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This passage is a reflection on Luke 14, where Jesus challenges his followers with strong language about “hating” one’s family to be his disciple. Father Chas explains that Jesus is not literally calling for hatred but is using hyperbole—much like when he spoke of cutting off a hand or plucking out an eye—to stress the seriousness of discipleship. The teaching emphasizes that nothing, not even family or personal desires, should be placed above love and devotion to Christ. It’s a call to prioritize Jesus over all worldly attachments and to remember that true discipleship requires total commitment.
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Father Chas: We’re now in Luke chapter 14, and Jesus continues with some very difficult teachings. When he said this, “…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.”
Father Chas: But does he really mean what he says here? That if you want to be my follower, you have to hate your father and mother, your wife and your children, brothers and sisters? That sounds so inconsistent with Jesus’ other teachings. After all, Jesus has said that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. And eight chapters earlier from this in Luke, Jesus tells us to do the unimaginable, and that is to love even our enemies. So what gives here?
Father Chas: What sense does it make to love your enemies but to hate your family? And so here, Jesus uses some shock value to make a point and to express this teaching in a way that people would remember it. Probably the most memorable hyperbole Jesus used was when he said, if your hand causes you to sin, see, you remembered, right? You remembered. It’s a great lesson.
Father Chas: Jesus obviously doesn’t mean cutting off your hand literally or plucking out your eye literally, but it sure is a memorable way to say that whatever sinful habit you have or device or situation that you put yourself in that causes you to sin, you better get rid of it because it may very well cost you your soul.
Father Chas: Now, given the wider context of his teachings, Jesus doesn’t want us to literally hate our family members, but it sure is an effective way to communicate that you and I and anyone that claims to be his follower can prefer nothing and no one else to him.
Father Chas: If we love our parents, our spouse, our children, or anyone or anything else, we cannot truly claim to be his disciples. Sometimes we’ve seen, we’ve even preferred or prioritized entertaining friends over worshiping Jesus. Or prioritized our travel plans or sporting events or optional overtime work over Jesus and worshiping him.
Father Chas: But as Jesus himself reminds us today, he is to be loved above all things, all persons, and all worldly endeavors.