When Jesus speaks of hating father and mother, the word he uses is a word of comparison -- he's not telling us to literally hate, but rather that our love for God needs to be degrees of magnitude greater than our love for anyone else. That is what discipleship looks like. How do we love like that?
Such love is even willing to embrace shame. The cross was a matter of public shame and suffering. To embrace this means that one is so completely surrendered to God that even shame does not discourage them from a life of discipleship.
This is a hard teaching -- there's no getting around this. It's Jesus being clear that to follow Christ means faith needs to be our first and highest priority. Jesus is not one more thing in a life like this -- it's the central thing around which everything turns.
I think a life like this follows inspiration by the Holy Spirit. Can we pray for God to move like this, in our own life and in our community?
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