When my mother would say “I’ve told you 10,000 time…” she would add, “hyperbole added for emphasis,” … that is unless she really had told me 10,000 times. Jesus reflected his Semitic culture in using hyperbole. “If you eye is your problem, pluck it out.” Hyperbole lies behind statements like the necessity of hating ones mother and father in order to be his disciple. But we shouldn’t let ourselves off the hook too easily — Jesus did have a gospel point behind every saying. Look, for example, at his word “anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” What Jesus wants us to understand in this passage (and in the saying about “hating” our family) is that we possess nothing. Everything comes from God. We have the illusion that we can hold onto parts of our life and give God other parts. Not going to happen, God lies behind everything. The fact that we can take a breath is a gift from God. Our possessions, our family, our life are all gifts. Being a disciple happens when we acknowledge how blessed we are.