Simply Jesus Pt. 16: “Whoever Loves Father or Mother More Than Me…”

In Mark 3, Jesus is in the early stages of His ministry. Large crowds from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon are following after Him. He has just come back home after choosing twelve men to be His personal disciples and apostles, and it’s making His family quite uncomfortable.

Mark describes what happens next in His Gospel:

When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.” – Mark 3:21

Verses 21-35 reveal that the people who came to lay hands on Jesus and drag Him away were His own mother and brothers. Though they probably believed they were doing the right thing, Mary, James, Jude and the boys thought Jesus was out of His mind, and came to stop the Messiah from doing God’s will.

One of the most difficult conversations I’ve had as a Christian occurred about a month after I took my first position in full-time ministry. Someone that I was incredibly close to called me, asking me not to become one of those ‘super serious Christians’. You know, one of those Christians that takes Jesus so plainly that it causes him or her to be viewed as weird by society.

You know, one of those Christians who takes Jesus at His word.

That conversation taught me a couple of valuable lessons. First, friends and family can often be the biggest hindrance to one’s walk with God. Second, Jesus wasn’t kidding when He said He came to bring a sword into the lives of His followers.

Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. – Matthew 10:34-39

Despite Jesus speaking so plainly, I used to wonder if Jesus really meant those words. Over the last five years or so, I’ve received a great deal of comfort at the way the earliest Christians interpreted Jesus’ words. The way they didn’t try to skirt around His difficult commands. For instance, look at Cyprian’s comments on this section of Matthew 10:  

He Himself instructs and warns us, saying, “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” … For if we love God with our whole heart, we ought not to prefer either our parents or children to God. – Cyprian 250CE Vol. 5, p. 839 [CD-ROM]

Do you honestly desire Jesus more than anything else in this world?

Because Jesus is Lord God and King, He naturally causes division. Because He is God, He will not be content with there being competition for the throne of your heart. Because Jesus is the King of kings, He will not bow to your mom, your wife, your sister, your daughter, your pastor, your job, football or your country. Jesus must be first.

I’m sure many Christians would be quick to say, “Amen,” to that statement. However, is that the lesson we Christian parents are modeling for our children? Are we actually modeling for our kids that Jesus takes 1^st place in all things?

At every Vacation Bible School I’ve ever attended, served at or brought my kids to (that would be too many to count) all of the opening assemblies have started the same way.

Before anyone learns John 3:16. Before anyone learns the Great Commandment.  Before anyone learns the Great Commission. Before anyone sings any songs of praise to God, you know what everyone must stop and recite as one. After all, we’ve got to get first things first. We must pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America before we can consider giving our lives to Jesus.

Then, once we have sworn our lives over to an earthly country with worldly values, only then do we allow our children to say pledges to the Christian flag and Bible. Only then do we allow children to learn about Jesus. Only after we give ourselves to country to we give ourselves to God. Do you see a problem with that?

We can tell our kids to put Jesus first ‘til we’re blue in the face, but lessons are more caught than taught.

Jesus has come to bring holy division in your life. So, how can you tangibly demonstrate to your family that Jesus is more important to you than anything else? How can you show your coworkers that you love Jesus more than your job? What are some practical, nonviolent ways you can demonstrate to your friends that you are more devoted to the kingdom of God than the earthly country that you live in?

You may seem kind of weird to the rest of the world, but Jesus is more than worth it.