Let the Dead Bury Their Dead (The Battle Cry of the Sanctified)

So after after a person dies we think about after a person dies their cell growth growth immediately ceases, right? So whenever you die your cells stop growing. However, as the corpse dehydrates the skin shrinks and contracts around the skeleton this shrinkage Makes the hair and nails appear longer which gives the illusion that some life remains.

The Illusion of Life in Dead Bodies

So a lot of times when someone dies, they may say all their hair and nails look longer. They're still alive. They're not just their skin contracting to my knowledge. None of you work as a mortician or work with dead bodies.

So any of your exposure to this would probably come through reading about it or hearing about on television. Coroners and morticians they see this phenomenon every day in their daily job when they deal with dead bodies.

Therefore they aren't fooled into thinking that a spark of life remains in the corpse. Taking care of dead bodies is the focus of their lives. When they prepare the body for a viewing they dress the corpse.

They add cologne or perfume and they comb its hair. This may make the body look more lifelike, but it's as dead as the dust to which it's returning. It's a dead body. Expecting a dead body to perform any action is foolish.

It's just simply foolish what a dead bodies do. They decompose and they decay. Like whitewashed tombs, they can only impress from a distance. So if you see a dead body from a distance that's in a viewing and maybe it looks good when you get up close.

It's not impressive, obviously. Spiritually dead people pursue the rusty trinkets and the fleeting fame of this world. That's what they do. Since we are alive in Christ our goal must be to attain the resurrection of the righteous.

We're not to be like dead people. How foolish it is. For those of us who have this living hope to focus on collecting dead things and chasing the empty praise of men. I Titled this sermon let the dead bury their dead the battle cry of the sanctified.

The first part of my title comes directly from the mouth of our Savior and the second is how it applies to our lives. Our victory is assured in Christ. So we fight for a living. Hope. Unbelievers must bury their plans their possessions and their purposes because they are decaying Along with this deteriorating world as well.

For our text today. I would like to look at two parallel texts that are found in the synoptic Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Please turn to your Bibles to Matthew 8 and we'll read verses 21 through 22 together.

I'll be reading from the New King James Version. 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.

Now, please flip over with me to Luke's gospel. We're gonna read the parallel text there. So please go to Luke 9 and we're gonna read verses 59 through 60 together. Then he said to another follow me, but he said Lord, let me first go and bury my father.

Jesus said to him let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. Please bow your head and pray with me Dear Heavenly Father. Lord this text. We're about to embark on today Lord.

Sanctification is the work of all all of our lives Lord. It's the Christian hope or we want to become more like you. Where we are to pursue holiness without holiness. We won't see you. Thank you Lord for this text.

For that you would use my words for your glory Lord and that you would help us to lift up and magnify Our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ. Christ name. Amen. In these verses we are presented with a conversation between two people.

Jesus is talking to an unnamed person who was most likely part of the crowd that followed Jesus throughout his ministry. I believe you can break this text up or rather these two taxes are looking at two today into four discrete sections.

First we're going to see Jesus's command. Follow quickly by the man's excuse. Next we have Jesus's charge followed by man's duty. Sanctification is best summed up I think as a gradual replacement of earthly priorities with heavenly priorities.

Our soul is on an upward trajectory while our body is on the decline. If you think about spaceships, I love space. I don't on spaceships rockets anything about space. My wife will tell you that When space when spaceships break out of there get out of the earth's atmosphere.

They dump their fuel tank. They just drop it off and it goes all the way back down the earth and they you know. Pull it back in actually Elon Musk and space tests are working on a way to kind of actually have the fuel tank.

You know bring itself back down to land on. Land on a launch pad. It saves government a lot of money. But I think that's an apt illustration for our life. Our body is to get us to heaven and then of course the Lord one day raised our body back up.

But our soul goes out of this life and our body stays behind. In a similar manner our physical needs must be subordinate to our spiritual growth in Christ. Before I start I like to make some quick observations on the differences between these two texts.

That's the nice thing about having multiple Gospels. You can compare multiple tests and observe differences. Luke gives us no identity for this man, but Matthew says he was a disciple. So where were you without Matthew?

We wouldn't know this guy was a disciple this term implies. The man was not just a mere onlooker, but someone who either had expressed interests or spent some time following Jesus, right? Jesus had poured knowledge into this man.

