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The gospels talk of two classes of people who will not become disciples
of Jesus Christ: those who love their natural lives more than Jesus and
those who will accept a lousy life rather than abandoning to
Jesus. In Matthew 10:37 we read “He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me.” In Luke 14:26 we read “If any
man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children
and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also, he cannot be my
disciple.” Matthew's treatment of the situation focuses on the successful Jew. He is quite content with his family, his finances, his children, and his morality. For him there is no reason to forsake it all and follow Jesus. So Jesus sums up the situation by saying if you love your natural life more than me you are not worthy of me. Luke's treatment of the situation focuses on the gentile who doesn't have it so good but would rather live with the garbage than forsake it all and follow Jesus. So for the gentile of the day, Luke tells them unless they absolutely hate it all, family, job, wife. And even their own life, the gentile will not become a disciple of Jesus Christ. It had often puzzled me why Matthew and Luke said different things in the same context until God showed me that they were engaging to different classes of people. But both principles still hold true. Some people love this life too much to follow Christ and some people don”t hate it enough to follow Christ. If you are not a disciple of Jesus Christ, which class do you fall into? Amen |