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The Obligations of Christ's Discipleship.
Bearing the cross:
v. 25. And there went great multitudes with Him; and He turned and said unto them,
v. 26. If any man come to Me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
v. 27. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
When Jesus left the house of the Pharisee to continue His journey, there followed Him, as usual, great multitudes of people, going with Him for the usual reason, mere external inquisitiveness. To these Jesus expounded the requirements of true discipleship. The mere following after Christ for the sake of seeing miracles signified and availed nothing. If any one comes to Him, with a view to close and permanent discipleship, sacrifices are necessary from the standpoint of this world. First of all, the love of Christ must precede all other love, even that of the nearest friends and relatives, Mat_10:37. Absolute devotion to; Him and to His cause requires that natural love to one's relatives be relegated to the background, that life itself be denied, that the heart be torn away from temporal possessions, that the cross of Christ be willingly shouldered, though it sink in deeply and bruise unmercifully. All rival masters and interests must be put away that the love of the great Master may be supreme. If this devotion and work should demand the final sacrifice of life, according to His example, even that must be willingly given for the sake of the love He bore us.