Not worthy of me

Yesterday, I had a great conversation with a Muslim friend of mine. We were talking about the final days of the earth, discussing that both we as Christians as well as Muslims are awaiting Jesus’s return to the earth to bring judgment and justice amongst all people.

Then this morning I read these words from Jesus:

Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Matthew 10:37-38

I immediately had this thought: On that last day, as my friend and I were discussing, I certainly don’t want to hear those words from Jesus:

“You are not worthy of me.”

The one who has authority over all of heaven and all of earth could potentially say to each of us: You are not worthy of me.

Jesus is not content with second place. He will not allow us to put him in a lower priority in our lives. First place – of greatest importance, in the greatest priority – is the only position, the only priority, that we can possibly give to him. Otherwise, we are not worthy of him.

Can I go even one step further?

In the context of what I was reading in Matthew 10, Jesus had just called his twelve disciples to himself. These are the men that he had chosen. These are the ones that will walk with him in the closest possible way. In fact, these are even the twelve men who, in the context of what is happening in this time, will go out to represent Jesus. They will pray for workers. These disciples will tell these other new workers about the kingdom of God. They will be beaten and will suffer for Jesus.

Presumably Jesus is even speaking these difficult words, this difficult teaching, directly to the disciples.

Isn’t he? Even if they have put their faith in him… Even if they have believed in Jesus as their Lord and Savior… Even if they have been baptized… Can’t we say, based on what Jesus has said here, that if they love their mother and father, or their sons and daughters, more than they love Jesus, they won’t be worthy of him.

In other words, according to what Jesus is saying, they will be judged, and they will come up short. They will be found wanting and not enter into eternity with Christ.

Let’s take one last step forward. Jesus says that if we don’t pick up our cross, just as Jesus did, we will not be worthy of him.

Let’s be clear in the words that Jesus uses: He doesn’t say whoever isn’t willing to take up their cross. Neither does he say whoever isn’t ready to take up their cross. We frequently add words like this in our teaching and preaching, but that isn’t what Jesus said. He said, “Whoever does not take up their cross…”

How should we read those words? How should we understand what he is saying? I think it is simple. Jesus took his cross and went to die. Now he says that if we don’t do the same, we are not worthy of him.

And then he goes on to finish the statement saying that we will find our life by losing it, but we will lose our life if we think that we have found it.

In other words, if we live our life in the way that we want – or maybe we could say, if we live our best life, as is popularly said today – we are destined to lose it. Living in this way, in the way that we want, thinking we have found our life, we are not worthy of Jesus. We have prioritized what we want. We have prioritized the things that we desire instead of the things that Jesus desires.

Instead, if you lose your life – if you give the entirety of your life to Christ and allow him to direct your steps, doing what he says that we must do to be his disciple – you will find your life. You will find the life that he desires to give you. You can be sure that it will be difficult. You can be sure that there will be one challenge after another. You might even quickly find that you will be called to suffer or even die. But you will truly find your life, a life full of joy, a life full of peace, a life full of love. The fruits of the Holy Spirit will be the marks, the description, of your life.

So we must make a choice. Will we live in a manner that is worthy of Jesus? Will we prioritize him over mother, father, children, and even our very own life? Only in this way will we be worthy of him.