Too Bold For Boundaries
Luke 14:25-33
It is a joy and a blessing to be with you in worship this morning. It’s been a whirlwind few weeks—saying goodbye to our church and friends in Austin, moving into a new home, and dropping off our youngest at college. Joy, gratitude, some anxiety, and even grief have been our companions in this season of transition. All of this has had me thinking about family—the ones we are born into and the ones we choose, those ties that bind us together even when separated by distance, those bonds of love that connect us. Which makes Jesus’ words today all the more jarring: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brother and sister … cannot be my disciple.”
Come on Jesus—surely, you’re not being serious. Why do you have to make it so hard? Can you imagine if Jesus were making our new website (which looks great by the way—check it out at mygpc.org)? Or if Jesus was making an Instagram reel, or TikTok post: “Wanna follow me? Hate your family. Give up your life. Oh, and give away all your stuff.” And remember to hit like and subscribe to follow. Not exactly a great pitch. I’ve been wrestling with these words for the past few weeks as we said goodbye to our oldest, Rowan, in Austin, and then our youngest, Kiran, at Mount Holyoke, and as Rachel and I settle into our new life as empty nesters. I’ll be honest. Jesus’ words make me wince. I imagine I’m not the only one.
So how do we reconcile this? Do we take Jesus literally even as his words seem to go against the spirit of his teaching: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Remember, Jesus is preaching to a large crowd. This is not an intimate setting with his disciples. Perhaps he is being hyperbolic—employing a “click bait” strategy to capture the crowd’s attention with something sensational, something controversial, something that would cause his listeners to lean in. But he is not exaggerating the cost of discipleship. Some interpreters have sought to soften the text by noting that the Greek word miseō (from the Hebrew shanēʾ) can mean “to love less.” So perhaps Jesus is saying, “Don’t love family or even your own life more than God.” That helps, but we can’t dilute his point. Discipleship comes with a cost. So, let’s take Jesus seriously.
I think that Jesus is pushing us to think differently about family. Too often, family is seen as a boundary—who’s in and who’s out. But for Jesus, family is not a boundary; it’s an invitation. In Matthew’s gospel, when Jesus’ mother and brothers come to see him, he tells the crowd, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Jesus is challenging his followers to extend their love and loyalty beyond their own families—their own fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. He calls us to stretch, widen, and expand our familial ties until they embrace the whole human family. Love the elders in your community as much as your own parents. Love the children in need as much as your own kids. Love the stranger, the addict, the lonely as much as your own sibling. Following Jesus is not about excluding your parents or children, it’s about treating every woman as your mother, every man as your father, every child as your brother or sister.
When Rachel and I dropped Kiran off at college, the college president extolled the new students to “Be too bold for boundaries.” I love that. And I think Jesus would too. Because that’s what being a disciple is—to be too bold for boundaries. Too bold for the boundaries of family. Too bold for the boundaries of culture. Too bold for the boundaries of party or nation. Too bold for the boundaries of race or religion. Too bold for the boundaries of orientation or gender. Think of the parable of the Good Samaritan—the boundary between Jew and Samaritan was strong, but Jesus showed that compassion makes neighbors out of strangers. Think of Paul’s vision of the church, where “there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female, for all are one in Christ.”
Y’all exemplify this boldness in the mission and ministries here at Grace: reaching out to folks across Wichita with the Good Neighbor Ministry, helping homeowners with yardwork, repairs, and maintenance; your partnership with Wichita International Rescue, helping refugees fleeing violence and oppression make a new home and a new life here in Wichita; the bus ticket ministry that not only helps folks access public transportation, but also welcomes them into our building, providing a place to rest, a snack, a hot cup of coffee, or a cold cup of water. With your partnership with the congregation of El Centro Presbyterian Church in Central Cuba, and your support of missionaries in Kenya and Uganda. This isn’t charity—it’s connection. It’s discipleship. It’s family. The same could be said for your partnership with Pastor Jacob’s congregation, or your work with Wyldlife—inviting middle schoolers to come and find friendship and fellowship. That’s what it looks like when a church is too bold for boundaries. When we invite everyone into God’s story. When we say, “Welcome! You belong. You are part of us. You are family.”
The prophet Jeremiah describes God as a potter, shaping and reshaping us as clay. We often think of this in terms of our individual lives, but the prophet’s vision is not about a person, it is about a people. We are shaped by the bonds of belonging, by the stories we share, by the burdens we carry for one another, by the joys we celebrate. God’s Spirit forms us not as isolated individuals but as a community—an expansive, inclusive, and affirming faith family. “Hate your mother and father” sounds harsh. But beneath the shock is an invitation—an invitation to expand the circle of family until it mirrors the love of God.
The church is that family. A family where there are no boundaries too strong for grace. A family where everyone is welcomed as beloved children of God. A family that I am grateful to be a part of. Thank you for welcoming me into your faith family. I look forward to joining you in welcoming others into this expansive, boundless family of God. Because in Christ, we are too bold for boundaries. May it be so in your life, in the life of your families, in the life of this congregation, and in the life of Christ’s church.
