And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And another of his disciples, &c. This disciple was not one of the twelve Apostles, but some other person who was called by Christ to follow Him. We must supply from Luke 9:59, that Christ previously said to this same person, Follow me. He did not refuse the call of Christ, but wished, after having discharged his debt of filial piety, to be more free to follow Him. So says the Gloss. From the answer of this disciple, given by S. Matthew , we may understand his questioning and vocation by Christ.
Lord. Reverently and obediently he speaks to Christ as desiring to do Him service; whereas the Scribe, with somewhat too much freedom, addressed Christ as Teacher (magister). The one was deservedly left, the other chosen. How much of evil was there in the Scribe? how much of good was there in this man? says S. Augustine. (Serm9 de Verb. Domini.)
Suffer me first, &c. Theophylact, and after him Franc. Lucas, think that his father was still living, and that he said in effect— "Suffer me to rema...
In this place the question is raised as to whether the honor due God does not take precedence over the duty to honor one’s parents. When the two conflict, it is necessary to hold to the one and despise the other, especially if honoring parents gets in the way of pleasing God. The worship of God requires putting God before all other things we think of as precious. In this way we will not, like Cain, be found relegating secondary things to God. In a similar way, the old law prohibited the priests from drawing near to dead bodies and commanded them to keep away even from services for their own family and not to succumb to excessive fleshly sympathy. But while the law taught through shadows, Christ teaches in a way wholly transparent and undisguised. Whoever wishes to serve God must not let any ties of kinship become an excuse, on grounds of preoccupation, for not following Christ. Christ himself, for the benefit of those who were with him, even slighted his own mother and brothers, saying...
Did you mark the difference? How one impudently says, I will follow You wherever You go; but this other, although asking a thing of sacred duty, says, Allow me. Yet He suffered him not, but says, Let the dead bury their dead, but do thou follow me. For in every case He had regard to the intention. And wherefore did He not suffer him? One may ask. Because, on the one hand, there were those that would fulfill that duty, and the dead was not going to remain unburied; on the other, it was not fit for this man to be taken away from the weightier matters. But by saying, their own dead, He implies that this is not one of His dead. And that because he that was dead, was, at least as I suppose, of the unbelievers.
Now if you admire the young man, that for a matter so necessary he besought Jesus, and did not go away of his own accord; much rather do thou admire him for staying also when forbidden.
Was it not then, one may say, extreme ingratitude, not to be present at the burial of his fat...
