If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple… In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

Today we are given some more of Jesus’s very Hard sayings. Hating family is really dramatic language! But there are about three different ways that I have read to explain or better understand this language.

First is simply the translation of the word “hate” in this passage. The greek language is much more precise than english. They had eight word to describe the different meanings of the word love. Just so they had four word to describe the different meanings of the word hate. In english we have the one, and as such the real meaning of this word gets lost when we read this line of the gospel in our language. The word used here, in greek, does not mean the “seething rage” kind of hate, it is closer to “love less.” So in that understanding this statement loses some of the drama of the word “hate” carries in our language and becomes less objectionable, but it is still not the whole story.

The second explanation is hyperbole. Jewish rabbis of this time, would use extreme examples to make a point…, they were exaggerating for the sake of emphasis. While this helps us to understand the cultural idioms and the way in which rabbis would normally talk to each other, It still does not fully explain the harshness of Jesus’ teaching in this reading…, so we are still not quite there yet.

The last, and most logical way of understanding this teaching is by putting it in context to the other teachings of Jesus in the bible. Specifically revolving around the objectionable jewish practice of “Korban.” The wealthy jewish people of this time would often employ this strategy of “Korban” in order to avoid doing acts of charity. This was a technical loop hole, that allowed them to horde their money instead. The practice simply required the pharisee to say that that their money “was dedicated to the temple” (aka. “Korban”). That meant that it was not available to be spent on helping family members or those in need. The practice did not require them to actually give their money to the temple, only say that they were, and as a result they could get away with not giving help to the needy. When Jesus addresses this practice, He explicitly and very clearly condemned this practice, and even attached a “woe to you,” to any that did this in order to avoid helping others in need.

So to me, with all that context in mind, it is more than obvious that Jesus is not saying you should not love or take care of your family members or those in need, but instead that you should not love them more than God. God must be first in all relationships. Because if you do not get that relationship right, you will not get any other relationship right. Thus, we must start by building our relationship with God first, and then all of our other relationships will make more sense, and be easier to maintain.

Consider this analogy. A marriage should be likened to an equilateral triangle, where the spouses are on the bottom corners of the triangle, and God is on the top corner. As the spouses seek to get closer to God, and move along the lines of that equilateral triangle towards God, the distance between each other will then invariably become closer as well. This is the beautiful geometry of Heaven, and this analogy is true about all relationships that we have in the world.

So this takes us to the last line of the passage. “In the same way, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” What does it mean to renounce all your possessions. Does that mean that you have to be like St. Francis, and take off all your clothes and give them away? Does it mean that you have to be a pauper for the rest of your time in this world? I don’t think so, but some may be called to that level of sacrifice. But for the rest of us, we still need to rightly order our lives with regard to the things we have. Whether it is family, friends, homes, cars, or anything… If we place its value higher in our lives than God, then we are making a huge mistake.

The rightly ordered life requires that your first and most important relationship must be between you and God, then next your spouse, then your children, and then everyone, and everything else. If you get this order wrong, or lose track of what is really important, you will invariably create a false idol in your life and the evil one will exploit that, put you into slavery, tie that thing around your neck like a leash, and then drag you into hell with it.

In the end we don’t take any of this with us, at our last judgment, we will all stand naked before God, and He will not ask you how well your investments did, or how many homes you own, he will simply ask you how much you loved. And that love, and the consequences of it are the only treasure that you will actually enjoy in Heaven. Because God is love and that is the only thing that matters in heaven.

You must put Jesus first, and when you do, all other things will fall into place. It is not a pious idea, it is the true, and real fact about our human existence. So if you have something in your life that has become a false idol, put God first, and rightly order your life. Take everything to Him, and then you will find the peace that we all desire and the happiness that God wants for us all.

Oh god, help me today to see the false idols I have in my life, and help me to rightly order them according to your will and glory. Amen.