Shocking Statements in the Bible: How Can We Understand Them?

When we hear or see something surprising, we can be shocked and react spontaneously against something or someone. When someone tells you to do something that is unexpected or seems unreasonable, it will probably shock you.

The Bible often uses shocking statements to get our attention and make us think.

Shocking statements

Jesus Christ often made shocking statements to His audience when answering their questions or introducing God’s truth to them.

Here is an example of a shocking statement Jesus made to a crowd of people who were following Him.

A disciple is to “hate his father and mother”?

When a big crowd followed Jesus, He said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26).

Jesus’ statement here was probably a shock that triggered an immediate reaction in their minds. Their sudden reaction would have been, “What!?”

And if we think about it, how could the “King of peace” tell people to hate their own family? Doesn’t it seem to sound contradictory? How could One who upheld God’s law tell them to detest their family? Doesn’t it seem to contradict the Fifth Commandment, to “honor your father and your mother”?

But Jesus Christ is the Word of God (John 1:1), and His word is truth (John 17:17). Whatever word came out of His mouth was infallible! And keep in mind that every single word Jesus spoke in the Bible was given for a principal purpose, and that purpose concerns your salvation.

What did Jesus mean?

First, in making this shocking statement, Jesus Christ was sending a message to the crowd that the price of becoming His true followers—becoming true Christians—is high. He knew that people didn’t always come to Him for the right reasons (John 6:26).

Second, Jesus Christ was using the word hate to teach His audience the true way of obeying God in love. One common understanding is that God’s love is the highest level of any kind of love. It is God’s gift (Romans 5:5); no human is born with it.

To understand what Christ meant in Luke 14:26, we need to look at the various shades of meaning of the Greek word miseo, which is translated “hate.” Its usage in this passage does not have the same meaning or connotation as other passages or as is commonly used today. In this instance it implies “to love less” (Strong’s Definitions).

The Bible is not contradictory or inconsistent in its teachings. Christ emphatically taught that to hate anybody—even your enemies—is wrong (Matthew 5:43-48).

Loving God must be our priority—of greater importance than anything else in our lives. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

To love God means to love Him more than our family members and even ourselves. We must love God more than anything else or anyone else. This is what Christ taught in Luke 14:26.

To love God is to obey His commandments

Christ also said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). This means that love for God is not just an emotion. It requires action—we must obey His commandments, the 10 Commandments. This may not have been shocking to His audience then, but it seems to be shocking to many people today, who think Jesus did away with the law.

But Jesus wanted us to see that when we keep God’s commandments, we express our love to Him. For example, because we love Him, we strive not to break any of His commandments. So, to love God means to obediently keep His commandments (1 John 5:3).

Today, even many of those who claim that they keep God’s commandments completely do not. The 10 Commandments constitute one body of law. If you break one commandment, you are “guilty of all” (James 2:10).

You may have been taught to “just believe and accept Christ, and you will be saved.” But the Bible says that you must obey God’s commandments to be a true Christian. In Luke 6:46 Jesus asked, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do the things which I say?” (Read also Romans 2:13 and James 1:22-25.)

Would this be a shock to you?

Imagine if someone told you that you were meeting to worship God in vain each week because you worship Him on a day that He does not approve. How would you feel? Would that be a shock to you?

One of God’s 10 Commandments says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work” (Exodus 20:8-10).

God’s true Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, Saturday, not Sunday. God commands that we must keep the Sabbath holy. It is on Saturday that true followers of Christ are to rest and meet to worship the true God. This commandment is still binding today (Hebrews 4:9; see “Sabbatismos: Does Hebrews 4:9 Teach Rest on the Sabbath?”). If we break the Sabbath, we are guilty of breaking the whole law and sinning against God (1 John 3:4; James 2:10-11). And “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

One response to a shocking instruction to “sell whatever you have”

How should we respond to something shocking we learn from the Bible?

First consider the response of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16).

Jesus replied, “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Then He quoted some of the 10 Commandments and summarized them (verses 17-19).

The man confidently said, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” (verse 20).

The account in Mark explains that Jesus “loved him” (Mark 10:21) and recognized his weakness for material things. Jesus wanted him to learn to think like God—to be a giver. So Jesus replied with something that must have been shocking to the rich young ruler.

He told him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me” (verse 21). But when the man heard it, he “went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (verse 22).

It seems he couldn’t handle the sacrifice and did not obey.

Trusting in riches (verse 24) can break the spiritual intention of the summary commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). And it doesn’t fulfill the great commandment, to “love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (verse 37; see “The Great Commandment”).

A different response to a shocking statement by Jesus

How would you feel if someone compared you to an animal? Would it be a shock to you? Jesus’ words to a gentile woman, recorded in Mark 7:27, must have been shocking. He likened her to a little dog, a house pet or puppy.

Jesus had gone to the gentile area of Tyre and Sidon to rest and get away from the crowds. But somehow the woman had found out who He was and what He could do. She repeatedly asked Jesus to heal her daughter.

Jesus had been sent to the children of Israel first, and so it was not His time to go to the gentiles. He explained this and tested the woman’s faith by saying, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” (verse 27).

However, she did not take offense, but faithfully and humbly replied, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs” (verse 28).

Jesus commended her for her great faith, and from that very hour her daughter was healed (Matthew 15:28).

How will you respond?

If this article has shocked you about the need to obey all 10 Commandments, including the true Christian Sabbath day, whose example will you follow? The gentile woman who did not take offense but humbly accepted the truth and was blessed? Or the rich young ruler who went away sorrowful and didn’t obey Christ’s instruction?

Determine today to experience the blessings Christ promised: “Blessed [joyful, spiritually favored] is he who does not take offense at Me” (Luke 7:23, Amplified Bible).

For further study, see “The 10 Commandments for Today.”