Nearly ever project that involves wood also involves sanding. I have yet to meet the person who loves using sandpaper, but everyone likes its effects.

Sanding is one process that satisfies. Rough wood will leave you scratched up and splintered. After the proper amount of sanding, wood feels as smooth as flower petals. Sanding takes away imperfections and leaves behind the lines and grains that nature intended.

The teachings of Jesus are rough wood. Even with proper handling, His words can rub you the wrong way. Here’s one example:

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14:25-26, ESV

We recoil a bit from this teaching, don’t we? We had been running our fingers along his teachings verse after verse and suddenly these sentences leave us with a thorny splinter.

This can’t be right. Hate? I thought Jesus was all about love. Hating our family members? Even at their worst, I know I shouldn’t feel that way about them. Hate my own life? What is going on here?

This is where we, like seasoned woodworkers, pull out the sandpaper. We might say things like, “The word ‘hate’ must have meant something else in Jesus’ time.” We’ll calmly reason to ourselves, “Factoring in all of the words of Jesus – including the many about love –this ends up being just a minor point.” Or we’ll go so far as to claim, “He really just means for us to love things a little less.” The sharp, stinging shards are smoothed down. The alarm is silenced. The troubled heart is pacified. Jesus is tame again.

This has to stop. We must fight the temptation to turn Jesus into a tranquil sage. Jesus’ teachings have a hard edge that should not be explained away.

The passage above from Luke is Jesus looking us squarely in the eye and asking if we’ll give it all up for him. Will we let go – not just let go of worldly possessions but let go of the people we love most? That level of following would have shocked the crowd standing there. It should shock us. There is a cost to following Jesus that we sometimes forget to count.

Set aside the sandpaper. Yes, Jesus’ words fit into a bigger gospel picture. Yes, there may be times where original languages and context help us. Remember, though, that the unease of Jesus’ teaching is meant to push and pull us into becoming better followers. The parables come with surprises. The sermons replace old ideas with better ones.

Even the times of healing left some people ready to clap him in chains. Jesus was not a soothing guru. Don’t smooth his words down to bland adages. A trained carpenter like Jesus knows when a rough edge is best.