Loving here. YAHOO! I FINALLY 'GET' LUKE 14:26! 'IF YOU HATE NOT... YOU CAN'T FOLLOW ME.'

Loving here.  YAHOO! I FINALLY 'GET' LUKE 14:26! 'IF YOU HATE NOT... YOU CAN'T FOLLOW ME.'

"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." (Luke 14:26)

About 2 years ago I finally got close to 'getting' Luke 14:26. 

What came to me was:

'JESUS ONLY CAME FOR, JESUS ONLY CAN HELP THOSE THAT CAN'T LIVE, WOULD RATHER DIE THAN ACCEPT, THE STATUS QUO.'

Take me seriously for a moment on this.  How many people do you know, how many can you name in history, or in literature... that literally, actually, can't live with the status quo???  Any????  Really?????  Jesus couldn't.  Rachel Corrie couldn't.  Neo, in The Matrix couldn't.  The 20,000 documented European Non-Jewish holocaust rescuers couldn't - hmmmmm - 1 IN A MILLION - that's about right.  'I could have saved thousands more, if I could have convinced them they were slaves,' Harriett Tubman.

ALL BUT 1 IN A MILLION, RIGHT, LEFT AND CENTER

A. CAN LIVE WITH THE STATUS QUO;

B. ULTIMATELY WILL DESTROY YOUR LIFE IF YOU TRY TO CHANGE THEIR STATUS QUO; OF YOU THREATEN THEIR STATUS QUO IN ANY WAY.  FOR CERTAIN.  INCLUDING, ESPECIALLY, OFTEN, THOSE CLOSEST TO YOU, DEAREST TO YOU, BECAUSE TO THEM YOU BECOME THE MOST IMMEDIATE THREAT.

BUT I DIDN'T SEE TILL TODAY, TODAY!, THAT THIS IS WHAT LUKE 14:26 IS SAYING:  

* If you become a threat to the status quo, literally, they will kill you as much as and as fast as they feel they need to, to stop you as a threat - job, reputation, career, relationships, connections.... Malice?  NO!  Self-preservation!  It has taken them whatever lifetime they have to find their 'survival,' their 'way of life,' within the status quo!  THAT IS THEIR WAY OF LIFE, THEIR WAY OF BEING! 

* You don't think they will 'kill' you as much as they need to to protect that?  THEY CAN, WILL, AND DO. COUNT ON IT.

* So, unless you hate the status quo OF YOUR MOTHER'S JOYLESSNESS, FATHER'S JOYLESSNESS, CHILD'S JOYLESSNESS, WORLD'S JOYLESSNESS, FUTURE'S JOYLESSNESS... MORE THAN YOUR OWN LIFE - JESUS TEACHINGS ARE NOT FOR YOU!  LIP SERVICE to Jesus' teachings, and those like him?  Oh, that's a whole different matter - ask the 2 billion christians, my brother and sisters all.  Ask the activists of today, my brothers and sisters all....