(If you rate this sermon please offer helpful comments, God bless, Greg)
When was the last time you said something that you really didn’t mean?
What if I got up here and said, “If anyone comes to this church and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he can not be a member of this church.” Would that go over well? What in the world would you think? Wouldn’t we say just the opposite is true? We would say: If you don’t love your brother, you can’t love God. Love God first and love others as yourself are the central themes of this churches doctrine. That’s why when we come to Luke 14:25-27 it comes as a surprise to hear Jesus say what he says.
As I began to seriously consider and study on what Jesus said here in Luke 14:25-27, I noticed that the first thing almost every commentator basically says is this: “Jesus didn’t really mean that.” The very first response to Jesus’ words here by those who take him seriously is to try to explain that he didn’t say what he said. Isn’t that a bit unusual? Do we do that with other things Jesus says? I think we do.
At the end of Mark’s gospel (chapter 16) Jesus said, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, he that does not believe shall be condemned.” I know that many who believe in Jesus today don’t think he meant that either. Although we believe those words, some of us wish he had just stopped there in Mark, don’t we. Instead, Jesus went on to say: 17 "And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." Did Jesus really mean that? Of course he did! And it happened just as he said it would. But we have to do some interpreting to separate obeying the gospel and what happens with those signs that followed, don’t we. But... at least we don’t say, “He didn’t mean that.”
But let’s get back to Luke 14:25-27. I hope your Bible is open. Look at this with me. See for yourself if your Bible says it.
Ready? Let’s let Jesus speak for himself.
25 Now great multitudes were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,
26 "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
27 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
These are difficult words to swallow. Especially the words in verse 26: "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
That four letter word “hate” speaks volumes. Surely Jesus can’t mean what he says here! is this a translators error? Did some naughty scribe mark out love and insert the word "hate" by mistake or just to be mean?
Before we deconstruct and undo what Jesus said here and reconstruct it to fit into a more comfortable line of thought, let’s do the unthinkable first. Let’s take him at his word and see what it does to our relationship with him. Before we run to the parallel passages that Matthew wrote, let’s let God’s word speak through Luke.
In order to do this, we need help. The contrast between Jesus words here and what he commands elsewhere are just too overwhelming. They keep running back into it and making us remove the “hate” word. How can he possibly mean for us to hate those dearest to us? We think we have to say that he either means something besides that four letter word “hate” here, or it undoes all the love he commands us to do to others elsewhere and everything we know the Bible says about loving our wives, children, and even our enemies elsewhere. Do you follow me? Stay with me here.
How can we possibly accept what Jesus says here? How?
What we have to do is take Jesus at his word even when it seems to contradict all of our logical, rational perspectives about him and what it means to follow him. I believe that Jesus said what he said here because we need to hear it. The Holy Spirit inspired Luke to record it here, because it calls us to discipleship like nothing else can. Jesus didn’t make a mistake. He didn’t choose the wrong word. He didn’t say something he didn’t mean to say. He said, “hate” and he meant “hate” the way he meant for us to understand “hate” in this context. Am I being clear? And he directed that terrible word toward those he knew we would not want him to direct it toward. Of all things! Jesus, why couldn’t you aim that loaded word somewhere else or at someone else!!! Why did you have to say it about those nearest and dearest to our hearts and lives? Why??? Surely you didn’t mean that. No! You meant the opposite, right?
(Not as part of this sermon, but as a reflection on this word and its use in Luke’s gospel see: 1:71; 6:22&27; 16:13; 19:14; 21:17. In other contexts Jesus is recorded by Luke saying this word in ways that raise the discomfort of its use here by gutting the oversimplification of the Aramaic "love less" notion. The parallel in Matthew 10 is helpful, but not conclusive).
