Who Deserves Our Complete and Unconditional Surrender?

The expression “gospel radicalism” often causes people to raise their eyebrows and react in many different ways. Some see a disconnection between secular and biblical languages, others have different ways of understanding the term, often erroneously. In our modern time, the word “radical” carries the connotation of being “revolutionary”, something that is extreme, drastic and negative. Applying such a term to the gospel is truly exceptional but, in a certain sense, the gospel is rather radical largely because of Jesus’ many cutting edged messages. But apart from this, I would say there are two other areas that render this term relevant. The first is the radical nature of Jesus' behaviour, attitude and actions; the other, the extensiveness of his demands. They are often directed not to a specific group of people but to all believers, across time and space.

Let us try to discover the legitimacy of the above claims from today's Gospel reading. In order to understand the meaning and the orientation of today's message, we should first understand the difficulty of the Hebrew language in expressing comparatives. In this case, “hate” is used in a relative, not absolute, sense. What Jesus means is not an emotional aversion or a sentimental dislike of ourselves or our families. It simply means we must never let our love for ourselves and our families be higher than our love for God. This is in fact the very first commandment demanded by God Himself (Deut 6:5). Jesus is simply reinforcing God's words and conceptualizes them in our daily ways of living. So are these statements radical? Yes, but only literarily. Real radicalism lies in Jesus Himself-------daring to downplay the significance of family relationships to heighten the supreme significance of our relationship with God.

This radical trait of Jesus continues to unfold itself in His frankness to His followers concerning the cost of discipleship. Discipleship requires a deliberate choice in favour of Jesus, putting Him at the very center of one's life and at the top of all priorities. It demands careful consideration from the very beginning for there will be no turning back. A disciple who has counted the cost and still commits to Jesus all the way is often seen as “radical” in the opinion of the world.

Clearly enough, the requirement to renounce, to break ties with, and to abandon everything has its justification only in relation to Jesus. It is this unique relationship with Him that demands our complete surrender: to be His disciple, to follow in His footsteps, to be worthy of Him. The demand for unconditional surrender and complete adherence is indeed radical. The person making these demands implicitly implies that He is the root, the source and the cause that gives rise to and sustains our very being. Who is worthy of making this claim but Jesus? “Gospel radicalism” is not only applicable to the sayings of Jesus, but also to His whole person. It forms the core of our Christian being. Those who are true to their Christian being must be prepared to embrace this challenge without reservation.