Luke 14:26-27

Luke 14:26-27

[26] man come  to  and  hate  not  his  father,  and  mother,  and  wife,  and  children,  and  brethren,  and  sisters,  yea,  his own  life  also,  he cannot  disciple.  [27] And  whosoever  not  bear  cross,  and  come  after  cannot  disciple. 

What does Luke 14:26-27 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Curiosity is one thing, but discipleship is another. There were many people who were accompanying Jesus who were not really following Him in the sense of learning from Him. They simply wanted to benefit from His ministry. Jesus mentioned two qualifications for being His disciple.
First, one must be willing to give up his or her primary allegiance to family and self. Jesus taught His disciples to love their enemies rather than hating them ( Luke 6:27-38). He was not contravening the teaching of the fifth commandment either ( Luke 18:20). He spoke positively about loving oneself too ( Luke 10:27). He clearly meant hate in a relative rather than an absolute sense here.
Second, a disciple must bear the burden of public identification with Jesus even to death if necessary ( Luke 9:23; cf. Deuteronomy 13:4; 1 Kings 14:8; 1 Kings 18:21; 2 Kings 23:3). Luke recorded this command in more detail than Matthew did perhaps because of his Gentile readers" greater need for challenge and encouragement in view of persecution (cf. Matthew 10:37-38).
"Salvation is open to all who will come by faith, while discipleship is for believers willing to pay a price. Salvation means coming to the cross and trusting Jesus Christ, while discipleship means carrying the cross and following Jesus." [1]
"Discipleship means giving one"s first loyalty." [2]