Saying 55
- (55) Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate his father and his mother cannot become a disciple to me. And whoever does not hate his brothers and sisters and take up his cross in my way will not be worthy of me."
Compare with :
- Lu 14:26 If any [man] come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Since they are nearly identical and the passage in Luke is not well understood we must understand hate first.
- De 19:5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live:
- De 19:6 Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he [was] not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.
In the law it is implied that the accident was an act of hate. The one chopping did not previously hate the man, but hated him in this accident.
Consider the law of Love which says you put the other person first. The one chopping did not consider the safety of his fellow first, so it was not an act of Love, but of hate.
It is not a feeling anymore than love is a feeling. It is the act of putting someone second, not first. Now consider the saying again, and it makes perfect sense that one should consider Christ first above all else. He gave his life for us, we can do no less in return.