"Family Matters" **A sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, 8/17/25**

 

            Really, Jesus?  “I bring not peace, but division”?  “Whoever does not hate father or mother cannot follow me’?”  What happened to love God, love neighbor?  What happened to being a kind and caring neighbor from the other week?  Does Jesus really call us to hate our families and to actively seek division?  This just not sound like the Jesus we are used to.  Not at all.

            Scholars consider our text today among the difficult sayings of Jesus.  I once had a college philosophy professor who liked to cite such passages as proof against Christianity.  The professor said Jesus sets such high standards that no one could possibly hope to meet.  Plus, there are the conflicting teachings of Jesus like here in Luke.  Thus, no rational being should or could be a Christian.

            Time and again, the Bible tells us that Jesus came in love (John 3:16) that you and I might know how to love one another.  And that true love comes as a gift from God, who loves us first.  Love of God and love of neighbor is the greatest summary of all the teachings found in Scripture (Luke 10:27).

As John tells us in his first letter (I John 4:7-12; MSG)

7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

 

So what are we to make of such difficult teachings?  For many of us, our families are where we first learn to love and be loved.  Where we first learn how to love and accept others despite our differences.  Jesus cannot really mean for us to hate our families and to build walls between us.  Can he?  Let’s take a deeper look at Jesus’ life and ministry.

Jesus did not hate or exclude.  In fact, Jesus went out of His way to include others.  Women.  Samaritans.  Lepers.  Tax Collectors.  Those who lived with the forces of evil dwelling within them.  All were welcomed by Jesus without conditions or exceptions.  Jesus’ harshest words were for the religious leaders.  Those who excluded and built false walls of separation.

A little context may be helpful here.  Jesus, in Luke, is heading towards Jerusalem.  The betrayal and agony of Holy Week lies ahead.  Jesus knows that soon both His followers and the crowds will need to make a choice.  Will they continue to shout “Hosanna!” at the cross?  Or will their voices join the chorus of “Crucify Him!”  Choices will need to be made.  Lines drawn in the sand.

The early Christian community knew the truth of Jesus’ words.  Communities and families were being pulled apart on account of belief in Jesus.  Those who believed in Jesus found themselves pushed out of the synagogues.  Most of Jesus’ closest friends, the 12 disciples, were put to death for their faith.  Or lived in exile on account of their trust in Jesus as the Lord.

Jesus also teaches that family is not just a matter of blood.  At one point in Jesus’ ministry, Jesus’ friends worry about Him.  The disciples call Mary along with Jesus’ brothers and sisters.  Jesus tells His followers that “Obedience is thicker than blood.  The person who obeys God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”  Mark 3:34-35).

That is where there is true hope.  Not every family is loving and supportive.  Even today, some families exclude based on politics, sexual identity and orientation.  Our world is deeply didived on issues of gender, race, scoial economic status, and education.  Jesus gives the vulnerable, the outcast, the marginalized a bigger, better family in the Christian Community. 

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