“Lord, let me first go and bury my father. But Jesus answered and said to him, “follow me, and let the dead sepultem their dead” (Matthew 8, 21-22).

The words of the Master may seem very hard today to our hearts, but we need to take, in the spirit, the meaning of them, to teach us to live the Gospel in our lives.

The first thing to say: “the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” When we want to follow Jesus, when we decide to be his disciples, we need to bear in mind that we do not receive financial or material compensation for it. Let’s get to work, strive to earn the bread by the sweat of our work, our face, our dedication, but follow Jesus doesn’t make us richer and better than others. No way! Often, He makes us poor and dispossessed, because so was the master.

The master is saying that He didn’t have anywhere to lay His head: “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has no where to lay His head. “ (Matthew 8.20). Who wants to follow Jesus must have a sense of dispossession.

“Simplicity” does not mean living a life devoid or directionless, without insight or wisdom. But know how to live , know how to live in the time of plenty, but also the difficulties and knowing how to live with or without anything, God is blessing us. Never translate blessing as possession, with having too much or with plenty. Blessing is being in God’s grace, having the heart in God.

The second very important thing is that the one who wanted to follow Jesus offers an  an excuse: “Let me first go and bury my father.” We’re making excuses for not putting our hands to the plow, not committing ourselves to the Kingdom of God and making it happen. The apology will blame growing inside us.

If you need to take care of your father, mother or anyone else, follow Jesus when taking care of them. Be a disciple of Jesus in what you have to do, just don’t make excuses for your lack of commitment. It may be that what you put up an excuse, you go first there, and you do not leave it to follow Christ, to fulfill His mission.

God wants us to have a free heart, because only the free hearts can follow him. And “free” doesn’t mean we don’t have any commitments or responsibilities, but the freedom to assume our commitments with the heart turned on, tuned in and attached to the heart of our God!

God bless you!