As a teacher, clarity, coherence, and consistency hold a place of privilege in my instruction. Contradiction in the classroom can be a quick path to confusion and frustration. How, then, do we deal with Christ the Teacher’s seeming inconsistency when he directs this follower to “Let the dead bury the dead?”

Was it not just two chapters prior where Jesus was moved with pity for the widow burying her son, prompting him to stop, intervene, and say, “Young man, I say to you, arise?” Or, in John’s moving account, was it not Jesus who traveled to Bethany, wept over the death of his friend Lazarus, and raised him from the dead?

As with teaching, context matters.

When these followers approach Jesus, he has recently been transfigured in front of his closest disciples and is making his way toward Jerusalem, where he knows what fate awaits. In addressing these followers, he is not contradicting himself but responding in context by enlisting another trait privileged by effective teachers—a sense of urgency.

Recognizing his time is drawing to a close, Christ urges those who seek to follow him to do so now. Of course, there is a moment to mourn the dead and a time to say farewell to our family. Jesus does this with his mother and beloved disciple who stand at the foot of the cross. But I think he is urging us in this gospel passage to avoid making excuses for not following Christ today.

With a sense of urgency, Jesus calls us to prayer today. The poor, the hungry, and the oppressed are amongst us today. We must not look to what is left behind as we encounter Christ and those he calls us to serve today.