Luke 14:25-33 Love and Hate Did you ever say to your mother, I hate you! or your brother or sister? A long time ago perhaps, as a teenager. I am guessing you no longer hate your mother, but what is on your list of hated things now? Broccoli, traffic, certain kinds of music? But look at the list Jesus gives us in this passage- not a vegetable on it, nor any social irritants or inconveniences. Rather, people. Jesus tells us to hate people! The Messiah who came to show us the love of God says, hate. And look at who they are! Read this verse 26 again and add the names of your parents and spouse and children, or add a descriptive phrase about them: hate my father who worked a second job to put me through college; hate my mother who taught me humility; hate my wife who gave my life meaning; hate my children whom I would die for. What can this possibly mean- that Jesus, who said, Love your enemies, here tells us to hate the people we love most? So, whom do you hate? Unless something extraordinary happened to you at some point in your life, you certainly do not hate the people named in verse 26. I hope you ll say you hate no one. But what does it mean when the spiteful members of some churches and of some political viewpoints, people who claim to be followers of Jesus, carry signs that announce God hates fags? They ve got it
backwards; they need to read and try to understand verse 26, hate your father and mother. Why hate the people dearest to us? Well, first off, to make us think. Some folks don t need a commandment to hate certain groups: in our social and political climate perhaps Muslims, immigrants, homosexuals; they hate them anyway. And even when commanded to love, still they hate, and feel justified in doing so. But why hate Mom and Dad? Just this, I think. Jesus places limits upon how our relationships function and how we express them. And as the one who truly loves best, he can demand a limit on how the rest of us must love. In our scripture Jesus is talking to the crowd following him- the poor and the hungry, the huddled masses, people with few possessions, so Jesus doesn t say hate your things, your bank account, clothing, your jewelry. I think our passage has a familiar parallel in the story of the rich, young ruler (Luke 18:18-23), whom Jesus tells to sell all he has and then come and follow. Jesus challenge to him was to hate his things, for they stood between God and his heart; but for the poor, it was their loved ones and their friendships that might stand in the way of complete obedience. There must be nothing and no one standing between you and the Lord who calls and gives life.
Now, to the ancient Semitic mind, the word hate could have a secondary meaning not only to abhor or detest ; it could also mean a sense of detachment from something, and we should probably take verse 26 in this way. So that hate becomes for us a relationship word. In comparison to our love for God and the command to follow Jesus, we must hate - even parents, spouses, siblings, children- anyone who might usurp God s place in our devotion. Nothing must come between our love for the God who loves us, and we can permit nothing, nor anyone, to prevent us from taking up our cross and following our Lord. Think of the crowd here, think of their reasons for following Jesus. They must be thinking this is the leader we like best; he is kind and charismatic, he heals and feeds multitudes, in every argument he gets the best of the scribes and Pharisees. But think of Jesus, who has made this decision about his life: he is on the road to Jerusalem, to the painful humiliation of crucifixion. And so he shows us what hating parents and brothers and sisters and spouses and children- and even our own lives- means: it means putting our lives and all our relationships in God s hands to take the difficult- and more than difficult- road to obedience. And God will make our relationships make sense, because in this is all that is important in the world- relationship with God. And how we attain that relationship is by taking
up our cross and walking the path of Jesus. Renouncing all things, hating your own life, casting aside our desires for success or status or happiness or comfort or amusement, all that would distract us from following Jesus. Think of the crowd here, think of our world today, think of our own worship, how so often we only wish to feel good about ourselves. We want friendships and love that give us purpose and joy. Jesus says those come only through the primary, devoted relationship with him. And loving others then, out of God s love for us. Just like the crowd we want to find happiness, and think that we have found it in Jesus. But he has the deeper vision. He is on the road to Jerusalem, and he sees the cross before him. That vision burns up all shallowness and makes him aware of the suffering of others. And as we obey his call to take up our cross and to follow we will perceive the profound sadness of the world- and perhaps our own sadness!- that no amount of striving or clinging to things or people or grasping for happiness or thinking happy thoughts can ever diminish; and we will know that taking up the cross and following is our only hope, the only way to get past our desires, whether an evil lust for power and control, or merely selfishness- the desire for love and assurance. For they both grow out of the fear of suffering or
uncertainty. And the only answer is to hate that, and to follow the one who has himself overcome it. And so, loving that one who gave himself to God- for us, let us come to the Table; and sharing this meal, learn to love one another. As someone said of this scripture on Wednesday night as we studied together, It is so harsh, and depressing, almost paralyzing because we can t do this properly, to hate, or to separate ourselves from our deepest relationships in order to follow Jesus. Yes, reading Jesus words here we almost feel a sense of despair at our inability to obey this commandment. But let me give you some good news- that at this very moment, as we take baby steps along the way of Christ, he gives us grace. Grace. Which is first of all, forgiveness, for all the times we try and fail; and grace, secondly, from which comes the strength to try again. But in this relationship, of his grace and our striving to obey, we discover finally the meaning of love: no longer a feeling, an exalted emotion, but now giving and humility and understanding. True love that has already given itself and so has nothing to lose; love that leads to the cross, the place of execution, that is, where enemies are, but
where love, the love of God within you, overcomes hate. True love that knows the depth of suffering, but still rejoices, for it is God s love within you. There is no denying that the words of Jesus in our passage are very difficult. And we must take them seriously. But what they do not mean is that we all must go out and leave our spouses and friends and parents and become like Mother Teresa. But rather, learn to love others like we love those closest to us. It is perhaps a third meaning of grace. Not that we should become someone else, but become a better person- become what we were created to be: God s person. Giving our self to God we are given perfect, endless love. Love to share and give to all we meet in the travels of life.