Every one of us has something we care deeply about. There are people in your life you can’t imagine living without, and plans we’re passionate about. Maybe you’re planning for the future and investing a lot of time and effort in orchestrating your dreams. Maybe you have a hobby, a craft, or a sport you focus most of your energy to make space for. I think Jesus delights in the things that bring us joy. So keep being with your people, keep making your plans, keep practicing your craft.
BUT…if every one of us has people we love and plans we care about, what in the world are we supposed to do with Jesus’ words from Luke 14:26?
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 14:26
Ouch. What’s the deal, Jesus? Since when is being your disciple about hating people? This is a cringe-y verse, isn’t it? One many of us would rather ignore. But let’s enter into our discomfort, shall we? Jesus is inviting us to something, he always is.
The thing about following Jesus is it comes at great cost just ask the Rich Man in Luke 16. Or heck, let’s take a look at Jesus’ own life. You remember how Paul describes Jesus in Philippians 2:
6 [Jesus] did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
Philippians 2:6-8
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
What Jesus is asking of us – to hate our mothers and fathers, and even our own lives – is something with which He is intimately familiar. This ridiculously intense instruction from Jesus is not about holding grudges. It’s not asking us not to hate in the bitter and anger and vengeful sense of the word.
What Jesus is inviting us to do is to let go of our possessive grip of our lives in order to be transformed into Love.
The costliness of discipleship isn’t about making us miserable. God isn’t a sinister overlord. No, our God is a God of invitation, a God who desires to be with us. So then, if we’re responding to Jesus’ invitation to “come follow me” what we’re really deciding is to choose to hold our lives loosely.
When we hold people and plans and possessions loosely, our spirits are much more easily transformed into the image of Christ. And that’s the point, to become like Christ.
There are so many things – even very good things – we can place before the call to follow Jesus, the call to be with God, the call to have God’s love made complete in us.
If you’re seeking to follow Jesus, to become like Him in love, here are some questions to mull over: What plans are you gripping tightly? How tight is your fist around your plans for your future? (what you will do? who you will marry? what name you will make for yourself?) Maybe you have an especially “righteous” dream of becoming a career minister or missionary, imagining how many people you will serve or reach with the gospel?
And what about the people in your life: who are you gripping tightly? Is it a relationship with a parent or your son or daughter, maybe a friend or fiance or spouse?
“Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple.
Luke 14:33 (MSG)
Invite Jesus to help you look at your life, to show you what you’re needing to loosen your grip on in order to follow him more nearly and embody the Love of God.
