Monday 31 August 2015
- Bible Book:
- Luke
“He turned and said to them, ‘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. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.’” (vv. 25-27)
Psalm: Psalm 77
Background
This statement of Jesus seems particularlyshocking to us; how on earth can it be Christian to "hate" ourfamily. It is worth remembering that Jesus lived in what socialscientists often call a group-oriented society. Those of us wholive in an individualistic society will get most of our sense ofbeing valuable from our own achievements. Jesus, however, lived ina society which was much more focused on groups (your family, yourvillage, your nation etc). In his world a person's sense ofself-worth was closely tied to the way in which their entire familywas perceived by those around them and whether or not their ownactions brought honour to that family. So not only did it matter tobe, for example, one of the, sons or daughters ofJames there was also a strong perception that the actions ofJames's sons and daughters reflected on him and vice versa. Westill have some sense of this today, but it was a far, far greaterissue in Jesus day.
Read this statement alongside the next and whatdoes it say? Crucifixion was the most shameful death possible inthe Roman Empire, yet Jesus challenges his disciples to take uptheir cross and follow him. I suspect, that what Jesus was tryingto get across was the possible cost to a family if one memberbecame a disciple.
Part of the cost of discipleship which Jesus askedthe crowds to consider was, 'what if following Jesus involvesactions which dishonour my mother, father, sister, brother etc'.What if he asks me to do things which others would despise me for?What if he asks me to share table fellowship with publicans andsinners and therefore be labelled as one of them? Most of us today,do not have the same worry about what our discipleship might costour family but the entire passage asks us, nevertheless tocontemplate that following Jesus is not an easy thing.
To Ponder
- Do you know of anyone who has found that following Christ hasconflicted with family loyalty? Spend some time praying forthem.
- In Jesus' day, a person's sense of being valuable was (at leastpartly) caught up in how their family was valued by others and howtheir family valued them. What factors contribute to your sensethat you are a valuable person? Has following Christ everconflicted with this? How did you respond?