Mat 8:22 Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Much of the beauty of the phrase is lost in English. In English, it almost comes across as conceited or heartless, because Christ is telling a son not to attend to his dead father. This is a great example of why we need to understand that Christ wasn't just addressing those around him at the time, but all people in all times and especially use in our lives. It is also a great example of why the actual Greek matters.

The term "follow" is akoloutheo meaning "to follow," or "go with," in a physical sense, but it is also a metaphor meaning "to be guided by" or "to follow the meaning of."

However, the term translated as "let" is aphiemi, which means "to send away," "to put away," as well as "to permit." Biblically, it is most often translated as "leave" but very often translated as "forgive." It is from the noun aphesis, which means "letting go" or "release." It is the opposite of the idea of "following" which proceeds it. The phase translated as "let the dead" is aphiemi nekros (the dead), which also means "send away the dead" or "leave the dead."

The contrast of these two terms sets up the idea that you can follow Christ or you can follow the dead. You can follow what is coming or follow what has been. Christ's advice is to follow him, because he represents the future and to leave the dead, who represent the past.

The word translated as "bury" is thapto, which also means "to pay the last dues to a corpse," "to honor with funeral rites."

The phrase translated as "their dead" is heautou (themselves) nekros (the dead).

So the sense is that the dead themselves pay honor to the dead. This is not a negative thing. In creating a dividing line between the past and the future, Christ did not turn his back on the past. However, he clearly separated what was honor in the past from what was honored in the future.

A more comprehensive translation of the verse might be: Follow me and leave behind the dead; the dead themselves honor the dead.