Matthew Chapter 8 verses 21 and 22:
21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
FROM THE RAVINGS OF UNHOLY HOWARD OF PROVIDENCE:
1 So the disciple followed the others as they attended Jesus upon his ministry, while at his old home the women of the household waited in vain for his return. 2 "What shall we do with the body of my father-in-law?" wailed Miriam, his wife. "For there is no man here to say the prayers for the dead nor to arrange the funeral now that Nahum is following that desert preacher."
3 "I shall ask at the marketplace," said her sister, "As there must be some man there who can advise us." So the woman left the house and went to the marketplace.
4 Yet nobody was willing to help as the family were poor and could not afford a lavish funeral with professional mourners. Then a man, swathed head to toe in dusty desert robes so that no part of his body was shown, came forth from the shadows.
5 "I can help you. Let me and my clan take the body and we will dispose of it with all respect and reverence."
6 "But we cannot afford to pay for your services except a widow's mite."
7 "Put that from your mind. My clan and I require no payment." The woman shivered as if a cloud had crossed the sun but she had no-one else she could turn to so she returned to Miriam's house. A few hours later, Miriam admitted the man and his friends. 8 Like him, they were hid their forms beneath layers of clothing. At first, Miriam thought they might be unclean lepers but instead they smelled of old embalming spices, like those who mummify, which reassured her.
9 Carefully, the men washed the body and anointed it with herbs and spices before saying prayers in an unknown tongue and lastly wrapping it in a clean shroud. 10 Then they carried the remains out of the house, laid them on a cart and took them to a graveyard outside the city walls. The women followed, hoping they had done the right thing by entrusting their father-in-law's body to the care of these strangers.
11 During the procession, the odd group kept up a mournful wailing. However, sometimes it felt to the two women as if the cries were false and the mourners were actually laughing. More than once, Miriam wanted to call a stop to the procession but what could she do as she had no-one else?
12 The group arrived at the burial ground just before sunset to find that a shallow grave had already been dug. The strange men then laid the body down and piled a cairn of rocks over it.
13 "You will need to hurry if you are to get back within the city walls before nightfall," said the leading man. Just then, the first horn of sunset sounded from the city gate. 14 Miriam shivered and not just because the air was cooling. 15 In the dusk, the men's swathed forms seemed less like true men and more like – then her mind withdrew from that thought. 16 She realised she and her sister were alone on the edge of the desert in the company of people she knew nothing about. 17 Grabbing her sister's hand, they fled up the path, making it back moments before the gate closed for the night.
18 Back in their home, Miriam cried out in distress, "What have we done? Why did we entrust our father-in-law's body to strangers? 19 This would never have happened if Nahum had not followed that desert preacher but remained here where he belonged."
20 Her sister reminded her that they had escaped with their lives and should give thanks for that.
21 Meanwhile, out in the graveyard, under the moonlight, the men became far less than human and more like feral things that slink by night and infest unhallowed places. 22 They slumped forwards and in the darkness, their eyes glowed redly.
23 "Do not dig him up yet," their leader, a ghoul named Talongast, said. "We will leave him to ripen a few days before we feast." With that the other ghouls meeped assent and sloped off in search of less wholesome viands until their Sabbath feast.
24 What happened to the man who followed the desert preacher is unknown.
Ravings of Unholy Howard of Providence Chapter 4 verses 1 – 24.