Worthy of Me – Matthew 10:34-39

Basam was a rabid Muslim who met a Christian whose love even for those who wished him harm was stunning. Basam started reading the Bible and his Muslim faith was dismantled. He experienced the presence of God in prayer. So he converted. His family first kicked him out of the house and then his father turned him over to the security forces. It was illegal to convert and he was imprisoned. This is the testimony of many who have converted from Islam or Hinduism or atheism.

Jesus predicted this.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:34-39 ESV)

If anyone but Jesus was speaking these words we would call him a lunatic or egomaniac.  Jesus knows that the gospel message of the kingdom brings conflict.  From the beginning God said He would put enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15).  Jesus, as that ultimate seed of the woman who will crush Satan’s head, is the focus of the conflict, and so his followers will be caught in that nexus of war.  And the individual nature of belief will mean that we cannot expect our own households to believe the way we do.

Jesus makes two startling statements in light of this coming sword. First, we must not love family more than Jesus. He is the truth. Family members might reject him. Will you desert the truth for family? This standard has always been there. Moses told the people in Deuteronomy 13:6-11 that should one of their own family members prophecy falsehood (“Let us serve other gods”) they were to impose the death penalty on them. Does this mean don’t love your family? Of course not. It is God who commands us to love our family. But there is a higher priority than this, and that is loving God.

The second startling statement Jesus makes is that whoever tries to find or save his own life, will lose it, but that whoever loses his life for Jesus’ sake will find it. Following Jesus often feels like losing your life. You give up control (that you never really had) of your life and yield it to him. You make your life vulnerable for his sake. If it comes to martyrdom, even, you submit to that in order to stay faithful to him. But the amazing thing is that in doing so you actually find your life, the most fulfilling and value-added life you could ever have imagined.

Jesus must be our highest priority if we are to be any help to our families.  We have to be willing to die for him and love him more than anyone else.  Losing our lives, literally or otherwise, will be the only way to life, but if we give our lives totally to and for Christ we will find life like we never expected.