Hating your father and mother?

It is sometimes said that the gospel has a way of comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable. This week’s text from Luke 14 definitely falls into the disturbing category. Jesus tells the crowds that following him means hating your father and mother, your spouse and your children, your brothers and sister, even life itself. That’s pretty disturbing.

Jesus is not asking us to break the commandment to honor our father and mother by actively despising them. Rather, he is demanding that his followers put the kingdom of God above all things; that serving God and your neighbor is the ultimate good for which you should strive. This is not just Jesus’ preference or his desire for our submission. Jesus knows that God’s love is the source of our love and our peace. The best way to love yourself and your spouse and your children, and everyone else, is to live first for the kingdom of God. It is in this service to God’s kingdom that we come to most fully love God, ourselves, and others.

Following Jesus in serving the kingdom of God will not always be sunshine and roses. To live first for the kingdom of God means not living first for your country, or your family, or your occupation, or your wealth. Following Jesus will often put us in conflict with the world around us. Simply put, there are costs as well as benefits to discipleship. The good news is that God has promised to be with us always- through the joys and the costs of discipleship. This Sunday we will celebrate the presence of Christ in our midst in Holy Communion. Communion feeds us, and strengthens us, and empowers us with God’s loving presence so that we can love more fully and witness more boldly. May the presence of Christ be with us and help us to put first the kingdom of God through all of life’s highs and lows.

Peace,

Rev. Andrew Greenhaw