Jesus and Family Values

[Dave_B]

Hi All

Does Jesus possess good family values?

In Luke 14:26 he tells his followers to hate their father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters and own life. Otherwise he/she cannot be a disciple.

Maybe its just me, but does this sound similar to a sinister cult-leader, rather than a family orientated person? What implications are of this statement.

Did Jesus also hate his father, mother, brothers and sisters. Or was this supernatural advice only for his followers?

A common trait of a cult is to separate people from their families. Is this applicable?

Jesus remained his whole life unmarried. We also know that Paul was unmarried, and makes strong statements in his letters about the desirability of being unmarried and without a partner or family. You could speculate that the rest of the apostles were also estranged from their families.

Did the disciples and apostles therefore hate their own families and avoid them, and avoid marriage also? I imagine they could have walked out on their families when following Jesus and cut off from family contact once they had joined the group.

That seems a very usual way to behave, and at odds to the general consensus here that marriage and families is a good thing.

Your thoughts.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

This is simply an instance of taking thinks outside of their context and intent. One the face of it, this would appear to be a rather troubling passage; however, taken in its greater context we can put it into perspective. Luke 14 as a whole deals mainly with the difficulties that his disciples will face, and the neecssary mindset of a true disciple of Christ.

From the USCCB website:

[14:25–33] This collection of sayings, most of which are peculiar to Luke, focuses on the total dedication necessary for the disciple of Jesus. No attachment to family (Lk 14:26) or possessions (Lk 14:33) can stand in the way of the total commitment demanded of the disciple. Also, acceptance of the call to be a disciple demands readiness to accept persecution and suffering (Lk 14:27) and a realistic assessment of the hardships and costs (Lk 14:28–32).

• [14:26] Hating his father…: cf. the similar saying in Mt 10:37. The disciple’s family must take second place to the absolute dedication involved in following Jesus (see also Lk 9:59–62).

If you are truly seeking to follow Christ, it may, unfortunately, be necessary to cut ties with your family if they continually seek to drag you away from God. We see this frequently when a younger person converts to Catholicism, and their family refuses to accept it, and constantly berates them for it (there are tons of threads about this on the forums). It is not the choice of the new convert, but rather the actions of those around them which force him away.

In addition to this, the original Hebrew word for hate (sorry, I don’t know it off the top of my head >_>) did not have the same purely-negative connotation it has today, but could more literally be translated as “To love less;” meaning that we must love our parents less than we love God and Christ. If you ask any informed Catholic parent, they would assuredly agree with this assertion.

There have been a number of threads about this on the forums, and I’d imagine it has been addressed in more than one “Ask and Apologist” thread. You might search there for a more detailed and thorough explanation.

(Here’s one such thread: Luke, 14:24)

 

[TimothyH]

Many Jews thought that they had salvation because they were Jews, because their genealogy could be traced through the patriarchs back to Abraham.

*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; (Matthew 10:37)

And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother." (Matthew 12:49-50)*

You are not automatically saved because you are Jewish and a member of the covenant. You are not automatically saved because your parents had you baptized Catholic.

Understanding a little bit about Judaism and the culture which produced the Scriptures helps us to avoid reading things into scripture that are not there, like modern notions about family values. Jesus left his mother to be cared for by John the Apostle while we dump our elderly in nursing homes.

-Tim-

 

[Mumbles140]

Think about the fact that if someone believed in Christ, they were confessing a belief in someone who was condemned and executed as a radical blasphemer. I’d take it their Jewish or Pagan parents would not be to thrilled about this, and it could cause division among the household. Christ is saying that we must be prepared to abandon all else to follow Him, for we can love nothing more than we love God if we desire to gain entrance into Heaven.

It has its application today as well. If faithful Catholic parents had a child who was about to enter into a same-sex marriage, it would be a very difficult decision. They love their child (although not the sin, as we hate all sin that all of us commit), and would not want to miss the wedding, but for the fact that Christ teaches us (and the Church affirms) that attendance at same-sex weddings is against God’s will, as it substitutes the natural order of Creation for one that is man-made. Once again, a Christian is called to forego his/her family for the sake of following God - difficult, for sure, but it is what God asks of us.