First Commitment

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace…   I have come to set a man against his father… a daughter against her mother…  Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me… and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me… those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their lives for my sake will find it.”  - Matthew 10:34-39

This is undoubtedly one of the most difficult things the gospels have Jesus saying.  They appear to undermine much that we hold sacred, especially in regard to family.  How are we to take these words?  How are we to understand and apply them?

In Matthew 10, much like in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is speaking to the inner circle of disciples. Jesus pulls his inner circle away from the crowds and speaks directly to them. Jesus brings this message particularly to the people he thinks have the potential to be totally committed to his mission.  He speaks to them about discipleship.  

His message to them can be summed up in two words: Total Commitment! - not sometimes commitment, but total commitment; not half-hearted commitment, but total commitment; not commitment when it’s convenient, but total commitment; not just enough commitment, but total commitment. 

We must note that Jesus frequently used hyperbole as a teaching method. Hyperbole is “a figure of speech that greatly exaggerates to make a point.”  For example, Jesus used hyperbole in Mark 9 when he said, “if you hand causes you to sin, cut it off… if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off… and if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.”   I don’t know of anybody who has taken Jesus literally on that. At least I haven’t seen many folks walking around without hands, feet and eyes from self-inflicted amputations because of sin.

I believe Jesus’ words in Matthew 10 are very much the same kind of thing; hyperbole to drive home an important and serious point.  

What does it mean to give our total commitment to Jesus Christ? What does mean in this twenty-first century world when terrorists give their total commitment by blowing themselves up and murdering for their cause?   What does it mean to love Jesus Christ and be committed to Jesus Christ and his mission more than even our commitment to our families?  What does that mean for us in today’s real world?

Jesus’ words are a call to radical discipleship; an invitation to revolutionary Christianity. This is not a watered-down and diluted kind of Christian faith, but a full-bodied Christian faith.  This is not an impotent Christianity, but potent Christianity.

Jesus refers to domestic relationships, so I will speak about family commitment for a moment.  Marcia and I marked our 39^th anniversary last week. When I think back at what has kept us together and our relationship vital over these decades it comes down to one thing – renewing commitment.  Over the years there have been all sorts of things that would have eroded our marriage.  But the one thing that we mutually have returned to time and again, and reaffirmed time and again is our commitment.  By the grace of God we have always come back to that the commitment we made, and as a result we have each had to look within ourselves and ask, “Will I be true to my commitment.” 

When I reflect upon all that it has taken to get us to the place we are 39 years after we made our first commitment, and then when I hear Jesus say that the commitment he demands even supersedes that commitment, my mind is boggled and blown away. 

These difficult words are an invitation and challenge from Jesus to enter into that kind of relationship with God.   He says, “...whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”  What cross is Jesus talking about?  He is talking about His cross, the one he took up in the cause of radical love; the cross that broke through all the sinful, self-indulgent and selfish barriers we erect to keep God on our terms; the cross that Jesus did not shun or avoid, but was committed to because he perceived that only suffering and sacrificial love could transform the world; transform your life and my life – and nothing short of it.

One of the greatest temptations we face is to settle for a sugar coated Christianity with a sugar coated gospel, with a sugar coated cross, and to eliminate this awesome call to discipleship. The greatest temptation is that the cares, riches, pleasures, desires and passions of this life become more important than the call of Jesus Christ. And so, issues of family, spouse, friends, jobs, homes, vacations, investments, politics, become more important to us than Jesus Christ and his mission. The result is watered down wine, complacent, impotent and irrelevant Christianity. 

The Bible says that the Lord our God is a jealous God. God will not settle for relationship on our terms.  It’s on God’s terms.  If you love your spouse, your children, your grandchildren, your way of life, your home, your job, your lifestyle, your community, your politics, your nation more than God, it is the sin of idolatry.

Do you remember the in the Gospel of John, chapter 21, where Jesus persistently asked Peter if he loved him? At the crucifixion Peter had denied Jesus three times. The resurrected Christ appeared to the disciples near the Sea of Galilee and the risen Christ looked Simon Peter in the eye and asked, “Do you love me more than these?” And what were the “these?” Do you love me more than your fishing boat, your fishing nets, your fish, your friends, your family, and all that other stuff there on the seashore?  “Do you love me more than these?”  Three times Jesus asked that question of Peter, “Do you love me more than all of this?” That same issue from John 21 is the same issue in Matthew 10.  Jesus wants to know: “Do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than all of this stuff?

We are surrounded by a million and one voices that say the way to real life is to be comfortable and secure, not be inconvenienced or put at risk, or to be asked to venture outside of our carefully drawn boundaries of security. 

It’s not being said here that family, loved ones, friends, job, community, nation, possessions are bad things – of course not!  That’s not at all the sense I get from this passage. All of these things are rich blessings that come from God’s gracious hand.   But what I do get is that if I name myself his disciple then commitment to Jesus Christ stands ahead of every other commitment and every other relationship, and my relationship with God informs and shapes my attitudes about them. 

“Take up the cross and follow,” says Jesus.  Take forgiveness, love, grace, compassion, sacrificial love into your home, to your spouse, to your children and live it; take it to your community.

“Take up the cross and follow,” says Jesus.  Take compassion for the poor, a thirst for justice and devotion for peacemaking into the community.  Advocate for programs, policies and ministries that alleviate suffering, hunger, disease, and injustice on this planet.

“Take up the cross and follow,” says Jesus.  Take the cross even to enemies and adversaries and, at least, struggle with what Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

“Take up the cross and follow,” says Jesus.  Take the cross and apply it to your possessions and direct a significant portion away from self and toward the empowerment of God’s kingdom.

One last thing:  Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace…”   This is not an injunction against peacemaking.  This is a statement about the inevitable fact that commitment to Jesus Christ and his selfless, sacrificial love will finally put you at odds and in conflict with a self-indulgent, maintain the status quo world.  This conflict is never something that the disciple of Jesus Christ initiates, seeks out, or desires, but it will inevitably come for the world doesn’t understand this kind of self-giving love.  The world is threatened by this kind of love.  The world will not tolerate very long this kind of selfless love.  The world often crucifies this kind of love.    

When you put commitment to Jesus Christ as your first commitment, only because God in Christ has made you his first commitment, the conflicts can arise from anywhere: family, friends, job, community, nation, world, or even from within yourself.   But at those times, have courage and resolve, and trust the awesome paradoxical gospel promise of Jesus, “those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their lives for my sake will find it.”   Amen.