Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. Gospel of Luke 9:60 Jesus's ministry was, to a great extent, presented as a counterpoint to the then-current practices of (second temple) Judaism. At the time, religious practices had devolved into little more than a series of taxes and rules/laws for which you could be stoned to death for breaking. Everything was centered in the Jerusalem Temple, which had a pretty good con game going on (see my post