Jesus said: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26, NRSV)
That’s quite a verse. Too often it is rationalized away to not mean what we don’t want it to mean. And often we wordsmith it down from the shock that it was intended to give. We are removed from the culture in which it was said too – family had far more significance than it does now. Family was essential to your own survival.
But this quote from Jesus raises other questions – questions about who.
Who is the center of your attention? Who is the person you look to first? Who is the the one you keep an ear out for because you care what they say more than other people? Who is the person that you think about more than anyone else? Who is the person you go to for answers questions or rhetoric for arguments?
Maybe it’s your spouse. Maybe a child. Maybe a parent. Maybe it’s a politician. Maybe it’s a teacher. Maybe it’s a pastor. Maybe it’s a boss. Or maybe a celebrity or an athlete. Maybe it’s someone who is wealthy or successful by the world’s standards. Maybe it’s a close friend.
Maybe it depends on the subject. Maybe you named several different people to the questions above – it just depends on what the topic is.
Where does Jesus fit into these questions? Is Jesus someone you look to, or care what he has to say? Is Jesus the center of your attention? Or is Jesus just an afterthought, confined to one morning a week?
Good post. Most believers in our society grow up with many idols, including family, that we are completely unaware that we have. They are so very deceptive and deeply rooted. It takes a good long journey of faith to completely root them out.
Jesus’ words are challenging because they hit at the root of ‘self’ within us. His point is that we can have no idols of ‘self’, including family, possessions or even life itself if we are to become disciples. Being a disciple is not mandatory for believers but if they wish to become disciples, the cost is very high. I would suggest it is a good thing to pursue Him as a disciple but history has proven time and again few will pay the price. Those that do continue to pursue Him will find that He will methodically remove the root of ‘self’ and its idols one after another until all you are trusting in is God alone.
In our journey giving up family was relatively easy as He put great physical distance between us. The difficulty lay in that our families were unwilling to give us up as we pursued Him in faith. That was something we had not expected. It was difficult to endure and so our family had to learn from experience. The journey of faith to where we become disciples has been hard in terms of sacrifice but in the end we gained an intimacy with Jesus that is unmatched. He literally becomes our life in the process. Everything we are and what we do all led by the Father’s hand.
Thank you.
Blessings,
Homer Les
http://www.uncompromisingfaith.ca
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Thanks for sharing this Homer. Blessings to you.
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