The Radicality of Jesus

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 11:05 pm by Ben Witherington

The Radicality of Jesus 2015-03-13T23:05:44-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Despite our very best efforts to domesticate Jesus, or recreate him in our own image, Jesus continues to burst our conventional ideas and images of what he must have been like. This is especially clear in his sayings about calling people away from their families in order for them to follow Jesus. We’ve discussed sayings like ‘I did not come to bring peace but sword….’ before on this blog, not to mention Mk. 3.31-35, but today we need to address certainly one of the most shocking things Jesus ever said or did, when it comes to ‘family values’.

Luke 9.59-60/Mt. 8.21-22 tells a brief tale about a ‘disciple’ (i.e. a learner– specifically identified as such in Matthew, and implied in Luke by the command to go and proclaim the Good News). The man in question says to Jesus ‘first let me go and bury my father’. In the response in Matthew Jesus replies succinctly ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead’. In the Lukan expanded form ‘let the dead bury their own dead, as for you, go and proclaim the Good News’. Martin Hengel long ago wrote a helpful little monograph on this radical teaching which I would recommend you read when you can. It is entitled The Charismatic Leader and his Followers.

As Hengel points out, Jesus is urging something that would have been seen not merely as shocking and against traditional family values, but even as a violation of the Mosaic commandment to honor your father and mother. For instance, in Mishnah Ber. 3.1 we are told that the duty of a son to see that his father gets an honorable burial comes before other religious duties even including the duty to recite the Shema (the ‘hear O Israel….’ credo).

While the Matthean form of this saying speaks only of following Jesus as a priority, in the Lukan form we are told that proclaiming the Gospel takes priority over burying one’s own father. No wonder Pharisees and Sadducees and other guardians of traditional Jewish family values were in an uproar about Jesus. In Jesus’ view, literally everything was supposed to take a back seat to discipleship to Jesus and proclamation of the Kingdom, including the highest family duties. Clearly Jesus had never read the book ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’.

In addition to all this the zinger “leave the dead to bury the dead…’ presumes that those who are not among Jesus’ disciples are spiritually dead! The spiritually dead should be burying the physically dead, but for those who want to follow Jesus and be his disciples, there must be other priorities. For sure this is not the Sunday School Jesus I learned about when I was growing up. It is also not the Mr. Rogers Jesus where ‘never was heard a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day’.

This story should be compared to the similar one in 1 Kings 19.20-21, the story of the calling of Elisha. The response of Elijah to the request of Elisha to go and kiss his parents first, can be debated (does he tell them, ‘go on home, you don’t have to follow me’, or does he mean ‘you’re not ready yet’… or something else?) but the contrast could hardly be stronger between Elisha’s next actions and the implied actions of the disciple in the Jesus story. Elisha completely destroys the tools and means of his former occupation and goes and follows and becomes the servant of Elijah. Nothing like this is said in the Jesus story, but no less radical a commitment is implied in the ‘let the dead bury the dead… you follow me..’

The truth is, the real Jesus continues to challenge many of our basic assumptions about priorities, what is really important in life, and what God most requires of us. Think on these things.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 6, 2012

'Flight' Risk---Decensus ad Inferno

Next Post

November 8, 2012 A Dog Gone Mistake

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz