Luke 14:25-35
The comedian, Jack Benny, delighted audiences pretending to be a tight-wad … every penny spent was a penny lost … the bottom-line was the only line.
One episode, Benny is held up by a gunman who says, “Your money or your life.”
Benny pauses … the robber says “Look bud, I said ‘Your money or you life’“ and Benny snaps back, “I’m thinking it over.”
“Think it over” says Jesus …
Before you make your decision … before you sign on the dotted line … before you say “Yes!”
Large crowds traveled with Jesus … best show in town; folks are fed; the sick are cured … Jesus is a celebrity.
He turns to the crowd and says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”
That certainly puts a screeching halt to things … what in the world is Jesus saying?
Well let’s put on our hiking boots, check the maps, get some extra water, and take a hike back to the first century.
Jesus is a rabbi … a teacher … an itinerant teacher; on the road constantly, town-to-town, teaching the Kingdom of God, healing and helping folks along the way.
His fame grows … He’s captivating, interesting, entertaining … He teaches with authority; stellar speaker; not afraid to tangle with the powers-that-be … folks want to hear what He has to say … they bring their needs and their wants; their ills and their sorrows … they bring their friends, their families.
With an arresting image, a catch-your-attention word, Jesus says: first things first!
Seek first the kingdom of God and all the other pieces fall into place … life is a cacophony of commitments, loyalties and relationships – family and friends; school and work – pulling and pushing in a thousand different directions.
The phone rings, we pick it up – it’s Fred, or Suzie, asking us if we would volunteer our time for a new project, if we could give a little more money to the school fund-raiser … and just that day, the boss asked for a little more work – we’re pulling our hair out, wondering how much more of this we can take.
First things first …
It’s all about priorities.
If I had it all figured out, I’d tell you right now … but I don’t have it all figured out … no one does – Paul the Apostle says of his life with Christ: “Not that I have already obtained all of this, or have already been made perfect, but I press to take of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
Let’s take a look at the word that seems so disagreeable here – “hate” … why such a stop-action, freeze-frame word?
What does Jesus mean?
Bear in mind one simple observation:
His audience understands what He means … it makes sense to them; they may not agree, but they know what He’s saying …
The Greek word is misew - it can mean how we often use it – a word of abhorrence, an emotive word, filled with disgust and loathing …
But it has a secondary meaning: “to love someone less in order to love someone more.”
When Jesus turned to the crowd, they knew what he was saying: every rabbi said it, one way or the other – there’s a decision to be made, a price to be paid.
How many golf fans here? … If Tiger Woods called you up and offered a week of golf lessons at Pebble Beach, without cost – staying in a five-star hotel, eating in the best restaurants, how long would it take for you to clear the deck and make the arrangements?
Last summer, in Michigan, a friend asked me on a Friday morning if Donna and I could spend a week on his boat cruising the North Channel along the Canadian coast of Lake Huron … he owned a marina and had a fine boat … so I said, “Yes!” – then he said, but we leave Sunday after noon … it was amazing how quickly I put things in order.
Jesus cuts right to the chase: if you want to be a part of God’s work, be prepared to change your priorities … it’s not easy, but it’s necessary.
Be prepared to love your family a little bit less in order to love God a little bit more!
Every missionary has grabbled with this … and pastors do, too … but it’s not just the religious who wrestle with these things.
Every soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan made a decision to love the family a little bit less in order to love the country a little bit more.
Teachers make the same commitment … folks in a high-powered careers …
A young man getting married: the Bible says, “a man will leave his father and mother, and be united to his wife; they will become one flesh.”
In order to go anywhere, we have to leave somewhere!
Remember the episode when Jesus is teaching in a crowded home – His family comes, but because of the crowd, they can only stand outside. Someone tells Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
Jesus replies: “Who are my mother and my brothers?”
Jesus then looks at the folks seated around Him and says: “Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
When Jesus is 12 years old – His family and village went to Jerusalem for Passover – a huge celebration, tens of thousands of pilgrims – the whole village of Nazareth traveled together.
