In Reply to: Let the dead bury the dead & Berg's forsake all doctrine posted by MG on October 23, 2003 at 15:22:24:
Once upon a time I was a Bible scholar and taught scripture in a Catholic high school. (It was my misguided mission of subversiveness to turn young Catholics into serious Bible readers.) In any event, I found this explanation the scripture "dead bury the dead" posted on the web that makes sense to me.
You can fine several commentaries on this passage, but this article takes the approach I was taught on understanding scripture, i.e., understand the context of the statement in terms of the historical practices of the culture in which Jesus lived and taught.
The upshot of this commentary is that the disciples in question were concerned about following a particular burial practice that was a corruption of Jewish tradition and a contradiction of Jesus' teachings.
For more detail, see:
http://myweb.absa.co.za/peter.klipfel/let%20dead%20bury%20dead.html