someone said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go."
This isn't the sort of assertion that would be made by someone unless they thought that Jesus was worth following. The man didn't seem to be merely making an excuse since it appeared he said it without provocation. He may well have been sincere, not just to sound good to Jesus, to the crowd, or even to himself. He probably even intended to follow through on what he had said to the degree that he understood it. But there were some inherent assumptions that proved problematic. His "wherever" was still limited, not truly anywhere. He thought Jesus would be expedient to get him to a place he himself would find desirable. He may have assumed that the path of the messiah would lead eventually to a palace like that of Herod or that of Caesar. But the path of discipleship would not lead immediately to even comfortable lodging, much less a throne. To become a disciple one needed to be willing to let Jesus set the terms entirely, willing to prioritize following him over some eventual goal to which he might lead. Even though Jesus would eventually lead his followers to heaven it was not the right attitude for his disciples to treat Jesus as a means, to use him for the sake of some separate and selfish goal. This was why making any destination more important than Jesus himself was never going to work.
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God."
The person who thus responded to Jesus did so after he was invited by Jesus to follow him. This context makes his response seem more likely to have been an excuse than a sincere request for a brief delay. It was possible that his father was already dead in which case the delay would have been short. It was also possible that he was still alive, implying that he wouldn't be ready to follow Jesus until some undetermined future time. But in either case he misunderstood the urgency of Jesus's call. The man was concerned about life and death in the natural order. But from the perspective of Jesus what mattered more was the supernatural life which could not be possessed apart from him. From that perspective, all who existed outside of the Kingdom did so in a state of spiritual death. They existed in a state that was ultimately futile and hopeless apart from him. He longed to change this state of affairs by the power of his resurrection. For those who wished to follow him this would have to take precedence even over their family relationships. Family bonds that weren't elevated to the supernatural order were still mired in the futility of the fallen world, destined toward death rather than life. Hence the urgency to follow Jesus, that the entire fallen world could be raised up and renewed.
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
Jesus answered him, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God."
Perhaps at a certain point the onlookers felt the need to say something to Jesus in order to excuse themselves, after seeing how the flimsy reasons of others were summarily dismissed. They were like the people who did not want to attend the wedding of the king (see Matthew 22:1-14). In this instance, the person, taking a cue from Elisha, asked Jesus for the same delay that the prophet had been allowed before he began to follow Elijah. It seemed superficially plausible. Yet Jesus detected that it was really just an excuse. The man still had concerns that were more important to him than Jesus. And these would ultimately be a liability. Perhaps with even a great prophet like Elijah such an admixture of motives could be allowed. But Jesus was one greater than Elijah, and to truly be his disciple meant having no greater priority than him, no greater goal than following him.
May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy.
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