We need help, don’t we. If we are going to take Jesus at his word here, we need God to help us do something that seems contradictory and unthinkable. For help in God’s word, let’s go back in time to another moment when God did something similarly unthinkable. Let’s go back to an old man who has a beloved son named Isaac. Abraham and Sarah have waited years and years for God to fulfill his promise that they will have an heir. They have been anxious. Sarah figured that God needed some help so she gave Hagar to Abraham in order to get a son that way. They had a son, Ishmael, but he was not the promised son. Finally, God moved and Sarah had a baby boy, Isaac. Don’t you know he became the center of Abraham and Sarah’s lives. Those two must have felt more like grandparents than parents! Isaac was the miracle son. The fulfillment of the promise of God! Their own flesh and blood and future hope of God’s promises and God’s covenant were in that son, Isaac. But when Isaac was a young man, God came to Abraham and said something similar to what Jesus says here in Luke 14.
Listen to Genesis 22:1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
2 And He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.
5 And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship and return to you."
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.
7 And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
8 And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there, and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
Let’s pause right here and think about this a minute. What was it in Abraham that gave him strength and will to do this? What? I can tell you that it certainly wasn’t his love for Isaac, or Sarah. It wasn’t his commitment to them or even his own life that made him do it. What was it?
I think Abraham understood more about what Jesus means in Luke 14 than anyone else I know. In fact, I think Abraham would shake his head in agreement with Jesus words here in Luke 14:26. Why? Because Abraham knows who God is. He knew who told him to do this. And when we know who Jesus is, we will do like Abraham did. But if our relationships with those we love stand in the way of seeing and committing to Jesus, we will always need to reinterpret Jesus’ words to fit our loyalties. We will always want to use Jesus to take care of those most precious to us instead of establishing the commitment of sacrificing those precious relationships for the sake of following Jesus. What gives God the right to ask Abraham to sacrifice his son? What gives Jesus the right to say we must hate those dearest to our hearts? Why would he do this?
Listen. When Abraham and Isaac came down from that mountain, Isaac knew exactly where his dad’s first allegiance was. I’m sure he never forgot it. This impression of Abraham’s allegiance to God remained in the family of Abraham for generations. In fact, it is still with us. And in fact, our Christian faith finds its roots here. Aren’t you glad Abraham "hated" Isaac? This "hate" served to establish the blessing and love of God for us all. Do your loved ones know where your first allegiance is?
Listen, the best effort we can give to help others we love to come to Jesus is for us to do it first! If I want to help those I love most in this world to enjoy eternal life in Christ, I must not put them before Jesus himself! In fact, if the call comes from God to give up my relationship with them and sacrifice it as a burnt offering to the Lord, the very best thing I can do is take God at his word and answer the call. Jesus is defining the core of discipleship. He uses the words we do not want to hear, because we need to hear them.
Jenny and I had this conversation. Jenny doesn’t like the word “hate” at all. When we were discussing this, she made that clear. “Hate” is a very powerful word. It doesn’t fit into Christian language very well, especially if you are thinking about children and grandchildren. But it doesn’t look like Jesus addressed this statement to children. He’s talking to a crowd that has begun to follow him. He’s sifting out the committed from the curious. Jesus is less interested in crowds gathering with him and more interested in calling for commitment and loyalty beyond what the curious can stand. As we have noticed before, Jesus is bringing the kingdom of God into collision with the kingdom of darkness. The only question that counts is “whose side are you on?” Nothing, and that means nothing or nobody can stand in your way. Look at the parable just before this:
15 And when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, "Blessed is everyone who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"
16 But He said to him, "A certain man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;
17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ’Come; for everything is ready now.’
18 "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ’I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’
19 "And another one said, ’I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’
20 "And another one said, ’I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’
21 "And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ’Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’
22 "And the slave said, ’Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’
23 "And the master said to the slave, ’Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24 ’For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’"
Those who were invited had other loves that stood in the way of coming to the feast.
So now Jesus tells them: 26 "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
27 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Before we water down the words of Jesus and decide that he didn’t mean what he said, let’s ask ourselves: If he did mean what he said, am I able to be a disciple?
What if God couldn’t bring himself to sacrifice his Son for us? What if the Father couldn’t bear to take our sins and put them all on Jesus? When this happened we know that Jesus cried out, "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?" It appears that part of the curse our Lord and Savior bore for us was separation from God the Father. Is Jesus calling us to something like this here? Is that part of what he means by "hate" in Luke 14?
The cost of saving you and me was greater than we will ever know. I think Jesus is inviting us into the awareness of what that means.
