This day after Mother’s Day, I wonder what Mary thought if she heard that her son said, “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” (Luke 14:26). What would Mary have thought? What do you think of that hard saying?
Family was often on Jesus’ mind. One time, quoting “Honor your father and your mother,” He unloaded on the Pharisees for not taking care of their parents (Mark 7:9-13). In His well-known words from the cross, He commended Mary’s care to John (John 19:26-27). The hard saying isn’t about hating; it’s about honoring parents out of reverence for the One who saves us.
Seek Him first, and “all these things will be added to you,” including deep love for parents (Matthew 6:33). Honoring father and mother carries a promise, “that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 5:16). “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life” (Luke 18:29-30).
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