Luke 14:26

[homewardangel]

Did Jesus try to be confusing? I don’t understand where Luke 14:26 fits in with the other teachings of Jesus (i.e…love they neighbor).

If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

When I heard this read at mass I was hoping that it was a translation issue and that my bible would have a slightly different wording - but it doesn’t. This quote is from the Douay-Rheims bible that I have at home.

“Hate” is such a strong word and I don’t understand why he would say this. While I understand that Jesus very well may have been making a point, but I don’t understand why this way. If he said not to choice your father or mother over Jesus - that would make sense, but hate???

Any thoughts??

Terry

 

[Joel_Tunnah]

It is in the spiritual sense. Your “soul mate” is not your wife, or children - it is God. Look at it in the context of his entire ministry - clearly Christ says in other places that we should not hate anyone.

The DR notes for this verse say it quite well:

“Hate not”… The law of Christ does not allow us to hate even our enemies, much less our parents: but the meaning of the text is, that we must be in that disposition of soul, as to be willing to renounce, and part with every thing, how near or dear soever it may be to us, that would keep us from following Christ.

 

[homewardangel]

“Hate not”… The law of Christ does not allow us to hate even our enemies, much less our parents: but the meaning of the text is, that we must be in that disposition of soul, as to be willing to renounce, and part with every thing, how near or dear soever it may be to us, that would keep us from following Christ.

This makes perfect sense to me, and that is how I would understand that text to say.

But what I don’t understand - is why didn’t Jesus just say that??? On one hand we are supposed to take him word for word, then other times we are supposed to do some interpretation…it gets very confusing. How can we know when and which times that we are supposed to “interpret” what we think Jesus means from what he actually says.

It can be very frustrating when you are at a point in your life when things are not black and white

 

[lak611]

This makes perfect sense to me, and that is how I would understand that text to say.

But what I don’t understand - is why didn’t Jesus just say that??? On one hand we are supposed to take him word for word, then other times we are supposed to do some interpretation…it gets very confusing. How can we know when and which times that we are supposed to “interpret” what we think Jesus means from what he actually says.

It can be very frustrating when you are at a point in your life when things are not black and white

From Vine’s:

Hate, Hateful, Hater, Hatred

A. Verb.
miseo (G3404), “to hate,” is used especially (c) of relative preference for one thing over another, by way of expressing either aversion from, or disregard for, the claims of one person or thing relatively to those of another, Mat_6:24, and Luk_16:13, as to the impossibility of serving two masters; Luk_14:26, as to the claims of parents relatively to those of Christ;

From Adam Clarke’s Commentary:

Luk 14:26 -
And hate not - Matthew, Mat_10:37, expresses the true meaning of this word, when he says, He who loveth his father and mother More than me.

 

[Della]

Jesus was employing the rabbinical debating technique of his time of hyperbole to make, one could say over make, his point.

The Children of Israel were tribal. Family associations were everything to them. So, when Jesus tells them to hate their family connections in favor of God he is telling them that in the Kingdom of God family is no longer one’s father or mother but others who love and follow God. He used the same technique when he asked: “Who is my mother, my brothers, my sisters?”

He was teaching us to love God and one another in a new way, a way in which family relationships have a new meaning. This goes along with his teaching that one’s enemies will be those of one’s own household with child divided against parent and daughters-in-law against mothers-in-law and other such natural family bonds.

God is to be loved above all else, even to the point of leaving them behind in their unbelief, in order to follow Christ. I hope that helps.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Hi Terry, the text is simply an exageration to make the point that God comes first in your Life, thats all. Think about what scripture says elsewhere about family. “honor your mother and father” etc.,

 

[LilyM]

The way my priest explained it was that there was no word in the language for when one ‘prefers’ something over something else or when someone puts one thing as a priority over the other.

The only word really available to express the attitude of NOT putting family ahead of God was the strong word that has been translated as ‘hate’ here.

 

[fkjuliano]

This is a troubling verse at first acquaintance, but if one accepts that Jesus commonly used hyperbole to make a point, and that the Aramaic and Hebrew languages tended to use the word “hate” in a much broader way than English, then it becomes much easier to understand the true meaning.

Another point, though, is that this verse really demonstrates the remarkable honesty of both the authors of the Gospels and of the Catholic Church. It would have been very easy for the authors to omit or change passages, such as this one, that are hard to understand and explain. And it would have been just as easy for the Church to later edit those same passages. But none of that happened because the Resurrection inspired an unshakable faith in the original authors and in the bishops who later compiled their works into the book we know as the Bible.