Of all the challenges Jesus presents to us in the gospels, today’s challenge in Luke 14: 25 – 33 probably is the most confronting because it is very personal and is addressed to each of us individually. Jesus tells his disciples, the crowds following him and us, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” And, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” To top it off we all are told, “anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” We could rightly ask, what happened to the gospel of love? Jesus tells us to love everyone and then he makes a one hundred eighty degree turn and tells us to hate everyone! I don’t think this is what Jesus is saying.
This is one of those readings that needs a little perspective. First, we should remember the two great Commandments. The first great commandment is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength.” The second great commandment from Leviticus 19: 18 is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no reference to hate in either of these statements.
St Matthew’s version of the same New Testament story (Matthew 10: 37 – 39) probably is more idiomatically correct, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” This isn’t about hating our families it is about loving God first and foremost. Then everything falls into place. As followers of Christ, we are called to follow him intrepidly. St Paul tells us in 2 Cor 5: 14 – 15, “For the love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died. He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”
God our Father,
we have accepted your invitation
to follow your Son Jesus as his disciples.
Let your Spirit give us the wisdom and strength
to take our faith seriously
and to accept our task in life
with all its consequences.
Let the Spirit help us to go your Son’s way
without fear or discouragement,
for we are certain Jesus will lead us to you,
our loving God for ever and ever.
Amen