We don't know how much knowledge but he had poured some knowledge because the guy's a disciple, right. And Now he expected to share it with the world. Matthew or Levi was an eyewitness to many events recorded in the Gospels.

Well, Luke is commonly seen in church history as having interviewed eyewitnesses for his Gospels. Church tradition actually states that Luke possibly one of his sources was actually Mary the mother of Christ himself.

So there was so that was a very key witness there. Since Matthew knew this man's status as a regular follower of Jesus. It's not far-fetched to think he also knew his name. Matthew might have known his name.

It's unlikely that he was one of the twelve disciples, but it is possible. Maybe he was part of the 70 disciples of Jesus sent out Luke chapter 10. Even if he wasn't part of the 70 he was duty-bound to pursue sanctification.

Matthew combines Jesus command follow me and the charge let the dead bury their dead into a single sentence. He puts them together. We see more of the dialogue in Luke since Jesus's command and his charge bookend the man's excuse.

Luke's order shows the exact chronology because Matthew 822 is clearly a reply to Jesus. If you look at Matthew 822 Matthew doesn't give us what Gia said first, but by the man's response you can tell he's responding to us.

So Luke actually shows the better, you know the time period there. Many theological scholars have noted that Matthew's gospel is arranged thematically. Matthew is a thematic gospel meaning. It's not always in time in order.

Luke's is more chronological. It's actually arranged in the order it occurred and that doesn't make Matthew any less the Word of God. That's just how Matthew likes to write to write. You see this, you know movies books.

You may see people write different ways. Matthew had one way of writing. Luke had another. Luke mentions that G has told the man to go and preach the kingdom of God. Well, Matthew omits that detail like a cliffhanger in a movie or TV show.

You think about a cliffhanger, you know. It'll stop you and say come back next week and you'll see what the reply is. Neither Gospels record the man's response right and they're in the movie industry when they use cliffhangers.

Why do they do that? They want to hook you so you return for the sequel in this case I think the cliffhanger is designed so that we turn our focus inward, right? So putting that man aside How will you follow Christ?

Don't worry about this man. How are you gonna follow Christ? That's what Jesus wants us to focus on. It reminds me of how the Jesus was talking to. I believe it was Peter and John and Peter said what about this disciple?

And Jesus said if it's if it's if I want him to remain until I come back, what is it to you? You follow me. You don't worry about this other Christian over here. This these accounts were written for our spiritual instruction, they're not to satisfy our curiosity.

Will you leave dead pursuits to the spiritually dead and will you hasten the coming of God's eternal kingdom in your own heart? When I started this series on holy violence. There were my two main verses were the parallel verses of Matthew 11 12 and Luke 16 16.

For those that weren't here I'll give you a quick synopsis both of them talked about the emergence of the kingdom of heaven and how the kingdom of heaven came.

Violently.

Those that forced themselves in the kingdom or were violent in their sanctification were the ones who obtained the eternal crown. Do you have a pulse of spiritual life? If so, God expects you to grow that desire into a full-fledged Obsession for him.

You need to leave the dead worthless things of this world to the spiritually dead. You need to gird up your loins and you need to follow Christ. I like what John Piper writes here. He says your job day by day by day is to say to the old nature dead.

You are to say dead to your old nature. Leave it behind and bury that let the dead bear their dead. You follow Christ. Jesus commanded. We see this in Matthew 8 22 a and Luke 9 59. What is the command that Jesus gave to this disciple.

He gives disciple and also by extension to us because when Jesus gives a command in Scripture. It's not just a command for that person, right? It's a command for all of us. He said he gave him a two-word sermon.

He said follow me. This command is an imperative sentence because the verb perceives the subjects, right? Most sentence type follow a subject verb pattern right when you think of. When you would try to obtain information from someone in interrogative or when you're declaring someone when you're transmitting ideas declarative your subject comes first in the verb.

An imperative sentence is very different from its more common cousins. An Imperative sentence is forceful. It's punchy and it places the ball squarely in the hearer's court. Right there. These sentences don't generally have a lot of adjectives or adverbs.

Because of either the authority of the speaker or the urgency of the matter. You think about a surgeon in an operating room? He doesn't have time to impress the nurses. He doesn't say use flowery language and say oh give me he says hand me the scalpel or maybe even better yet.

