What did Jesus mean when He said -
"And another of His disciples said, Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead." Matt 8:21-22 Here's one application.
"Allow me first to bury my father" in other words, to finish the days of mourning for my father. What the young man really meant was that he did not feel in spirits for joining such a public cause as that of Jesus - involving, as it did, such contact with the world; he wanted for a while to nurse his grief in seclusion.
There are many whose sorrow takes the form of this young man's sorrow. We have a tendency in the time of bereavement to resist motion, to keep indoors, to go nowhere.
And yet, Jesus bids us go. As he bade the young man, so he bids you. You cannot cure your own sorrow by nursing it; the longer it is nursed, the more deep-rooted it grows. It will be harder for you to go out to-morrow than it is today; and it will be harder still the day after. You cannot cure your sorrow by nursing it; but you can cure it by nursing another’s sorrow. Do you think that Jesus wanted this young man to be a stoic! Was it from the ties of the heart He called him when He said "Follow me"? No, it was to the ties of the heart - other ties of other hearts. It was no foreign scene to which Jesus called him - no scene foreign to his grief. Here in your hour of sorrow does He summon you. He bids you to bury your sorrow - not in the wine cup, but in the common pain of others. It is by tears He will heal your tears; it is by grief He will cure your grief. Come out into the common pains of others! To follow Him is to follow the stream of universal human suffering. Bury your sorrow by that stream!"
George Matteson.
There are many whose sorrow takes the form of this young man's sorrow. We have a tendency in the time of bereavement to resist motion, to keep indoors, to go nowhere.
And yet, Jesus bids us go. As he bade the young man, so he bids you. You cannot cure your own sorrow by nursing it; the longer it is nursed, the more deep-rooted it grows. It will be harder for you to go out to-morrow than it is today; and it will be harder still the day after. You cannot cure your sorrow by nursing it; but you can cure it by nursing another’s sorrow. Do you think that Jesus wanted this young man to be a stoic! Was it from the ties of the heart He called him when He said "Follow me"? No, it was to the ties of the heart - other ties of other hearts. It was no foreign scene to which Jesus called him - no scene foreign to his grief. Here in your hour of sorrow does He summon you. He bids you to bury your sorrow - not in the wine cup, but in the common pain of others. It is by tears He will heal your tears; it is by grief He will cure your grief. Come out into the common pains of others! To follow Him is to follow the stream of universal human suffering. Bury your sorrow by that stream!"
George Matteson.
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