I Love You So Much That I Hate You
Todays post comes by way of a comment that I had submitted to Joe Tucker’s blog. I am especially honored as Joe has added me to his Blogroll. I’ll take it as a sign from God that I’m doing something right.
Joe was having some heartache with the following scripture. So as it was put on my heart, I pointed to some other scripture for Joe to consider in the context of Luke 14:25-27. What follows is a copy & paste of the comment posted to Joe’s Blog.
Luke 14:25-27 “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-yes, even his own life-he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
Christopher said,
Joe, Take a gander at Luke 14:33 “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” For what it’s worth I think that your take on what you’ve received as instruction regarding Luke14:25-27 is on-track with Jesus’ intent.
The idea behind Luke 14:25-27, is as you stated: Jesus wasn’t saying to actually hate family and others in order to follow him, rather your Love for Him should be so strong and passionate, that the love for anyone else would look like hate when the two are compared/contrasted.Consider the fact that Jesus being God in flesh, and having a distinct nature of being a Loving God, can not/does not do anything opposite or counter to His nature. It would then seem to make sense that Jesus was using a word opposite of His nature (as the Father), to drive home the point of how deep our love for Him should be.
Consider also, the four types of love, specifically storge and agape which would fit the context of your post and the contrast between the two : storge, phiia, eros and agape, .
STORGE: is fondness through familiarity, especially between family members or people who have otherwise found themselves together by chance.
PHILIA: means friendship in modern Greek, a dispassionate virtuous love
EROS: is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing
AGAPE: In biblical literature, its meaning and usage is illustrated by self-sacrificing, giving love to all-both friend and enemy, unconditional love
Also, notice in Luke 14:27 Jesus says: “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” in a way, I think that there’s a double meaning to this.
- “follow me” as in the sense of duplicate my efforts (”just as I sacrificed for you by going to the cross, you too must sacrifice [crucify your flesh, figuratively]) for my sake”.
- “follow me” also meaning as in “I will lead you, my flock.”
The sacrifice(s) are not necessarily all physical, but in giving up what is near and dear as well if that is what the Father commands as a means to be strengthened in our walk or purpose.
An additional thought comes from John 15:13 when Jesus says: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” I believe that Jesus was saying (not bragging mind you): “You wanna know about love? Let me tell you what true love is.. true love is to sacrifice, to give up what you want and desire most (life, peace,personal safety,happiness, comfort) in order to ensure that your friend’s spiritual well being may be improved. That’s true Love“.
A final thought to all of this is in Matthew 22:36-40: 36?Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Repeatedly the theme is L-O-V-E; perhaps God knows that we’re a little thick in the skull and was ensuring that we got the message ; )
Apologies for blowing up your “blog minutes” with the response. (long-winded) Grace and peace be with you.