NOTE: Someone can come to Jesus, and not be His disciple. Someone can follow the "five-finger" plan and still be lost. (that is for all my Christian Church/Church of Christ homies out there!)

This is the 1st "if anyone does not....he cannot be my disciple" statement in this text. The command here is to "hate" his family and himself.

The orientals preferred very strong language when emphasizing a truth, sometimes to the point of exagerration. That is most likely what Jesus is doing here. He is saying that, in order to be my disciple, you are to love me more than you love your own family and yourself. To the Jewish listener, with whom family was so important, Jesus' teaching to love him more would certainly seem like hate.

Jesus is saying that He wants the number 1 spot in our lives. If push comes to shove, who will get our affection? If you have to choose between pleasing family or self and pleasing Jesus, who wins?

Luke 14:26