He says scalpel, right? Just give it to me. Laney doesn't impressing people may cost the patient their lives. Our focus must be on maximizing the spiritual benefit to our audience a little amount of time.

Therefore shirt summaries are important. They're very important in evangelism. They're important in teaching others and they're also very important for retaining key scriptural concepts. Following Jesus is a phrase.

That's very that's bandied about flippantly by the world. We live in people just so I'll follow Jesus when we evangelize or teach we must be very specific. About which commands we are referring to the disciple in our narrative.

He heard Jesus preached many times. I'm assuming he least heard him a few times. Therefore when Jesus said to follow me the disciple was not missing context. This wasn't a contactless sentence. Jesus preached and they looked at a disciple follow me, right in today's culture.

We must clearly delineate what it means to be a Christian. Do you love God's law? Do you see the greatness of your sin is your delight in God and things of God? Do you mourn over your sin and desire to be holy.

Would heaven be hell if Christ were not there. These are all helpful questions to pierce men's heart. Once we get people to reflection, then we must bring them to the spiritual fork in the road. What will you do with this information.

What's the outward sign that separates the seat of the woman from the seat of the serpent? True obedience to God's command can only come out of a heart that loves Christ. This is the dividing line between the world and true Christians.

It's obedience to God. Listen to the charge that Joshua gives the Israelites after the edge of the promised land in Joshua 24 15. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.

Whether the God your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the God of the Amorites and whose land you were living. But as for me and my household We will serve the Lord. Are you gonna serve the dead gods of the nations that were driven out before you?

Are you gonna serve the dead gods the Egyptians who couldn't keep you or are you gonna serve the living God who gave you this? Land and drove the people out before you. Elijah says the same exact thing 1st Kings 8 18 21.

Elijah came to the people and said how long will you falter between two opinions if the Lord is God follow him if Baal is God follow him, but the people answer not a word. Why do they didn't answer a word because they were embarrassed.

It is the Lord God. Yes He is he. Baal had eight hours to burn up the sacrifice. He couldn't do it as soon as Elijah finished praying the Lord sent the fire. So, why do you said shuffling about between two opinions, there's the line pick your side, you know I love the fact that even though the commands of Joshua Elijah and Jesus there even though they live hundreds of years apart.

Maybe thousands in the case of Moses. They're all almost identical, right? Why is that? It's because the same Holy Spirit that lived in Joshua and that lived in Elijah was guiding Jesus as well. It's the same Holy Spirit that Holy Spirit cuts through culture.

It cuts through degrees of revelation. It cuts through language and it cuts through location to all generations of men and women on this earth receive the same exact Command follow me. That's the command God gives you and then the corollary let the dead bury their dead next follow me shows the authority of the one who issued the command.

If you flip nine chapters back in Luke's Gospel or Three in Matthew's Gospel we come across the story of the centurion with great faith. I love that story. That's an excellent story wonderful story of a Gentile man who loved Christ this centurion knew That Jesus's power was not constrained by his physical body.

His power goes outside his body. Additionally, he believed that Jesus would have compassion on his suffering servant. These are two ingredients that we present in every sanctified heart maybe in different degrees.

But they will be there if you love Christ, you will have those two. Are you discouraged with the progress of your growth in grace? Doubting God's power or Underestimating his love for you will inhibit your sanctification if you doubt his power or don't think about his love.

You will not grow in grace. Read Hebrews 11 6. Be with me. I Love Hebrews. It's one of my favorite books in the Bible. I've probably Hebrews and Romans. But Hebrews 11 6 says he who comes to God Must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

You see what the key component is that links the first and second clauses of this verse. Trust you must trust God. Do we really believe that God rewards those who seek him? Do we really believe that or just say that or do we know it in our heads?

But it hasn't completely percolated down to our hearts. Do the spiritually dead trust God? No, they cannot trust God and Even if they had the natural ability to trust God, they would not trust God. Trusting God's Word is the spiritual heartbeat of the believer.

Are we prepared to trust God when he leads us through the valley of the shadow of death? That it's loyal servant. Does he follow his master when things are good or when things are bad? It's just when things are good by definition loyalty.

The disloyal person is only loyal when he benefits. Unbelievers joyfully serve Satan when he's giving them temple temple rewards. So if you serve God joyfully when things are good, you're just doing what the unbelievers do.

