Jesus instructed:
Matthew: 8 King James Version (KJV)
22 But Jesus said unto him, 1.) Follow me; and 2.) let the dead bury their dead.
The above defined two different paths that were offered by Jesus.
In the above the Jews were 'the dead' in Jesus instruction, 'let the dead bury their dead'. The Jews were not the ones given by God to follow Jesus and indeed they did not follow Jesus.
The following is what the Holy KJV N.T. says:
The Jews were 'the dead' in the above because the Jews esteemed, used, invoked and/or promoted the ten commandments and they were determined to continue to do so. However the ten commandments were and are the ministration of death. The ten commandments makes one and keeps one 'the dead' (who according to Jesus must be left to bury each other):
2 Corinthians: 3 KJV N.T.
7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
In the above that which was written and engraved in stone is the ten commandments. The above confirmed that the ten commandments (which were written and engraved in stone) is the the ministration of death. The ten commandments killeth. The ten commandments makes one and keeps one 'the dead' (i.e. the spiritually dead).
In another revelation in the Holy KJV N.T., it is confirmed that 'the thou shalt not covet' commandment (and by extension the entire ten commandments), were ordained to be onto life but were found to onto death:
Romans: 7 KJV N.T.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
The ten commandments makes one and keeps one 'the dead'. This is directly liked to Jesus' instruction, 'let the dead bury their dead'.
Fact is, according to the Holy KJV N.T., Jesus identified the ten commandments to be the ministration of death. Jesus also identified the ten commandments to be 'him who had the power of death, that is the devil. And Jesus did away with (destroyed) the ten commandments (that is the devil in ideas form) and replace them with His Spirit.
However the Jews did not accept Jesus and they did not accept the fact that Jesus did away with the ten commandments and replaced them with His Spirit.
Instead, the Jews choose to remain under the the ten commandments and continue to be 'the dead', instead of embracing the Spirit of Jesus which giveth life. So, Jesus simply instructed his disciples, 'let the dead (i.e. the Jews with their ten commandments) bury each other by esteeming, using, invoking and promoting the ten commandments. And so be it. However Jesus instructed that His disciple follow Him by embracing His new approach to life.
Therefore it was with disdain that Jesus instructed his disciple to 'let the dead bury their dead'. This instruction would enable the dead to be dispatched to hell in side the earth with Satan.
'The dead' were all people who continue to esteem, use, invoke and/or promote the ten commandments (which killeth). And back then, some 2000 odd years ago, these were the Jews. And they denied, persecuted, tortured and killed Jesus for doing away with the ten commandments for His followers. And indeed Jesus found that the ten commandments were and continue to be, the devil, in ideas form and which killeth.
Therefore it was with disdain that Jesus reaffirm the ten commandments for the Jews and all others who wanted to esteem, use, invoke and/or promote the ten commandments. They were not denied their free choice.
The ten commandments were left intact for unrelenting spiritually dead people (i.e. also called the dead'). The ten commandments were left for these people, (by their use of the ten commandment) to continue to be the dead' who would eventually be buried by their peers inside the earth in hell, with Satan.
Jesus instruction to his his disciple to 'let the dead bury their dead' was not nice or favorable. It was an indictment against the Jews and all others who chose to remain under the ten commandments (which killeth) instead of abandoning and transgressing the ten commandments, so as to be led unconditionally by His Spirit.
The above is the sad fact and the very precise cause of serious doom among a billion strong Catholics and a billion strong traditional Christians. And no amount of fancy rhetoric and distortions of the Holy KJV N.T. can or will change the above fact.
Of course those who actively transgressed the ten commandments so as to be led by the Spirit of Jesus all when to spirit heaven, in three day after they died, to be with Jesus, Who is clad only in His Spirit, 'not seen' and eternal, Son of God body.
'The dead' (i.e. all who esteem use, invoke and/or promote the ten commandments even in the slightest manner) are all buried inside the earth, in hell, with Satan/Peter, who went there to rule after he died, physically.
These are the literal and plain facts in the Holy KJV N.T. One can distort and corrupt these facts, this will change nothing. The truth is the truth.