Luke 14:25-33
“To follow Jesus, to commit to Jesus”
Today’s gospel is one of those passages that makes any reader uncomfortable and what makes this passage so uncomfortable and maybe a little intimidating is the language; the extreme language used in it. This passage scared me the first time I read it. I just could not imagine hating my parents or siblings and frankly I was shocked. I was shocked that Jesus even ask me to do that. As I got more serious in the study of the Bible, I came to understand that the Bible, even when it contains the word of God, is a book, and the writers used some resources to express their ideas and to present their messages. One of these resources they used is the hyperbole.
Let’s remember what a hyperbole is. Hyperbole is an extreme statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken in a literal way. A hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration used to make a point. A hyperbole can be found in literature as well as oral communication. Hyperboles are comparisons, like similes and metaphors, but are extravagant and even ridiculous. We use them in our everyday life. Here are some examples: “You kept me waiting an eternity”, “it so cold that even my words are frozen solid”. We can also find hyperboles in the Bible. We find it in Galatians 4:15. “ Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. John 21:25 is another. Listen: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
When Jesus said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” He is using hyperbolic language not to be taken literally, but as to make a point. The point Jesus wants to make is about how serious is to follow Him. The point Jesus wants to make clear is about our commitment with Him and His kingdom. Therefore, what should shock us is not His invitation to hate our family, but the invitation to follow Him.
To be a disciple of Jesus implies to take a cross and follow. A cross is an instrument of death; it’s a symbol of the Roman cruelty. This is a radical invitation.
Why is Jesus so concerned about people following Him? Is this not the purpose of his message for people to follow him? The parables of the person building a tower and the king going to war can help us answer that. Both of these parables are about lack of preparation. Maybe this crowd described by Luke following Jesus today is the same crowd from chapter 9. The five thousand men plus women and children fed by Jesus. If that is so, they were following Jesus but they did not even get their food ready. They were ready to follow Jesus but they did not take a moment to think about the price of discipleship; they did not take a moment to think about what it meant to be a follower of the carpenter from Nazareth.
When Jesus asked them to hate their parents, siblings, spouses, and children and to take the cross, he was not trying to scare them away, on the contrary he wanted them to stay but for the right reason. Jesus knew that after his death and resurrection, His disciples were going to be persecuted, put in jails, and killed; only those with a deep commitment were going to be able to continue following Him. I am sure that Jesus’ words scared away many people who did not want to surrender all to him, and sadly, that fear kept them away from his kingdom. But those few who follow Jesus no matter what; those women and man; those young and old were the ones God gave the power of the Holy Spirit and with them he begun transforming this world.
Many things have changed since Jesus left but a few still remain the same. One of those is our fear. Fear to commit ourselves to Jesus; our fear to suffer for his cause; our fear to take our cross and follow him. Today’s gospel is about what Christianity is about. Christianity, I’ve come to realize is not a way of thinking, is not philosophy, is a way of being, a way of living, a way of doing things differently because we do not live for ourselves no more, but for Jesus and in Jesus. Its impossible to follow Jesus without being ready and able to make radical changes.
The change Jesus wants in our life begins with the transformation of the old vessel in a new vessel, as Jeremiah describes it in chapter 18. This transformation is the result of our obedience, our trust in our Lord and savior. Philippians 2:8, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
That is what Jesus expects from us his modern disciples to be obedient to his word and will. This obedience will take us to practice His word. Only those who trust God will do as He says. James 1:22-24 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
When we are obedient, when we practice God’s word, we are imitating Jesus. That is what He wants. He wants us to be like Him. Listen to John 13:15 “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
Therefore, when Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” He was inviting us no to hate but to love and follow his example and do to others as he has done to us. What has he done to us? he loved us in such a way that he gave everything for us, including his own life and he expects that from us too.