We must praise God in both the good times and the bad times. I like what chapter 115 of Psalms says it says the dead do not praise the Lord nor do any who go down into silence. But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.

Praise the Lord, although this text is describing physical death. We can draw an application to those who are spiritual death the dead as well. Right as believers we are not those who go down in silence.

Our mouth should be full of praises to God while we sojourn on this earth. After we take our final breath in this life. We will finally emerge victorious in heaven in that place will be unfettered by sin.

We'll be no more constraints of physical nature and our praises will ring out like the loud peals of a bell for all eternity. The dead bury their dead in this life. But the living praise God now and they praise him forevermore.

That is the purpose and that is the job of the living praise. God living a life of praise is in a very important part of our sanctification. If Talking about God's glory is defined as explicit praise.

We can talk about God's glory then sanctified lives are implicit praise. Hypocrites may occasionally the first to gain approval of men. We talked about this in Sunday school today. Hypocrites will sometimes use their mouth to praise God, right?

But they will never be sanctified in their heart because their heart is fixated on what it's fixated on the dead things of this world. They don't care about God in their heart. They serve God for what people think of them.

A Soldier's uniform may show his allegiance. But his bravery in battle shows what his devotion. Your uniform means nothing. If you're not willing to lay your life down on the line. Cowards have worn a uniform.

True soldiers die for their country and in this it's truer soldiers die for Christ. Did you know most Medal of Honor recipients are gifted the award posthumously? Look at the Medal of Honor recipients read through the list and you'll find 80 of them get it after they're dead.

Because they've done such great exploits. They've actually laid their life down as part of it. It's very rare. I think only about 20 or 25 last time I checked get it get it when they're living. Though they are physically dead.

Their actions remain as living proof of their bravery and dedication. Their actions still speak. You see how brave they are. You say wow, you got a Medal of Honor. He laid down his life. That's why he's still you can still think about that similarly a sanctified life.

Can serve as an inspiration to others long after that person has passed on to glory. What I like what Charles Spurgeon said here. He said a father and mother's holy life is a rich legacy for your sons.

You want to be sanctified. Be sanctified first for Christ? But second be sanctified for your kids because they're gonna remember long after you're dead. They're gonna remember your example and they're gonna say look my father was a was a sinful man.

My mother was a sinful woman, but you know what she loved Christ. She put Christ first. Christ was the center of her life. That's what she want your kids to think after you're gone. And that's how you live a lasting legacy.

You know godly parents and I know not everyone has them. But if you don't have godly parents then be a godly parent. If you don't have kids be a godly spouse. But you can live a legacy for many generations by living like that.

Stop dithering about and serve the Lord, right? We know how to follow Christ, but often aren't we too slothful to put this wisdom in practice? We know what to do. We just don't want to do it if you're a bedridden Patient and you don't get out of bed and you sit there and sit there and sit there.

You will soon lose the use of your limbs and a Christian that doesn't pursue Sanctification will be vulnerable to even the simplest or the weakest temptation. The biggest Obstacle we face in pursuing God is the excuses that are manufactured on our own bosom in our heart.

The unknown disciple in our story fell into this exact same trap. How many of you have gone to the doctor for some illness and then offered a doctor's note? You know, I've been the doctor sometimes if you need a doctor's note.

It's a signed piece of paper or an email today. Most communication is electronic that validates your reason for missing work or school in a culture that classifies lies. This is a white lie. This is a big lie.

There's no classification of lies. They're all sins against God, right? But people's word can't be taken as their bond anymore because people talk about little white lies. There's a little white lie, right?

Lying is no little sin to God. It's a trade of devil's all the misery and humanity all the misery and wretchedness. Which humanity was plunged into can be traced back to the first lie told by the father of lies himself.

Satan brought a lie up told him we're all in the sin of misery today. It's possible the man this passage was lying. But since the text doesn't state that I prefer to interpret his reply to Jesus as an excuse.

So I'm not going to read into the text. I think it actually was maybe his father actually did die. When the devil can't get us to lie. He often resorts to what he gives us excuses. If Mr. Lie was a person then mr. Excuse to be his first cousin in this passage.

What does the unknown disciple do? He takes refuge in an excuse. He said I will follow you Jesus, but let me first go and bury my dead father. That was his excuse. Now on the surface when you read that wanting to bury your father seems like a noble request.

