The Love Jesus Speaks Of

Submitted by Cording (United States), Jun 26, 2009 at 02:15

I'm not sure if you'll even look at this seeing as how this was written a long time ago but I have something to say about what you said. It is most certainly attributed to Jesus that he said the things in both Luke and Matthew as you referenced. I would agree with that; however, I do not agree with your conclusion about those verses. Jesus DOES teach Love and yes a Love that when you are pursuing God is/should be unconditional. Maybe it's the word "unconditional" that is being lost in translation. Unconditional love is not without justice or punishment. Jesus teaches that God is like a father.

A father loves his son unconditionally. Just because the son breaks a glass doesn't make the father love him less. The son is punishment (justice/teaching) by the father and then the son goes on his way. Not to mention God sending his son for us (while we were sinners) to die on a cross to free us from our sinful nature. Luke 14:26 as you said, is a point where Jesus promotes "hate" or conditional love. That's not what this verse is referring to. In this verse Jesus is saying if you can't leave your old life behind then you can't follow me. Jesus talks about baptism which is a "death" of the old self and "rebirth" of a few self. If we aren't able to let God change our lives and set aside what we hold onto the most then God is not something we hold onto/love the most.

I also find it interesting that you think Luke 11:27-28 doesn't show unconditional love. He wasn't saying that his mother Mary wasn't blessed. In fact he was correcting the person who said that she was blessed simply because she gave birth to him. He corrected it by saying she was blessed not because she gave birth to him but because she heard the word of God and then followed God's command which was to give birth to Jesus Christ (Luke 11:28). Mark 3:31-35 is probably the hardest of the three to explain. He wasn't saying that his mother and brother weren't important. He was saying that the community you live with in or that the community around you is your family. He wasn't saying they weren't his family. He was saying if family is important to you you should understand that you should love the community like you love your family. Well that is all I have to say. Again I'm not sure if you'll read this. I hope you do. That is all. -Cording

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