‘You don’t want to become some kind of religious nut, do
you?’ ‘Why don’t you just stay in the
church you were brought up in? It was
good enough for us and our parents, so it should be good enough for you!’ ‘Okay, choose between Jesus and us, your
family! You can’t have both.’ These are some of the things people hear from
their relatives and loved ones when they choose to follow Jesus—the real Jesus
of the Bible. And Jesus knew ahead of
time that it would be like that for many of his followers. He said,
“‘Don't think that I came to send peace on the
earth. I didn't come to send peace, but a sword. For I came
to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's foes will be those
of his own household. He who loves father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more
than me isn't worthy of me. He who doesn't take his cross and follow after me,
isn't worthy of me.’” —Matthew
10:34-38
Jesus understood that his followers would face opposition
from close relatives.
“Now great multitudes were going with
him. He turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard
his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own
life also, he can’t be my disciple.
“‘Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross,
and come after me, can’t be my disciple.
. . .
“‘So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce
all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.’” —Luke
14:25-33
But there is a reward ahead for those who face such
personal loss for the sake of following Jesus.
He promised,
“‘Everyone who has left houses, or
brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for
my name’s sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal
life.’” —Matthew
19:29