Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:25-33).
As Jesus continues on His way, great multitudes follow. These are not Jesus’ disciples. They are following Jesus out of curiosity. They want to see Jesus the miracle worker. They want to see him heal, and cast out demons, and multiply loaves and fishes. He tried to teach His disciples privately but, as soon as word spread, the multitudes sought out Jesus.[1] Every time the multitudes came to Jesus, he had compassion on them. He did heal the sick and feed the hungry. More importantly, he taught them about the kingdom of God. The people were more concerned with meeting their physical needs. Jesus will demonstrate that this is not what we should worry about. We should worry about eternal life. Multitudes would continue to follow Jesus throughout his ministry. So little do they understand Jesus and His purpose, that they will meet Him as he enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, hailing Him the Son of David; by the end of the week they will stand before Pilate and call for Him to be crucified, asking for a murderer in exchange.
Jesus clarifies what is really important. He says to them that anyone who would come to Him must hate his father and mother. What does this mean? Are we not taught by Holy Scripture that he who does not love does not know God, for God is love?[2] How can Jesus tell us we must hate our families? Jesus is the same God who gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Is Jesus now contradicting The Fourth Commandment, which says thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother? If He is, He is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as he claims.[3] God does not change, and He does not lie.[4] No, Jesus is admonishing the multitudes to examine themselves. Following Jesus would demand, from an earthly perspective, great sacrifice. Christ Himself said that he came to bring division;[5] in other words, some people would believe in Him, and some would not. Even families would be divided over faith in Christ. If anyone would follow Jesus, his love for Christ must precede all other love, even the love of family and friends.[6] He can have no other gods. Jesus shows this to the rich young ruler. The man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, something which cannot be done perfectly. The young man answers that he has kept them, but Jesus exposes his idolatry. He calls the man to sell all that he has and distribute to the poor. The man loved his wealth more than God. He went away sorrowful.
We, too, belong to the multitudes. We would treat Jesus as our own personal bread king. We want Him to grant us health, money, love, success, and all manner of other earthly blessings. We think these things are the most important things. Jesus would show us otherwise. We are working for food which perishes, and for treasure which will rot away.[7] Jesus would have us seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.[8] He teaches us to pray, not for piles of wealth so that we can live our best life now, but for our daily bread.[9] It was our sin which put Jesus on the cross. We, along with the multitudes, delivered Jesus up to death; we killed the author of life.[10] We justly deserve His temporal and eternal punishment. But it was to save mankind from such punishment that Christ came into the world. While we were still his enemies, Christ came to earth in human flesh, kept God’s law perfectly, lived a sinless life, and went to the cross to die for us, the ungodly.[11] He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God, in Christ.[12] And though He died on the cross, on the third day Jesus rose again. Repent, and believe the Gospel. Jesus did not come into the world so that we could be rich and successful; Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom we are the worst.[13]
[1] Luke 9:10-11
[2] 1 John 4:8
[3] John 8:48-59
[4] Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8; Number 23:19; John 17:17
[5] Luke 12:49-53
[6] Kretzmann, Paul E. Popular Commentary of the Bible. Vol. 1. 2 vols. St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1921.
[7] Matthew 6:19-21
[8] Matthew 6:33
[9] Luke 11:1-4
[10] Acts 3:14-15
[11] Romans 5:8
[12] 2 Corinthians 5:21
[13] 1 Timothy 1:15
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