Jesus would have wanted? Was He so unconcerned about those who did not follow Him that He felt His followers shouldn't care about them either?

This doesn't seem likely.

In fact, it seems quite remote from what we know of Him.

So what else could it be?

To begin to get a better idea, we feel that we need to look back at the original reference in the Bible, Luke 9:60. In fact, we really need to look at all of Luke 9.

This is a chapter in which Jesus sends the disciples out to go teach His Cause. Peter has already recognized Him as the Messiah. Jesus has healed people and cast out demons. He has even predicted His own impending martyrdom. Finally, at the very end of this chapter, He points out to these disciples the full cost of truly following Him. He says that they will have no place to lay their head. Then He offers this line, followed by the idea that they will even have to leave their families behind.

But let's look again. The full statement, of which Baha'u'llah only quotes the first half, is "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

When read in the full context of that chapter, it is not a condemnation of those who may be seen as unworthy, but rather a caution of what it will cost them, the disciples, if they really want to follow Him.

Again, looking at this quote once more, it is even possible to read it as a command to go and attend the funeral. "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go...", He says. And while you are there, raise the dead. "...Proclaim the kingdom of God." Waste no opportunity.

This seems more likely. It feels more congruent with the full teachings of all the Messengers of God.

In fact, this notion of offering a choice, to both the disciples as well as the funeral attendees, makes even more sense when we look at the next paragraph.

Finally, by only quoting the first half of this statement of Jesus, Baha'u'llah has prompted us to go back and look at the entire context of the quote. With the simple method of using only a partial quote, He is helping us go back and review sacred Scripture.