Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 8:21

"And another of the disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father." — Matthew 8:21 (ASV)

Suffer me first to go and bury my father — A curious tradition, preserved by Clement of Alexandria, says that the disciple who made this request was Philip. Nothing in the Gospel history, however, suggests this. Philip had been called before and had obeyed the call (John 1:43). All we can say is that it may have been so, and that at this stage of his spiritual growth, he may have shrunk from the new activity of serving in the work of evangelism.

The form of the request may mean one of two things: either that his father was then actually dead, and the disciple was asking for permission to stay and pay the last honors to his remains; or that he was asking to remain with his father until his death.

The second possibility seems by far the most probable. In the East, burial followed so immediately after death that the first scenario would have involved a delay of only a few hours. The second request, however, was in fact a plea for an indefinite postponement. This interpretation, at least, fits best with the apparent severity of our Lord’s answer.