Can you imagine being told you don’t have time to go to your dad’s funeral? The idea is startling, but it's important to know why Jesus would say this. Jesus told the man that he needed to go proclaim the kingdom of God. Jesus knew that God's kingdom was already breaking into the world. Jesus knew that there would be resurrection.

So Jesus was trying to show the importance of the work that needed to be done to build the kingdom of God. His focus was on helping the living, and improving the lives of people. Jesus was saying that it takes real work in the world to build the kingdom, and that work should be our focus.

We should be working to help people in the here and now, to make the present better, and live into the hope that we are building the kingdom of God.

by Jenny Clamon from d365.org