PARISH NEWS

HATE YOUR MUM!

How confronting is this gospel! How uncomfortable does Jesus make us! “Hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters and your own life!” That seems to be Jesus’ instruction to us in this gospel (Luke 14:25-33).

We’d be reluctant to sign up to such a program because, at first glance, this passage flies in the face of all we hold dear about following Jesus. Surely the whole message of the gospels is that we come to Jesus through the love which we have for one another?

Like so much else in scripture, this needs to be understood in context. Jesus is using hyperbole here, exaggeration for the sake of emphasis. And also “hate” should better be translated as “prefer”- a call to love family less than Christ. Read with this understanding we discern that though our primary allegiance should be to Jesus rather than family, our whole gospel experience teaches us that allegiance to Jesus is completely compatible with love of family (and neighbour) and of our own lives.

Some of Jesus’ followers would be confronted too being told that, far from being easy, following Jesus is going to mean giving up all our possessions and carrying our cross. So, can’t we own anything? Yes, but just as we can and should love our families, so too we can have possessions, but our primary focus must be on the Kingdom.

Whatever Jesus is asking of us here though is dramatic and existential. This isn’t a bit of tweaking to our lifestyle or fixing this bit or that bit. Jesus is a radical, counter-cultural prophet calling for undivided loyalty to himself above family loyalties and above any other distractions; for total commitment and dedication to the Kingdom of God – the only thing in the end that makes sense.

Deacon Mark Kelly

MOTHERS WHO PRAY FOR THEIR CHILDREN