Whoever Takes Up His Plow, And Looks Back Is Unfit For The Kingdom.

Whoever takes up his plow, and looks back is unfit for the kingdom of heaven.
its statements like this, and in luke 14 that bother me
Luke14:26: If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [[g]in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sisters—[yes] and even his own life also—he cannot be My disciple.

So where is the honor your mother, and your spouse in here? That doesnt seem very honoring of either.
Because the man was to tell his family he was leaving to follow Jesus, he is no longer worthy? Should he have gone without warning, and left his family, mother, wife children to worry about where he went?
If anyone did that today there would be a missing persons report.

Not to mention once you are a disciple isnt it your duty to spread the gospel to them? your mother, wife, son daughter brother etc?
 
Whoever takes up his plow, and looks back is unfit for the kingdom of heaven.
its statements like this, and in luke 14 that bother me
Luke14:26: If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [[g]in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sisters—[yes] and even his own life also—he cannot be My disciple.

So where is the honor your mother, and your spouse in here? That doesnt seem very honoring of either.
Because the man was to tell his family he was leaving to follow Jesus, he is no longer worthy? Should he have gone without warning, and left his family, mother, wife children to worry about where he went?
If anyone did that today there would be a missing persons report.

Not to mention once you are a disciple isnt it your duty to spread the gospel to them? your mother, wife, son daughter brother etc?

There is no problem my friend with the Scriptures you psoed. The problem is in your lack of understanding them.

All the verses used in Luke 14 must be considered in the context of all other Scripture concerning this one in Luke 14:26.

Ex. 20:12
"Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

Matt. 5:44
" But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you".

Romans 12:10
"Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another".

The command in Luke 14:26 must be interpreted in a comparitive manner. The Lord Jesus meant that one must place HIM above all other relationships. To be Christ's disciple, He must be Lord. IF He is not Lord of all He can not be the Lord at all!
 
The Scripture doesn't give us a lot of detail as to the circumstances or under consideration in the cases to which you allude. One of these is found in Luke 9:61-62. A couple of things strike me about this passage. One is the "but first", and I think that is probably the issue at hand. When Jesus called the twelve, they immediately got up and followed Him. There is evidence in Scripture that the Twelve, or at least some of them, did not lose all contact with their families. Even Jesus, at the end, saw to it that His mother was taken into the household of John. We see the mother of James and John asking Jesus to give her sons places of prominence ( Matt. 20:20-21 ). And there are other hints that families were not completely cut off from the followers of Jesus. The "but first" seems to indicate a misplacement of priorities.

The other issue is what is likely to happen when he goes back to his family. They are almost certain to do their best to disuade him from dropping everything and following around this intinerate, apparently radical, teacher. I mean, if your son or daughter came home talking about leaving everything behind to follow some guy preaching radical things, wouldn't you want to sit them down for a talk? "Who is this guy? What about your plans for the future? What about this? What about that? Where is this all going to lead?"

Jesus' call to "hate" your mother and father echoes his command for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and I think the same matters of faith, obedience, loyalty, and even love are in play here. Oh, and as we well remember, Isaac was spared. It also echoes Jesus' teaching on the two greatest commandments, the summation of the commandments, the first of which is to love God with all your being. It is, as I see it, a question of who is first, not a repudiation of proper behavior toward your family.

How often do we let our families prevent us from following Christ as we ought? I know that I allowed my own family and others to disuade me from following the call of God that has been on my heart since I was a youth. Maybe that's why my own furrows have been so crooked.

Anyway, I think we have to realize what Jesus is talking about in each case of the passages in the OP. He is not speaking baldly contradictory things, but in each case is teaching a lesson with a separate point.
 
Whoever takes up his plow, and looks back is unfit for the kingdom of heaven. its statements like this, and in luke 14 that bother me
Luke14:26: If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [[g]in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sisters—[yes] and even his own life also—he cannot be My disciple.

So where is the honor your mother, and your spouse in here? That doesnt seem very honoring of either.
Because the man was to tell his family he was leaving to follow Jesus, he is no longer worthy? Should he have gone without warning, and left his family, mother, wife children to worry about where he went?
If anyone did that today there would be a missing persons report.

Not to mention once you are a disciple isnt it your duty to spread the gospel to them? your mother, wife, son daughter brother etc?
Before you are saved your master is the devil. You have to realise this. Living for your own pride and vanity = living for the devil. Looking back, would be missing what you gave-up. Now think of marriage. Would your wife be impressed if she saw you 'looking back' at your exes?

God is asking us to put Him first not be stupid. We should be able to leave everything for Him. We should be able to do what pleases Him despite it not pleasing those around us. God would never ask a father to leave his wife and children. God is not stupid. A father is to be the spiritual leader of his household. He simply wants us to be able to obey Him above all despite all opposition that may come, even if it be from our family. Our family must be evil if they oppose us serving Him.

My dad got kicked out of his home for being a born again Christian. An un-Godly wife could boot you and get a divorce. Scripture here is clear that we will endure this if we love Him. Regarding your last line, yes!! of course we must witness to them. But not dim our light in doing so. If they chase us, they chase Jesus and don't want to hear anything we have to say. If they don't boot us out, we would definitely be the first person God would use to reach them.
 
Whoever takes up his plow, and looks back is unfit for the kingdom of heaven.
its statements like this, and in luke 14 that bother me
Luke14:26: If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [[g]in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sisters—[yes] and even his own life also—he cannot be My disciple.

So where is the honor your mother, and your spouse in here? That doesnt seem very honoring of either.
Because the man was to tell his family he was leaving to follow Jesus, he is no longer worthy? Should he have gone without warning, and left his family, mother, wife children to worry about where he went?
If anyone did that today there would be a missing persons report.

Not to mention once you are a disciple isnt it your duty to spread the gospel to them? your mother, wife, son daughter brother etc?
What sounds like a contradiction here is only one when you use your own logic. Asking other christians if they see the contradiction aswell will always end with no, unless they believe god can be wrong or to a lesser degree the bible writers could be wrong. I feel for you friends, I know what like to be in those shoes.
 
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