You could feel like you are getting whiplashed by the two readings assigned for today. St. Paul says, Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another. Jesus says, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Which is it — love one another or hate those close to us? I am reminded of objecting when my mother said, “I’ve told you a thousand times” that it hadn’t been a thousand times and she would respond “Hyperbole added for emphasis.” Jesus is using hyperbolic language to describe what the kind of love he preached would cost. Instead of our natural tendency to love those in our immediate circle Jesus demands that we break the circle open. Everyone, not just our relatives, is deserving of our love since we are all part of the same family, the family of God. We have to get over the illusion that there are some people worthy of our love and others whom we can exclude. The cost of discipleship is all-embracing love.
