Here is a startling and provocative statement coming straight from Jesus:

"Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple….So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions." – Luke 14:26, 33

Was it designed to shock?

Did it work?

Did it get your attention?

Is it hyperbole? Doesn't it contradict almost everything else Jesus said?

Many "yes" answers emerge, but there is also a "yes" to the unasked question.

What is the unasked question?

It is this:

It is a drastic and dramatic thing to turn one's back on everything to focus on one thing. What kind of hate is this that is absolutely compatible with unconditional love?

What kind of dying is this that culminates in eternal living and what kind of emptying is it that fills us?

Everything is redefined in Jesus.

Every value is reordered.

Every love is reoriented.

What looked like love is revealed as dysfunctional, self-serving, enabling mush-mush when compared to the true love that transforms us and causes us to live out the Great Commandment — not only better, but from a new perspective.

There will be people who say you hate them because you no longer let them control you or prevent you from following your calling.

Those who stand in your way from following Jesus will take it as personal rejection and hate.

People will say, "How do you say you are following love when you do not let me manipulate you the way I want to?"

And then, we stop to consider our possession before following. We assess cost in terms of dollars and cents. Can I afford it? Jesus says you cannot – not if you insist on holding on to anything.

And then, the ambivalence kicks in.

How do we let go without being drama kings and queens, throwing everything down, turning our backs, shaking the dust off our feet, and moving on in the path where Jesus walks ahead of us?

This sort of hate and abandonment is the gateway to true love and fulfillment.

How can it be?

I'll answer it the way Jesus sometimes did:

Go figure.

When we are done figuring, our own ambivalence will have faded into a decision

to unambiguously follow whatever the cost.