Matthew 10:34-39
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
When I was a kid, I always found these words rather upsetting. Not only did they not square with my picture of Jesus, but no matter how much I went to church and Sunday school, and no matter how hard I tried, I knew deep down that I loved my parents more than I loved Jesus. (And, frankly, still do, and don’t even get me started on how much I love my kids.)
One time after hearing these words in church – I think I was around ten – I went to my mom worried that I was in serious trouble. Her answer to my anguished question has stayed with me all these years. It consisted of two parts. First, what Jesus is doing is really different – the kind of love and equality he wants to show everyone – and it’s going to make people upset. So when you follow Jesus, not everyone will agree with what you’re doing, not even everyone in your family.
She’d had some experience with that. Her dad spent his career as a missionary in India (where she and her six brothers and sisters were all born and had grown up), and his siblings didn’t think much of his spending so much time abroad.
Second, and this is what meant the most to me at the time, she said Jesus would understand how much I loved her and my dad and how much they loved me and my siblings. Then she said she’d asked the same question of her dad and that was exactly what he’d told her. (So I had it on the authority of two generations of family members that I knew were good Christians who loved Jesus.☺)
That made sense to me as a ten year-old, and it still does. Maybe it will make some sense to you, too.
Prayer: Dear God, give us the courage to follow you when it is difficult. And when we struggle to follow you as we should, remind us that still you love us, more than ever. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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