Luke 9:59-60 And he said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.… I. The importance of a prompt and resolute devotedness of mind to the great concern of religion. This is, in other words, to follow Christ; and it includes three things. 1. The candid reception of His revelation. 2. To follow Christ involves a surrender of ourselves to Him as our Saviour and Governor. There must be transactions of a personal nature between every such individual and Christ. First, he must seek to Him, and to God by Him, for reconciliation. Next, he must pay attention to the institutions of Christ. They must have his punctual and cordial regard. Moreover, every such person must be careful to comply with the moral precepts of the New Testament, as well as its more spiritual injunctions. 3. To follow Christ imports also ardent solicitude for the prevalence of His religion. II. The egregrious folly of stifling impressions in favour of such devotedness, by worldly considerations. Our Lord's language implies this: "Follow Me; and let the dead bury their dead." Leave the cares of the world to those who have no such call of God upon their hearts, but by no means postpone compliance with it for their sake. It is peculiarly sinful, then, to stifle religious impressions by the influence of worldly considerations. Yet — 1. Some are prevented from an immediate compliance with their convictions by the notion that there is a happiness to be found in the world, which they, in that case, would be required to abandon. An entire mistake. Religion imposes no gloomy austerities, no unnecessary self-inflictions. 2. Some are prevented from going the full length of their religious convictions by the remonstrances of worldly relatives and friends. 3. The prompt devotedness of other minds is prevented by some particular worldly object of pursuit upon which they are at that moment intent, and which promises, by its attainment, soon to leave them at liberty. But this is the artifice of Satan. It quiets the present alarm; it hinders the heart, at this time, from closing with the call of God. (J. Leifchild.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.WEB: He said to another, "Follow me!" But he said, "Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father." |
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