the source of love and life // 2011.07.11

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Jesus has very strong words in today's Gospel:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword.
For I have come to set
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s enemies will be those of his 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 up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Whoever thought of Jesus as only peaches and cream must be surprised at His words above, and yet He did say them. Did Jesus really want us be against each other, much more set us against our own father or mother, our own household?!

He goes on further saying whoever loves others more than Him is not worthy of Him. And more importantly, "whoever finds his life will lose it... and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

Has Jesus gone nuts and forgot about His title Prince of Peace (Is 9:6)? Is Jesus a selfish God who just really wants all of us to focus on Him alone, forsaking the people around us? On the contrary, Scripture tells us that we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. So what is Jesus really telling us?

Jesus knew that the only way we can truly love each other is if He is at the center of our lives -- not ourselves, not our spouses, not our children, not our parents, not even our pets! God is the source of love (1 Jn 4:19), and if we do not put the source at the center of our lives, any relationship we have falls short of what it truly means to love one another. Scripture reminds us that we are to love one another unconditionally by laying our lives just as He loved us and laid down His life for us (1 Jn 3:16).

So Jesus is actually teaching us how to love, and not asking us to hate everyone around us. But if those people are taking His place in your heart, than Jesus is telling you not to let them take you away from what love really is. If that means going against them, than you should be prepared to let go. You will love them more doing that, than losing hold of Jesus.

Ask yourself... who is at the center of your life? Is God really at the center, or are you just saying that because that is what makes sense to say? Are you ready to lose your life in Him, that you may find it?