To listen to Jesus can be uplifting, peaceful, enriching, hopeful but also very challenging

 
Reading: 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. Luke 12:26.
 
Good morning, happy Wednesday, and many blessings my dear family.
 
We live in a market driven society, so it is not surprising that we feel the urge to “sell” Christianity in the marketplace of competing ideas and ways of life. Yet, when Christian mission is shaped toward the “sell” mentality, it more often than not becomes a “low-cost” and “low-risk” commodity. How else will we persuade others to receive the faith, if not by coming in with a lower or better offer?
 
But is the Christian faith really a low-cost, low-risk endeavor? The Gospel for today (Luke 14:25-33) offers a challenge to a market driven approach to Christian mission. The text begins with two discipleship sayings that require absolute commitment to Jesus (14:25-27). Then Jesus provides two brief stories or parables to illustrate the importance of “counting the cost” and giving up all for Jesus (14:28-33).
 
Jesus’ first discipleship saying is framed in stark language: “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” (14:25). This saying fits thematically with Luke 12:51-53, where Jesus warns of families being divided over his message. Because Jesus in his person and message requires those who would follow him to answer the ultimate allegiance question, it is not surprising that he may inherently bring family strife.
 
The language of this particular saying, however, raises concern for many. Does Jesus really call us to hate our biological families and our very lives? Two observations are helpful in this regard.
First, Jesus is using hyperbolic language here as he does frequently in his teachings (e.g., Matthew 18:8-9). This becomes clear when we compare this saying in Luke with its parallel in Matthew (10:37): “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.”
 
A second helpful observation: the use of “hate” in Luke might reflect an idiom that comes from Hebrew. In Genesis 29:30-31, we hear that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah and that Leah was “hated” by Jacob. A similar use of the Hebrew word for “hate” occurs in Deuteronomy 21:15-17 where it is also clear that the issue is one of preference or allegiance. This coheres with what we have seen in Luke and Matthew. Jesus is not calling his followers to hate their families in terms of emotional response; instead, he calls for undivided loyalty to himself above family loyalties.
 
To listen to Jesus can be uplifting, peaceful, enriching, hopeful but also very challenging. Jesus is honest about what it means to follow him. As I sit with this scripture what arises in my thoughts or feelings? Am I led to look at my commitment to my decisions? Can I live with the consequences of my decisions? Can I forgive myself and continue to love myself as God loves me, even when I make poor or unhealthy and unloving decisions? Talk with Jesus about this.
 
Blessings,

Fr. Luis+