The demand of hatred

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and even his own life can not be My disciple.

-          Luke 14:26

 

The word hate means to feel hostility or animosity toward. To detest.  The Greek verb is miseō; having malicious and unjustifiable feelings toward others, whether toward the innocent or by mutual animosity.

So, is this what Jesus is commanding us to do? Hate our loved ones and our own lives too? Doesn’t this command seem way too harsh, extreme, contradictory to other parts of scripture? Don’t we read in other places where Jesus commands us to honor our mother and father, to love one another; even our enemies? To Jesus live audience this must have seemed like a mixed message. How would you feel if in one speech Jesus is commanding you to love, and in another speech He is commanding us to hate our family and even our own lives?

                What’s goin here?

Jesus definitely isn’t contradicting himself. We are definitely commanded to honor our mother and father, and to love one another (Ex 20:12; John 13:34; Eph 6:1-3; I John 2:7-11; 3:10-12; 4:7-10, 20,21).

As a matter of fact, Jesus said to hate someone is murderous at heart (Matt 5:21-22).

John said that one that hates his brother is a murderer at heart and no murderer has  eternal life abiding in him (I John 3:15).

Once again Jesus is teaching hyperbolically. He is using superlative language to drive home His point. He wants His listeners to know the extreme cost required to follow Him. We as Christians must pursue God with all our being. We must be willing to give up our rights even at the expense of our families and own lives if God requires it for His glory. If we are unwilling to hate or love-less our families for the Excellency that is in Jesus Christ, then we are not worthy to follow Him.

Our pursuit of the Lord has to be so intense that everything else MUST pale in comparison. Jesus wisely used the comparison between Him and family because these are who we love the very most in life.

Jesus is making it crystal clear that family although most precious to us is far less important than our salvation, and our commitment to Him.

To hate in this context  of discipleship is to prefer one thing or person over another; it’s to show less love or disregard for one’s parents and family relative to the love and demand of Jesus Christ to come and follow Him. We see this is what the disciples did.

Jesus called Simon called Peter and Andrew to follow Him. They abandoned their nets for they were fisherman, and followed him (Matt 18-20).

Jesus called James and his brother John. They were also fisherman with their father Zebedee. They left their boat and father and followed Christ.

Jesus commanded Matthew the tax collector who was filthy rich (literally) to follow Him. Matthew left his post at the tax office,  got up and followed the Lord.

These three accounts are visual live demonstrations of the hate concept Jesus described in Luke 14:26.

In each instance these men were willing to deny themselves, set their families at a lower priority than that of Jesus Christ.

We must ask ourselves the question, “Are we?”  Or, did we get saved for mere “Fire Insurance”  (i.e. to escape hell)?