Verse 25 & 26 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.

Verse 33 “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”


No, I did not forget to make a journal entry yesterday; I just did not know what to write. I still don’t. I don't want to water the passage down, but I don't want us to give up either. I thought about the passage a lot and did write some things down about it my personal journal – mostly my struggles with the passage. This is a very difficult passage. Like Mark Twain said, “It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I don’t understand that bother me; it’s the parts that I do understand.” Maybe he had Luke 9:33 in mind when he said that.

We can theologize away verse 26 when Jesus says, “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.” We know that Jesus did not mean that we should hate relatives as this goes against everything else taught in the Bible. Instead he was saying that our love for him and God’s Kingdom must be greater than our love for those closest to us and greater than our love for our own life.

Verse 26 is difficult enough is difficult enough. But when Jesus adds in verse 33 “any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple,” it makes me want to throw up my hands and say, “Then, Lord, who can be your disciple?!”

Honestly, I struggled with discouragement from this verse. After all, I struggle with giving up some pretty petty things for the sake of the kingdom – and I am sure that I am not alone. A verse like this makes me want to think in terms of two types of Christians; the 99% plus of ordinary Christians for us the masses and the less than 1% for those saints like Mother Teresa. Yet I do not find that kind of division in the Bible. Additionally Jesus clearly was not talking to just the 12 disciples or his closest followers here because verse 25 says “Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them…”

So, what do we do with this teaching of Jesus? Bluntly, most Christians ignore it. That is an understandable and tempting response. We cannot measure up anyway, so why try? But this obviously is not the response that Jesus desires. So what do we do with this teaching?

First, thankfully, we are saved by grace and not by works. This verse does not negate that fundamental truth.

Second, we must continually evaluate our lives. What things in it are hindering our relationship with God? What things in it our harming our commitment to God’s Kingdom?

Third, we must commit again day by day to make the Kingdom of God the most important thing in our lives. This will be a life long “work in process.” We must seek God’s help and strength in this because on our own, it is impossible. But with God all things are possible.