Being About the Business of Life

“Jesus refused. “First things first. Your business is life, not death. Follow me. Pursue life.” ” (Matthew 8:22, The Message)

This is Christ's paraphrased response to the man who would go and bury his father before he follows Christ.  The statement Your business is life, not death. Follow me resonates.  There was nothing more important than following Christ, not even attending to the dead.  How tragic it would have been if this man skipped the chance of life because he was too worried about the business of death. 

Christ does not tell the man not to bury his father, or that burying his father is not worthy of his attention.  He wants the man to understand the weightiness of the decision, and not to miss what he is seeing.  Christ first.  Everything else, second.