34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; 36 and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

Often Jesus says things in startling ways, and this passage is one of those times. In our passage today He draws attention to an “incidental” purpose of being a disciple. Philosophers recognize that there are numerous ways of speaking about the cause of or purpose for an event. The ultimate purpose of Christ was to bring about the Kingdom of God. His mediate purpose was to restore the image-bearers to the Creator, that is, to reunite sinful human beings with the God they rejected. An incidental purpose was that those restored image-bearers would gain abundant and eternal life (John 10:10). Another incidental purpose (and also, an effect) was to cause disunity between those who come to faith and those who do not.

The choice to follow Christ as a disciple strikes at the heart of every other relationship. We catapult the Lord to first in priority, even over the most fundamental relationships of life, that of family connections. Jesus, using hyperbole, put it as bluntly as possible in verse 37. To get this order wrong is to completely miss the point of the discipleship. Campus Crusade for Christ used to illustrate this with a circle representing our lives. At the center is a throne. Inside the circle are the various important things of life like family, boy/girlfriend/husband/wife, career, self, school, money, etc. If any of those things is on the throne, then all else degenerates into disarray and confusion, each vying for supremacy. But if Christ is on the throne, all else is in balance around the throne.

So many people today focus on “finding myself,” without realizing it is the wrong goal. The Lord calls us to “lose” ourselves for His sake and, in doing that, we can actually live out the meaning and purpose for which God created and saved us. This is an all or nothing commitment to Christ. Only then can we experience the Kingdom of Heaven now.

Lord, I humbly submit to your Lordship in my life and place You first above everything else in my life, including family and friends.