“Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me… and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”
— Matthew 10:37-38

At first hearing, today’s Gospel can sound shocking. Is Jesus really telling us to love our parents, our spouse, or our children less?

Quite the opposite.

The Gospel teaches us the proper order of all our relationships. When Christ is first, every other relationship finds its proper place. Far from diminishing our love for others, love of Christ perfects it.

Family

When Jesus Christ holds first place in our hearts, we actually love those around us more deeply and more purely.

In loving Christ, we learn how to love as He loves.

We no longer love others merely because of what they do for us or how they make us feel. We do not love them because of what we hope to receive in return.

Rather, we love them simply because they are persons created by God.

The more we love Jesus, the more we learn to love others with His own Heart.

Society

Our society often measures a person’s worth by usefulness.

As long as we produce, achieve, or contribute, we are considered valuable.

But when we can no longer contribute—through illness, disability, age, or weakness—our culture is tempted to say that our value has diminished.

That is the tragic logic behind abortion, euthanasia, and every other manifestation of the “throw-away culture.”

When usefulness becomes the measure of dignity, those who appear to contribute the least become expendable.

The Gospel proposes a radically different vision.

Christ

When we love Christ above all things, we begin to recognize the inherent dignity of every human person.

Our value does not come from what we do.

It comes from who we are.

Every one of us has been created in the image and likeness of God and loved into existence by Him.

Then, like Christ Himself, we become willing to lay down our lives in loving service to others.

No human life is ever merely a burden to be endured.

Every life is a gift to be treasured.

The unborn child.

The elderly.

The physically disabled.

The mentally handicapped.

Every human person is unique, irreplaceable, and infinitely loved by God.

Human Dignity

In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of receiving a prophet or a righteous man.

But His point reaches even further.

You do not have to be a prophet to deserve love.

You do not have to be a pope, a president, or a celebrity.

Every human person possesses immeasurable dignity because each one has been created in the image and likeness of God.

Jesus Himself showed us the measure of true greatness:

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
— Matthew 20:28

Conclusion

We began by asking whether Jesus was telling us to love our families less.

Now we know the answer.

He is asking us to love Him first.

For when Christ is first, we become better husbands and wives, better sons and daughters, better parents, better friends, better neighbors, and better disciples.

May God give us the grace to see every human person—not as a burden, not as a problem to be solved, but as a unique and irreplaceable gift, created in His image and redeemed by the Blood of Christ.

When Christ is first, we finally learn to love everyone else rightly.