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Sunday,
September 05, 2010
HATING TO BE A DISCIPLE
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” These are
pretty harsh words. In fact, they seem downright unchristian! Hate as a
prerequisite for discipleship! Wow! Yet, these are Jesus’ words. So we need to
examine them.
The word “hate” in this passage is, I am told, taken from the Greek word that is
used in biblical passages to suggest a lesser love. It doesn’t refer to the rage
and fury that hate signifies in our language. We must “come to Jesus” with utter
openness to the demands of discipleship. That must be our priority. Nothing must
come between us and discipleship.
God is love. Jesus revealed God’s love to us. It is because we know that we are
so immensely loved by God that we respond in that love to reveal God’s love for
the world. By its very nature, there can be no barriers to love, no restrictions
to love, no qualifications to love. There can be no limits to discipleship
because there can be no limits to love. A disciple is one who loves.
So how about hating “father and mother, wife and children, even his own life”?
That is the nature of love. One gives everything, even one’s own very life, to
the beloved. In that sense, I ‘hate’ my very own life. It is in giving of
everything that one receives everything.
Remember the incident earlier in this gospel when Jesus was told, “Your mother
and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.” Jesus
responded by declaring, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word
of God and act on it.” At another time, a woman from the crowd, in a typical
motherly remark, cried out, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the
breasts at which you nursed.” Jesus replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear
the word of God and observe it.” A disciple is ‘new’ family. A disciple’s
relationship with God reaches way beyond blood ties and raises all
relationships, even blood ties, to the level of God’s love. Our relationships
with family and friends and those close to us, are raised to a whole new level
of loving, the way of discipleship. But the first step of love it total giving
of oneself. That is what Jesus is asking of his disciples here.
The context of the reading today is that “great crowds were traveling with him.”
Jesus’ call to discipleship is a call to step out of the crowd. After talking
about “hating” he immediately says, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and
come after me cannot be my disciple.” He follows that up with the parables of
building a tower, or planning a war. He is saying to the potential disciple, “Be
completely aware of what you are taking on.” He is saying to them, “You are
choosing to take the Cross of discipleship to your shoulders.” Once you put your
hand to the plow, there is no turning back. We say the same thing to a couple
planning marriage, “Are you prepared for the demands of love? Are you prepared
to renounce yourself and all your possessions for the sake of the other? Are you
ready to choose a cross which will mean that everything else must be ‘hated’ if
you are to carry that cross?” Love is not something we can do by going along
with a crowd. It is the individual response to the word ‘come!’ that we hear
from the One who promises us eternal life. But the road to that eternal life is
a demanding one. Love makes a total demand.
Father Kevin P. Casey
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Date This Page Was Last Edited:
Friday, September 03, 2010 12:03 AM
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