When the festival is over, Mary and Joseph join the crowd to return home – they assume Jesus is with someone else – and they don’t worry about it, but at the end of the day, Jesus is nowhere to be found.
Mary and Joseph rush back to Jerusalem … for three days they search for Him – can you imagine their panic? If you’ve ever “lost your child” even for a few moments in a shopping mall, it’s a terrible anguish.
They find Him on the third day, in the Temple, speaking with the scholars … and when Mom and Dad finally find Him, they scold Him – as we all do when we finally find the lost child: “Why did you wander off? Why did you do this to us?”
Jesus responds - “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be here, in my Father’s house?”
Hardly an apology … not very heartfelt, nothing cozy and sentimental here … no Hallmark card moment.
Our LORD's attitude toward family may seem rather surprising in view of conservative Christian commentators like James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson who have made family their top priority – they’ve even criticized other evangelicals who’ve taken up the environmental cause – because they see the family, and the related issues of abortion and homosexuality, as the only priority.
Family is everything for them, but it’s not everything for Jesus.
Let’s think about families in the Bible …
Family is important to God … “honor you father and your mothers” – the fifth commandment; the only commandment with a promise “that your days may be long in the land.
The family is God’s building block for a good world … the first family, Adam and Eve; the flood family, Noah and wife and their three sons; the covenant family, Abraham and Sarah … those long and boring “begats” are a celebration of family … family is vital.
But let’s look a little more closely …
Adam and Eve had two boys, and the one killed the other. After the flood, Noah plants a vineyard, makes wine, gets drunk, lays naked in his tent; Ham ridicules him; the other two boys cover him, and the family is split. Abraham and Sarah have Ishmael, and that proves no end of trouble; Isaac’s two sons, Jacob and Esau, fight like cats and dogs.
Sound familiar?
Family is important … Jesus loves His family - but first things first.
Love well-placed makes a better world.
What Jesus proposes sounds harsh, but it’s liberating …
Love prioritized is liberating.
Jesus wants to take what is precious – our family - and put it into proper perspective, so that our love of family remains safe and wholesome.
To love God first is to find the wherewithal to love our families wholesomely.
To love God more … so our family is free from the pressure to be more than a family can be … our children aren’t perfect; our parents aren’t perfect, our grandparents aren’t perfect – expect what’s appropriate, and no more.
The marketing pressure on families is incredible – on the secular side of things: turn your little ones into Harvard-quality geniuses – on the Christian side: turn them into little saints.
Baloney!
Marketing pressure has produced a lot of edgy parents who have forgotten how to enjoy their children, and a lot of edgy children who are angry, lonely and self-destructive.
Misplaced love, love that expects too much, loves that tries to live through another human being, dissipates itself and shrinks the spirit, leaving us dissatisfied and angry.
Thank God, love misplaced doesn’t work. Thank God, we have a way out through Christ.
Love prioritized grows as it goes … love given to God first is returned to us stronger and cleaner.
Think about it says Jesus.
There is a price to be paid …
But the price is right …
If I’m going to shell out good money a restaurant, I want good food and good service.
If I’m going to buy a car - that it be comfortable, reliable and retain its value.
I’m more than willing to pay the price, if the price is right.
There is a price when it comes to God … but it’s not the highest price … there are steeper prices out there … like going to crummy restaurant, or buying a car poorly designed.
The steepest price of all – trying to love others without first loving God! That’s the highest price of all, a terrible price, a price paid for which there is no return of value!
Trying to love without first loving God is a terrible investment!
There’s a price to be paid for loving God, but God is worth it … God is a bargain compared to any other investment! Because Christ has made the downpayment!
When we strive to put God first, everyone benefits … it’s not a perfect science; we work at it every day … every day, we pay the price – first things first.
That’s a price I want to pay, and I know that you do, too.
The price is right. Amen!
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