It is not for a moment to be supposed that Christ speaks in disparagement of the domestic affections. It is a question of priority, it is a question of degree. Who has the first, who has the chief claim? Is the claim of the household or the claim of Christ the stronger? This and passages like this leave no room for doubt as to the answer. Surely Jesus Christ Himself knows what He is, and what His claims are, and what Christian discipleship is. The Lord knoweth them that are His, and He knows them by this, that they love Him such at least is their desire and their endeavour. Him first, Him most, Him without end. That is the inner pith of Christian discipleship.
I. Here are the children of a family, rising up into life; what ought the parents to wish for them supremely? The common answer would be "Success." But what issuccess? Ought not Christian parents who love Christ supremely to be strong in the idea and belief that success of the highest kind is absolutely attainable by every one, if he will? And ought they not to give that idea to their children, and to create that faith in their hearts, as far as they can? High character is success. To mean well; to aim rightly; to strive fairly; and then to take what comes is not thatsuccess, at least begun?
II. Parents may show a tendency to love son or daughter more than Christ by objecting to, or resisting as far as they can, the discipline of Providence, which is brought to bear upon them as the result of their own mistakes, failures, and sin.
III. There comes sometimes, in these human homes and families, a deeper trial yet of love and loyalty to Christ. Son or daughter is needed in the other world; the message comes, and must be obeyed. To give up so much that is precious, to have the home made dark, is not easy. To some it is for a while impossible. But Christ takes His children to Himself; and then, when all is over, if not before, His faithful ones submit without murmuring to His will, and begin to cheer and strengthen themselves with this thought, which will apply to themselves ere long, that to depart and to be with Christ is far better.
A. Raleigh, The Way to the City,p. 340.
References: Matthew 10:37. G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons,p. 34; Homiletic Magazine,vol. vi., p. 321; C. C. Bartholomew, Sermons Chiefly Practical,p. 53; J. C. Hare, Sermons in Herstmonceux Church,vol. ii., p. 301.Matthew 10:37-39. A. Scott, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xvii., p. 277. Matthew 10:38. Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts,p. 33.Matthew 10:38; Matthew 10:39. T. Birkett Dover, A Lent Manual,p. 95.