Reflection on Luke 14:25-33

Luke 14:25-33

25 Now large crowds were traveling with [Jesus], and he turned and said to them, 26 “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. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

Reflection

Eight times in the New Testament we instructed by Jesus, and also by his apostles, to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Another eighteen time in the New Testament we are instructed to “love one another.”

In fact, the word “love” shows up in the Bible approximately one hundred, seventy-nine times.

I only mention this because love is all over the place in the Bible.  But as far as hate is concerned, Jesus instructs us to hate someone only once.  Most of us would assume that Jesus would instruct us to hate people zero times, but he does mention hating someone once.  And the object of hate is not who you would expect it to be.  Does he tell us to hate sinners?  No.  Does he tell us to hate those who hate us?  No.  Does he tell us to hate cooked spinach?  No, and many children are instantly disappointed.  Jesus does not even instruct us to hate Satan.  It is true.  Look it up.

So, who does he instruct us to hate?  Assuming that your mind did not wander to your shopping list during the gospel reading, you already know.  Jesus instructs us to hate, “father and mother,” dear old mom and dad, “wife and children,” and to every teen’s delight, also “brothers and sisters” (Luke 14:26).  I can hear it now, “See, Jesus even said that I can hate her!”

“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).

(Smack!)  “I’m just trying to be a good disciple!”  I can hear it now.

You can guess that the Family Life Network probably does not use this Bible verse in their mission statement.

“Hate.”  That seems so strong.  I want to talk about that right off the bat because it is strong.  The word “hate” certainly gets our attention because it makes us think of angry men and women taking to the streets to condemn people because of the color of their skin, or it makes us think of how Aunt Jackie treats poor ex-uncle Mike.  Hate.  It makes me think of my relationship with my alarm in the morning.  What a way to start the day.

Now, the Greek word here could mean that type of extreme dislike, but you need to know that this word was also used frequently to mean to “love less.”  You could say that I should “hate” Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, meaning that I should love them a little less so that I might eat healthier.  It is not a bitter dislike, I love those things, rather it is a shift of focus.  I am going to hate, or love less something that is getting in the way of loving something else even more.

In other words, it is putting your number one concern into the number two place instead.

For example, when my father first moved to Nebraska, he was shocked at just how devoted Nebraskans were to the Corn Huskers.  You think Penn State has devoted fans.  In Nebraska when the football game is live and the Huskers are playing; you can hear that game everywhere you go.  Are you hungry and you need pizza?  No worries.  You will not miss the game.  It is being played over the speakers at the local Pizza Hut.  Do you need to run and grab some formula for the baby?  No worries, you will not miss a single failed attempt at a touchdown because the game is being broadcast overhead as you walk down the baby food aisle. 

Husker fans are insane in their devotion.  Once my dad’s boss came up to him, Corn Huskers cap on his head and said, “You know, God is way up here in my life, and the Cornhuskers are just underneath.”  That enraged my dad, because he knew that the guy was lying.  The Corn Huskers were so far higher than God in that man’s life.  Everything he did revolved around when those games were played.  It was the guy’s conversation topic at the café during breakfast every single morning.  My Dad could not think of a single time that his boss brought up God at breakfast.  Nor could he think of a single time that the man chose an event at church over driving over to the big game.

I suspect that his boss was not alone.  I suspect that most Christians will say God is number one in their lives.  So, I will ask you, if God is number one in your life, what is number two?  Other than God, what shapes and drives your life? 

I have spent the last couple of weeks asking around in one way or another, and here are some of the answers:

“My family, for good or bad, shapes my life.”

“My dad thinks he is in charge, but everyone knows that my mom is in charge.  Everyone listens to her, including me.”

“I feel like my work controls everything.  I hate that, but it is true.”

“Money.  It is definitely the deciding factor on so many things.”

“When we eat supper.  Everything else is life revolves around that.  I am diabetic.”

I do not know about you, but in listening to these answers, I suspect that many of these number two answers are actually number one answers, thereby putting God in the number two position. 