I mean, that's not something that we'd say. Oh, that's so terrible. He wants to bury his father. You know if I don't care what religion social status occupation ethnic background. Everyone here understands the importance of when your relative dies you go to the funeral, right?

Especially if it's your father. However in this circumstance that excuse fell flat is honoring a dead person more important than obeying your living Savior. Is it really more important? No, it's not. It's definitely not this man Saul Jesus in the flesh received a personal command and yet what did he do?

Put his hand the plow you look back instead of looking forward. When a wife dies or a husband the remaining spouse is free from her commit their commitment to her you're allowed to remarry. You're no longer committing adultery.

Similarly when your parent dies, the fifth commandment is ended for that parent. There is no more fifth commandment. I mean, yeah, it's nice to honor their memory, but they're gone. There's no more honoring them.

But you're your Savior saying right before you. Honoring their memory is proper. I'm not saying it's bad. It is proper, but it's not required by the fifth commandment. I think it's very unlikely that people in eternity know about events that are happening on earth.

I just think the Bible doesn't say that if you think about the Saints in heaven, they're preoccupied with praising God. I doubt they're sitting here fixated on earth and the Saints and the sinners in hell.

They're fixated on their own punishment. So even if those people can glimpse Earth's history unfolding, it's unlikely to occupy much of their thoughts, right? They're gonna be thinking about, you know suffering forever or praising Christ forever.

Jesus's death on the cross does not remove our duty as under the first four commandments. That's the difference between Jesus and a parent. For the Christian Jesus death freed us from sin and thus we are under a greater obligation to him than unbelievers.

How can we worship idols when our God took on flesh to save our souls? The name of Christ is far more precious than any other name on this earth. It should pain every Christians heart when you hear a person Using Jesus's name flippantly or as a curse word and you're a Christian that should pain your heart.

Meeting with the Saints every Sunday is a privilege and those who love Jesus delight to go to God's house. Finally, the Bible gives us no description of how Jesus Christ looked during the time on this earth.

Do we dare go beyond the Bible and fashion Christ in our own image in direct violation of the second commandment? These commandments should now be written on our hearts. I think as Jeremiah said it's on our hearts now.

These and that's much more durable than a stone tablet the first set of stone tablets was smashed by Moses because the golden calf and The second are no longer in existence. We don't know where those are but God's purpose has not been thwarted just because those stones are not around.

God's purposes still stands. Every living Christian is a walking set of commandments to a dying world. If you are a Christian you are a walking set of commandments to them. What else you notice about this excuse?

Let me bury my father, you know say anything else about it at all. The disciple pits the first commandment against the fifth commandment, right? That's a very common strategy Satan uses and our own sinful flesh brings up to tempt us to disobey God.

The Pharisees is the exact same thing. They would twist the first commandment to get out of supporting their parents as committed by the fifth commandment. So let's if you look at Mark 7. We're gonna read verses 10 through 13 together there.

For Moses said honor your father and mother and he who curses father and mother let him be put to death. But you say if a man honored if a man says to his father and mother. Whatever profit you might have received from me as Corbin that is a gift to God.

Then you no longer let him do anything for his father and mother. Making the Word of God of no effect through the tradition which you have handed down and many such things you do. Some people erroneously say the fourth commandment has been abolished and it's no longer relevant for modern Christians.

This is utter foolishness. God didn't write his law in stone. He wrote it stone the first time and now it's in our hearts. The heart inscription if it's still there all the commandments are there, but we serve the Lord out of gladness now.

We don't serve him to earn salvation. The order of commands in the Ten Commandments is just as important as the actual commands themselves, right? Consider the order of the commandments the decalogue or the word for the tech merits a deck log.

It's not a haphazard list of rules thrown hastily together. You may make rules for your kids at your house and say in this house to do just this and this you're not considering. The order you're just throwing rules up on the board, but you God did not do that when he laid these down order is important.

The order in this in the commandments they mark their importance in the Christian life and they mark their logical progression. You must love God more than all of your earthly relatives if you hope to gain heaven Jesus left this heavenly family to save you and you owe Jesus that exact same allegiance.

Can you really live in harmony with men if you don't have a true love for God? No, you can't the Pharisee or carnal man. They attempt to keep the commandments. But with no love for God, they can never truly love their fellow man.

