Matt 8:21-22
Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
One of the beliefs in Christianity that subconsciously holds thousands back from having a close relationship with Jesus is that they have to go back in their lives history and take care of the things that have occurred in the past. Like the traditional procedures of a funeral, there are traditional doctrines and methods that causes people to believe they have to go through different protocols of burying their past: Intimate things that may have “fathered” or led them to think and walk differently than the walk of Christ.
Yet in this passage with the encounter of Jesus, all he requires of this person is forget those things which are behind and reach forward to those things which are ahead, and press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:13-14
Jesus also is trying to free this person of “false” responsibility that has been laid on them from the traditions of men. For when this person was called, they instantly were a new creation, all things from that point on are new, and the old have past away in Christ.
If a person believes in the truth of the gospel, their past will be buried. But if they believe in traditions, then the truth will have no effect or power in a person’s life to cleanse. Your past is buried in Him, but we have to believe it again.
Just follow Jesus, and do what He says to do:)