‘Anyone who prefers father or mother is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me’ (Mt 10:37-38)
Do you find these words challenging and harsh as you try to understand them? You wouldn’t be on your own. A father’s affection, a mother’s tenderness, the relationship between siblings is something to be savoured and nurtured in a family. So why does it sound like Jesus is asking us to turn our back on our family, our loved ones? Why would he do that? What is he really asking of us?
In this text from Matthew’s Gospel, which is found at the end of his missionary discourse, Jesus is calling us to put our relationship with him ahead of every other human relationship we may have, even those that we have the deepest ties to. Why does he make this request? He makes this request out of love.
These words, spoken by Jesus, may be shocking to our ears; I am sure they certainly grabbed the attention in Matthew’s time as well. However, these words contain an important message about commitment, observing priorities and loyalty to God. In other words, they remind us about putting God first in our life.
In his message to the disciples, Jesus is telling us that in loving us so completely, God expects us to return that love. He expects us to receive God’s love completely and return it to him. He expects us to love ourselves and to love one another.
Jesus invited his disciples, and he invites us, to value unity with God above and before all other relationships. He is not undervaluing the love between parents and children, nor is he asking us to turn our back on our families and friends or to stop enjoying the good things in life. Instead, he is asking us to consider what sacrifices we are willing to make to be people of God.
So … what would your response be?