“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).

So, yes, even family can get in the way of following Jesus.  Even the needs and wants of this life can get in the way.  But Jesus desires that we might have more than this divided attention.  All these other things need to be a little less.  All these things need to be in the number two position.  Jesus desires that we would, in all things, be able to cling to God.

It is a desire that Moses had for us as he urged the people in his day to, “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him [clinging to him], for that means life to you” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). 

Clinging to God means life.  Choosing to cling to God above all other concerns means a deep nourishment for body and soul.  Psalm 1 puts it this way: those who cling to God’s ways are “like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither.  In all that they do, they prosper” (Psalm 1:3).

Jesus hopes that our attention may not be divided.  Jesus hope that we might love less those things and people who we allow to pull our lives into a direction that can suck us dry rather than give life.  Jesus desires that we cling to him so that we have no choice but to follow him.  He is our rock.  He is our strength.  He is our hope.  We cling to him.

We cling to him like I clung to my wife while on a romantic backpacking trip.  One night, miles into the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains, we had set up camp.  It was windy and it was getting cold, and nestled inside the tent I clung to my wife.  As the wind was blowing outside, she asked me what I was doing, and I said, “It is windy and you are my anchor.”  Now that I look back, I can see why that did not come out as romantic as I had intended.

But, when we say that Jesus is our anchor, and that we cling to him, he is not offended.  He wants nothing more than for us to cling to him and to cling to all those other things a little less. 

“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).

On the subject of becoming a disciple, I just learned something new about the ancient world this week.  When you became an adult, you basically had two paths that you could take for employment.  You could either work for your father and older brother, or you could leave the family business and join an apprenticeship with another group of people, a sort of worker’s guild.  And, when you joined a guild, it was like you were joining a new family.   You ate and slept with these people.  You engulfed yourself in learning this new trade.  You, basically, set out to live an entirely new way of life.

And, it is this very idea that Jesus uses when describing discipleship to his followers.  When following Jesus, we leave one life to live another.  We stop following one person to start following another.  We “love less” our former lives so that we can fully love the new one given to us as a gift. It is a life in which we focus primarily on Jesus.

After-all, his primary focus was always on loving us.  Jesus’ focus was on teaching us.  Jesus’ focus was on healing us. Jesus’ focus on us took the shape of a deep love that would go to the cross to save us.

What if the focus of your life was that kind of selfless love?  “Carry the cross and follow me” Jesus says (Luke 14:27).

Can you imagine if Jesus was not focused on loving us?  Can you imagine if Jesus was just like one of us?

We feel the buzz of our phone in our pocket, take it out and see that it is Jesus.  We hear on the voicemail, “Hey it’s Jesus, I’m on my way to save you from the power of sin and darkness, but I’m behind a slow-moving semi…”.  In reality, Jesus was in bed, opened his eyes, and in a panic yelled, “I set two alarms!  How could I sleep through two alarms?  It is cross day!” He slips on yesterday’s clothes and scrambles to find his nice shoes. Giving up, he slips on some crocks hanging out by the door. It is OK, at least he will be comfortable, as he heads to the cross.

Can you imagine if Jesus was one of us?  If Jesus was like us, he would be driving toward the cross focused on the cross, but then he would catch the sight of Dunkin’ Donuts out of the corner of his eye. “You know what I really need before going to the cross?” he would think. “A coffee. The cross is important and that’s why I am stopping so that I can have a coffee and stay awake for the cross.”

But Jesus never did that!  You could say that he chose to “love less” those sorts of things so that we might have the gift of life.  “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,” Moses once instructed (Deuteronomy 30:19).  Jesus chose life.  He chose life for us.  And we are free to do the same.  We are free to follow only him.  We do not need to be held hostage to our number twos.  We are free to love and be loved.  We are free to let go of these possessions, which seek to have a hold on us.  Loving us was Jesus’ number one concern.  Loving and following him, therefore is ours.  Welcome to the guild of Jesus.  Welcome to discipleship.