You cannot be my disciple! Wait What? (9/8/2019) 8:30am
Luke 14:25-33
Follow Me- into a life where family means more than those who look just like you.
Carrying the cross is a daily struggle and the commitment must be renewed every day when confronted with the temptation to lay it down (Luke 9:23-25). Perhaps what Jesus means by hating family is to refuse to live by narrow, exclusive ideas of family when it comes to meeting human needs and contributing to the wholeness of all human beings.
It is the Lucan Jesus that tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, expanding the boundaries of neighbor love that crosses religious affiliation, ethnicity, race, and other socially constructed categories (Luke 10:25-37). The one who loves mercy more than life (i.e., the risk-taker for justice) is the one who will extend mercy to the stranger/neighbor in need.
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In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake