Jesus' words about the dead burying their own dead may seem too harsh in the situation in which they were spoken. But on reflection, it is not hard to see that the situation itself was essentially critical, although the man whom Jesus called to follow Him apparently asked nothing extraordinary of Him. On the contrary, he was speaking of what we would normally call a sacred duty: burying his own father. There is an interesting interpretation of this request. Some commentators believe that the father of the man mentioned in the account was not already dead, but was still alive and awaiting death, either because of illness or simply because of advanced age. The man was asking for a postponement so that his father could live out in peace the—probably few—years remaining to him on earth. He was ready to follow Jesus; he was only asking for a delay.

But Jesus did not grant him this delay. Why? One might say that postponements weaken a person, often depriving them of the resolve they had at a particular moment, a resolve that fades with time because they never did what they had decided to do. But this is only one side of the matter. The other is that, in spiritual life, there is generally no “later” at all. God is outside time, and one can meet Him only in the present, only here and now. Yet “here and now,” as the meeting point between a person and God, is projected into one entirely specific moment in time and one entirely specific point in space. Jesus marked out precisely this point for the man mentioned in the account. At that point, the utmost concentration is required on God's presence, on the revelation of His will, and on the task set before the person in the context of all this.

But the man of whom the evangelist speaks does not have this concentration. He is not in the eternal present where his meeting with God took place; he is in the temporal present, where the past gives way to the future and the present proves to be not a meeting point with God but merely the place where what does not yet exist meets what no longer exists. The Savior's sharp words are needed to tear the man out of the temporal present and set him before God in the eternal present. This, of course, is still no guarantee in itself, for a person is free. But a moment of the greatest clarity possible for a person always becomes their moment of truth: the truth toward which they must take a stand—for the sake of the Kingdom and salvation.

Jesus says these words in response to the disciples' strange proposal to call down fire from heaven and destroy those who had refused to receive them. “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of,” the Savior exclaims bitterly. And these words contain a very important aspect of our faith.

With Christ's coming into the world, as with the moment when each person comes into contact with Him, judgment begins. According to the Lord's own words, judgment consists in this: the Light has come into the world, and everyone's deeds and intentions become visible in that Light. Each of us chooses between the Light and repentance, or darkness and self-satisfaction. Difficulties and dangers await us along this path; despite how obvious the choice appears, making it is far from easy. And often, very often, we find ourselves unable to follow Christ.

And now the Lord says that He did not come to “catch us out” in our unreadiness to receive Him and condemn us to destruction. No, the purpose of His coming is to save human souls. This is one of the most important reasons why He so often and so insistently warns His disciples against judging and condemning others. And this is an astonishing hope for us, who are unworthy of His sacrifice.

We have to travel quite a long road before arriving at the simple thought that whoever is not against us is for us. It is easier to look for enemies than to live among fellow fighters and fellow workers. It is more pleasant to consider oneself the final authority on truth than to acknowledge oneself as one among many. It takes a long time to digest the knowledge that you are not the first but the last among those whom the Lord has called. Along this road we are always trying to turn away from “whoever is not against you is for you” toward “whoever is not with Me is against Me.” We try to equate ourselves with the Lord and take the place of the first and best disciple, the one who has understood everything and will immediately reorganize the world according to their own understanding. It is precisely from this that the Lord protects us when He sets before us a child's, an infant's attitude toward hierarchy, authority, career advancement, our place in the world, and, ultimately, toward what we know at all about Him and about ourselves.