Large crowds were now traveling with Jesus, and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.… Luke 14:25-27.
The word 'hate' is pretty strong isn't it. And, we know that this word in today's politically correct social imagination is seen quite negatively. As you check and you should check, in every translation whether NIV, NAS, NLT or KJB, hate is the word we find.
Many like to interpret the word hate in Luke to mean abandon. Essentially, though not a synonym it can be used to better understand the kind of commitment we must make to be disciple. We can also use the definition found in Webster's as an intense dislike or detest. If we accept that all are sinners before God and all who are not born again are children of Satan, then yes we should dislike and detest those who are not born again in Jesus Christ even if they are members of our own family.
There is another use of the word hate which we can often find used when we want to express a kind of great regret. For example, when we cannot help someone out when they need us. I hate to tell you but I am stuck in the office that day. Or, I hate to say it but that is a difficult situation he/she is in. I hate to be the one to tell you, I hate to have to do this but in the end you will thank me.
And, here perhaps in the last version of 'hate' used as a phrasal verb or even idiomatically, we may find the best answer. We hate it when we have to take a position that we don't want to take which usually means standing alone. It is when we get to a point of 'tough' love that we find true love. That is the cost of discipleship... getting to the point of truly being in love with God, Jesus Christ!
It does not require us to purge people from our lives, or to abandon them or to hate them but to show them who we love the most; first and foremost! Show them the true source of your social imagination. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" ~ Mark 12:30.
Have a Blessed Easter!
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