It's establishing a character. In this case we learn early on that the mother is a basketcase and she raised basketcase children. The family is notorious around town for their behavior. If I knew some folks like that in real life it wouldn't surpise me if they removed an embalmed corpse from a casket to prove they didn't need help from others. And the pastor certainly pushed their buttons. They even buried dude in a shallow grave on their land. That was some strange shyt but it further established how unhinged they were.
