Looking to the Living

There were these two phrases that buzzed around my head,

Let the dead bury the dead and Why do you seek the living among the dead?

It still sounds like a very harsh statement from Jesus – let the dead bury the dead. He had called someone to follow Him and they had reasonably said that they needed to go and bury their father. That’s a perfectly reasonable responsibility to fulfil. Jesus’ response appears to be insensitive.

It sounds like such a bizarre statement from the men in dazzling apparel – why do you seek the living among the dead? The women saw their Saviour crucified. They saw Him suffer, bleed and die. They saw Him die. As far as they were concerned, He was dead. They even knew where He was buried. They had come with the spices prepared for Him. It was not unreasonable at all to expect to attend to the body of the one they love.

In both circumstances, however, the issue was about prospective perspective. In both accounts the perspective was on what was rather than on what was to be. Jesus’ call to discipleship was not being insensitive to the real needs of the individual, it adjusted the perspective to look to life rather than dwell on the dead. The men in dazzling apparel were reminding the women that Jesus had told them what would happen. Jesus had told them when it came to Lazarus. Jesus had told them when He predicted what would happen to Him as He headed for Jerusalem. The crux of the matter is that Jesus is for the living and proves that by defeating death to pronounce Life to the full.

From time to time we need vision adjusted to remember that it’s good to look for the living. Not barely existing, not ekeing out from day to day an idea of survival. Jesus shows us what it is to genuinely live and He invites us to look to Him and live.

Are we looking to the living?

(Photo by Ant Rozetsky on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden