Sermon on Luke 14:25-35, for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, "Count the Cost"
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Does it get your attention today, that Jesus’ sermon to the crowds was about hating your family? No doubt, verse 26 leaves many of us scratching our heads, and wondering if this is the same Jesus who also says, “ You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43-44). There Jesus urges us not to hate our enemies, but to love them and pray for them! So how can Jesus say here, in such blunt terms, Luke 14:26, “ 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”? This is not a statement that can be easily ignored or brushed away, but no doubt Jesus meant to get our full attention! The reading ends, in verse 35, “ He who has ears to hear, let him hea...