I can’t count the times he said to me, “I like you, Robinson, but I can certainly do without your religion” — “religion” meaning my commitment to Christ. He held a particular disdain for claims that the Bible is the Word of God.
One day, my friend and fellow newspaper reporter showed up at my desk with a sardonic grin on his face and an open Bible in his hands. This was going to be one of those conversations I enjoyed much less than our debates over the greatest all-time college football player (it’s Herschel Walker).
“I found something that proves the Bible contradicts itself,” he said. “Jesus is supposed to be all about love and peace, right? Well, listen to this.” He slowly read Luke 14:26, verbally underscoring one word:
“If anyone 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.”
No doubt, it is one of the most staggering phrases to come from Jesus’s lips. I don’t recall my response, but my colleague raised a valid question: What does Jesus mean by “hate” here?
HATE SPEECH?
After all, this is gentle Jesus, meek and mild. The Jesus who summons us to love our enemies (Matt. 5:43–46); the one Isaiah calls the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6); the Jesus who promised the world will know His followers by their love (John 13:35). And yet this Jesus is asking me to hate my wife, my children, and my parents? Elsewhere, Scripture commands me to love my wife (Eph. 5:25), my children (Eph. 6:4), my parents (Exod. 20:12). What could our Savior possibly mean by this incendiary — and seemingly contradictory — ultimatum?
If we take a closer look at the surrounding context, the nutshell meaning of His distressing words is as clear and concise as it is radical and revolutionary. Jesus is telling His followers: “If you would be a Christian, I must have it all.” We may be scandalized by the “hate” speech, but I suspect in stumbling over Jesus’s plain talk, we can miss the real scandal of this text: There will be rivals warring for supremacy over the throne of our hearts, but our love for King Jesus must defeat every one.
Matthew 10:37 may provide the interpretational key to unlock what Jesus means by “hate” here: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Yes, we are to exhibit deep affections for our closest earthly kin, but Jesus is saying we must love even them less than we do Him if we would prove to be genuine disciples. Of course, it’s also true that I will love my family and friends well in direct to proportion to the depth of my love for Jesus.
SELL ALL AND BUY CHRIST
Jesus is not demanding that you literally hate your family. He is using hyperbole to illustrate the steep cost of following Him. Any prospective follower must be glad to give up everything, to love Him unreservedly — to sell all in order to have Him as your highest treasure (Matt. 13:44–46). Our affections for Christ must be of such an intensity and quality that, by comparison, all other loves seem like hate.
This is the first of three sobering warnings in Luke 14:26–33 against making a hasty decision to follow Jesus.
A GENUINE DISCIPLE MUST:
- Love Jesus even more than your earthly family (v. 26).
- Take up your cross and follow Him (v. 27).
- Be willing to lay down everything — even your life — and go hard after Him (v. 33).