Put him first

Jesus reveals his, Jewish sensibility, single mindedness and determined side in the Gospel for today from Luke 14:25-33, ‘If anyone comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes and his own life too, cannot be my disciple.' We hate injustice, war, bullying and abuse but the word hate is not normally associated with those close to us or our own lives.

I know as little kids when we did something wrong and were told off about it, we could come out with that phrase, ‘I hate you’. Our pride was hurt, and it was the strongest thing we could think of to say in retaliation.

We know that Jesus is not telling us literally to hate all those near and dear to us or our own lives. Speaking in such exaggerated terms is a very Jewish way of speaking to bring home an important reality, don't have divided loyalties, put me first. You are ‘my’ disciple. I am the one you follow. Listen to my voice.

And Jesus does not hold back or soften his message, to follow him will demand of us a cost, as it did for him. He faced the cross and he asks us to take up our cross too.

All of us here, have experienced the hardships and challenges of life in one way or another, misunderstandings within our families, the clash of expectations they may have for us, ill health and grief, false judgements, and insecurity, the bad choices we’ve made and that others have made effecting us. All these things can disturb, shake our confidence, and undermine our faith.

Today, is God inviting us to let go and to trust him more?

We know that wisdom is built up over the years through our learning and experience, by our taking time to reflect and pray about our lives and those of others we know. Often it is through their witness and faith that keeps us taking up our cross and following after Jesus.

Putting God first is often achieved by making sacrifices for others and putting them first and being generous with all we have.

Happy father's day to all fathers and caregivers both living and dead and lets pray in thanksgiving for all those men who made sacrifices for us and continue to do so.

You may like to listen to 'Song for Dad' track 12 from 'There is no distance.'