They can't do it. The correct order is confused in their lives. True love for God is the foundation of a godly household. If you whitewash your soul and the Holy Spirit's not in dwelling you you simply give the master of the house more to destroy when He comes back from his wanderings.

Clean up your house all you want. The devil comes back or the demons or whatever your sinful soul in this case and comes back and tears it up. And you got to go back at it again because the Holy Spirit's not living inside of you.

You remain the devil's slave and your last state is worse than your first without Christ. I like how John Owen summarized this up. He said if we wish to get out of the road that leads to death. Let us take heed to our own affections.

Your affections will kill you if they're not brought into control the Holy Spirit your affections are not something. They're not something to be trifle with. They're like rattlesnakes. Like bleach like deadly poison like a loaded gun if you play with your own affections.

You will have problems stay away from them. Get them in order and get them out of the order of Christ under the rule of.

Christ.

There are several vignettes or scenes from Jesus life that illustrate how we should approach the relationships their own family in the light of attorney. I'll let you know the first miracles. You just did turning water into wine.

That was the first miracle of Jesus ministry. Do you remember what Jesus said to his mother when she brought this problem to his attention? She said Jesus they ran out of wine. What are you gonna do about it?

What did Jesus say? He said woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour is not yet come. You know Jesus didn't come to this earth to be a bread King or a wine King. That's not what he's here for.

Redemption of sinners not satisfying their mere physical hunger and thirst was his mission. Although Jesus did exceed to his mother's request. He did actually turn water into wine. He gently admonished her for misunderstanding the reason for his incarnation, right?

He said woman and that wasn't a disrespectful thing. That was just showing him that like I'm an adult the relationship has changed. I have a mission. It's not giving people more wine, but I will do this in the end in respect of you.

I like consider how John and James responded to use his call. It said when he had gone a little further He saw Jesus in this case in Mark 1 19 through 20. He saw James son of Zebedee and John his brother their boatman either nets and immediately He called them and they left who they leave in the boat.

Does anyone remember who was left in the boat? They left their father Zebedee. They had a living father sitting in the boat and they left a living father to follow Christ. The you know, they're called the sons of thunder their impulsiveness and wanting to destroy a village.

We think when they were going to Jerusalem I think they went to a Samaritan village and that Samaritan village said you're going Jerusalem. We want nothing to do with you and they said destroy the village right now, right?

So that was their impulsiveness used for the wrong reason but here we see their impulsiveness used for a good reason. Jesus is can utilize all of our personality traits for good. He said follow me. They left their father.

They follow Christ. Does anyone here think they made a foolish choice leaving their father to follow Christ. Does anyone think that. No, they didn't. Leaving the father to follow Christ was the best decision they ever made.

Our New Testament would not contain the gospel of John. John's three epistles or Revelation had John say the boat with his father. If they had stayed with their father. Do we have we would be missing four books in the Bible?

They left dead fish behind and where they embark on a lifetime of fishing for eternal souls. Finally let's let's consider the example of our Savior. Jesus has everything you need to know in your life.

You can find an example in Jesus.

Life.

He this is the great example of the proper role of family in the Christian life we reading from Matthew 12 46 through 50 here. Well, he was speaking to the multitudes behold his mother and brother stood outside and they were seeking to speak to him.

And then said one said to him look your mother and brothers are outside seeking to speak with you but he answered and said to the one who told him and not just the one who told him but the crowd and by extension all Of us here today and he said who is my mother who is my brother.

And he stretched out his hands and said here are my Mother and here are my brothers for whoever does the will of my father in heaven. You are my brother. You are my sister. You are my mother. That is the correct attitude to have for family not going out to bury your dead father.

Jesus would not let familial ties Distract him from his preaching when he stopped preaching. No, he wasn't going to do that. His family could wait the perishing souls in front of him could not. It is probable that most of his family members are probably not saved at this time.

I think most are. I don't. I don't know about Mary. But I think his brothers at least because they made fun of him were probably saved later in life. Therefore what were their minds fixated on the dead things of this world?

Jesus is our brother. Let's go talk to him. But that's not what Jesus had time for he didn't come to this life to talk to his dead brothers about dead things. He came to this world to die for our sins and to tell people flee from the wrath to come.

Christ was laser focused on eternity. Their minds were fixed in the dead things this world. If you leave battle to go see your family, what is that without believe that's desertion. Jesus would not desert.