Luke 14:25-35 (Pentecost 13C)

Luke 14:25-35 (Pentecost 13C)
St. John, Galveston 9/7/25                            
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

    In this morning’s Gospel reading there are what appear to be some rather harsh words of Jesus regarding what it means to be His disciple. If you’re going to follow Jesus, you can’t have any other relationships in your life. In fact, you have to hate your father and mother, your wife and children, a well as your brothers and sisters. O yeah, and you have to hate yourself too. I would suggest that if these demands of Jesus don’t bother you, or at least catch your attention, you should go back and read them again. “If anyone comes to me (Jesus says) and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”  

    Surely there must be some sort of a translation issue going on here, right? At this point you might think, Pastor, do your thing with the Greek and show us how the translation is faulty. I mean, the word translated into English as “hate” doesn’t really mean “hate,” does it? Well, actually it does. Which means our struggle with what Jesus said can’t be dealt with by massaging the translation a bit.

    The answer to the quandary is in the way in which the Old Testament saints used the word “hate.” It’s what’s known as a Hebraism. It’s not used to mean “hate” in a literal sense, but in a comparative sense. And so, in the Book of Malachi, God said, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” This is simply to say that in comparison to God’s love for Jacob, His love for Esau was AS hatred. Ultimately, in the Old Testament the word “hate” or “hatred” could be used to indicate priority. We often say, our priorities are God, Family, and Country. So it is that our love for our parents, our brothers and sisters, and even ourselves should be as “hatred” when compared to our love for God.

    This is how the word “hate,” as it’s used in this morning’s Gospel reading, is to be understood. That said, what Jesus says in Luke 14 is still very difficult for us to hear and process. I would suggest, however, that these words remain difficult for us by design, because they create in us an awareness of just difficult it is to be Jesus’ disciple. While our attention is captured by the word “hate,” Jesus draws us from there to the greater meaning of the passage, which isn’t in the first verse at all. Rather, it’s in the verses that follows where He talks about the cost of following Him, or as it’s commonly called, “the cost of discipleship.” Specifically, the central theme of this passage is found in verse 33, where Jesus says, “any of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

    Why is that verse the central point of the passage? Well, let’s test what Jesus says in verse 33.“Go and renounce all that you have and come and follow Jesus.” Who among you has or is willing to do what Jesus demands? Our families, our father and mother, our spouse and children are certainly at the top of our list in terms of people who are important to us in our lives, but just behind them is everything else. So, after we’re done hating those who are nearest and dearest to us, we are told to get busy giving up everything else in our lives, that is if we want to earn for ourselves the lofty title of “disciple of Jesus.”  

    The fact is, there isn’t a single verse in this section of Scripture that makes us any less anxious about our chances of becoming and remaining Jesus disciples. But, that’s exactly the point. We need to get into our heads this morning that Jesus doesn’t intend to give us a game plan for climbing our way up into heaven, or for establishing ourselves as His disciples.  Jesus isn’t calling here for “commitment.” He’s not calling for “surrender.”  He’s not even calling for you to make a “decision” to follow Him. He’s not talking about what any of us CAN do to be His disciple. Rather, it’s talking about what we CANNOT do.  

    When God demands something of us, as He does in this passage, we can respond to that demand in one of four ways. We could ignore Him altogether. As ill advised as that approach is, it is the choice of roughly 4 billion people in this world, about 1/2 of the world’s population.

    If God is listened to at all, there remain three ways to respond to what Jesus says about discipleship. Some will conclude that His commands aren’t all that difficult to keep. But that because they aren’t considering Jesus command in it’s fullest meaning. Still, there are some who will conclude that God doesn’t command anything that they can’t do by our own will. The Pharisees fell in to this mindset. They were righteous in their own minds, you might say. Thus, when Jesus came, they rejected Him because they didn’t believe they needed what He offered, namely, forgiveness and salvation. They counted the cost of being a disciple of God, as it were, and they saw themselves as having all they needed to complete the task at hand.

    So, we might ignore God altogether. We might conclude that we’ve met His demands. Or, we might choose a third option and simply bow our heads in despair. This was the plight of Judas. He betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. In remorse, he tried to give the money back to the religious leaders, but they told him to see to the problem himself.  It would be fair to say, he was sorry for what he had done. But, for whatever reason, he didn’t believe Jesus either could, or would forgive him. Consequently, in his mind, he stood under the relentless condemnation of the Law. It was a sentence he could not bear and so, in despair, he took his own life.

    There is another way though.  God’s commands, whether the Ten Commandments, or these lofty standards of discipleship, set before you, are not, in fact, intended to give you a path to salvation. Rather, they are intended to drive you away from yourself that you might find hope outside of yourself. This is really a central part of the Christian faith and of the Gospel itself. While there are changes that take place in each of us as the Holy Spirit works in our lives, God doesn’t save us because of those changes. He doesn’t save us because of our great commitment, or our outstanding resolve to bear the cross and follow Him. No, He saves us out of His great love for us, a love that was ultimately demonstrated to us in His death on the cross. Salvation always comes from outside of us, in things like water and the word, and in bread and wine, the body and blood of Jesus.  

    In the end, some of the most blessed words you can say as a disciple of Jesus are, “I cannot.” Luther reminds us that those words apply even to our faith. In explaining the meaning of the 3rd Article of the Apostle’s Creed, the Article about the Holy Spirit, Luther says, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one true faith.”  

    Friends, you are a disciple of Jesus because the Holy Spirit has called you by the Gospel and for no other reason. By water and the word, God took you, from the kingdom of darkness and “transferred you into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom you now have redemption, the forgiveness of your sins.”  

    There is no doubt that, as Jesus’ disciples, we all struggle daily to put God first in our lives. But, as His disciples, His followers, we all find in Him grace and forgiveness that are more than sufficient. As strong and as stark as the Law is, the Gospel of Jesus’ forgiving grace in Christ is always stronger. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.
+ Soli Deo Gloria +