Jesus stresses the need to love him more than our father, mother, sons or daughters, because otherwise we do not truly belong to him and are not worthy
of belonging to his flock. This calls for obeying Christ rather than unbelieving parents if there is a conflict, and loving Christ above unbelieving children. Jews who came to faith in the early church had to begin sharing meals and fellowship with uncircumcised Christians (Galatians 2:11–21), and early Gentile believers in a pagan environment had to pursue the holiness of Christ (1 Peter 3:1–6). The twelve apostles were warned that the spread of the gospel would involve divisions running even through immediate families and extended households.
If we do not love the Lord Jesus above all else, then we do not truly belong to him and are not worthy
of him, which means that they are not deserving of belonging to his flock.1
God’s demand to believe in Jesus is so strong that believers are often confronted with the call to obey Christ rather than their unbelieving parents, and to love Christ above their unbelieving children. If one considers belonging to Christ as not worth the loss of one’s family, then one is not worthy of belonging to Christ. Later generations, raised mostly in Christian families, are not impacted by the weight of this demand as much as those who had lived in earlier times—when, for example, a Jew who came to faith began sharing meals and fellowship with uncircumcised Christians (Galatians 2:11–21), or when a Gentile believer, in a pagan environment, began to pursue the holiness of Christ (1 Peter 3:1–6, 1 Peter 4:1–6). The twelve apostles won the first generation of the church across dividing lines that ran even through immediate families and extended households. Here they were already informed that this spread of the gospel would have never been accomplished without such divisions.2
37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.