Hating all to follow Jesus?
This is very extreme language wouldn’t you agree? This is antithetical to what Jesus and the Bible commands, that we are to love one another – even our enemies. So, why in the world would Jesus demand that we must be willing to hate those most precious to us to be his disciple? On the surface this demand seems awfully discouraging, but I have learned and continue to learn that Jesus is perfect in all his ways. So even if he says something that admittedly offends my sense of ethics, there is perfect wisdom attached to his statement(s). In Luke 14:26-27 we read, “If any comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. The word hate is the Greek word miseo. Most common meaning of the word is to be malicious with unjustified feelings of evil toward someone. In relation to our text it means to pr