Following Christ

Now great crowds accompanied [Jesus], and he turned and said to them, 26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:25-27)

Did you know that depending on which church body you go to your commandments may be different? If you are a protestant (Lutherans are not categorized as Catholic nor Protestant, we are Lutheran), yours are numbered differently from the reference I'm about to make. In the end, all the same concepts are covered to round out the ten

The 1st Commandment is familiar - No other gods before me. God is to be first in our lives at all times and in all places. If you violate any other commandment, this one is violated as well, as we teach in our church.

The 4th Commandment is also familiar - Honor your father and mother. This commandment is taught to honor all those in authority, but most especially father and mother.

The 1st commandment starts what we would call the first tablet and the 4th starts the second tablet. The first tablet deals with our relationship with God. The second deals with our earthly relationships. They are commandments, each beginning with "Thou shalt" in the King James language, and "shall" to a lawyer is an interesting conversation to have. "Shall" is the strongest verb in the area of shall, will, may, or might. Shall means shall, a lawyer once said in a presentation.

So, Christ echoes this order in his comments in Luke, part of the greater section titled "The Cost of Discipleship." There is a cost to following Christ. He must be first in our lives. The study notes address the word "hate" by saying "to love one thing and hating another gives preference to the former. God does not expect us to be cruel to the family He has given us, but rather to love him first."

So, the commandments are indicative of this line of thinking. Put God first in all we say or do. Honor our father and mother but know God is ultimately who we are to follow. Interestingly enough, the cost of following Christ is great to the point of betrayal by family. Christ notes later in Luke that families will turn against his own followers:

"You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17You will be hated by all for my name's sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives." (Luke 21:16-17)

We pray that by following Christ, we disciple people, including our own families to do the same - follow Christ. We pray that the cost not be great, and that our families join us in following Christ. We pray that should it be divisive, we remember to put Christ first and remain firm in that resolve. In all we say or do, we pray we bring glory to Christ. Amen.