Matthew 10:24-39 Revised Common Lectionary Year A
Jesus said to the twelve disciples, “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
There is so much packed in this passage it is hard to know what to focus on drawing out.
Jesus tells the twelve, “look you have seen how I am treated (and they will see him be crucified), so don’t think that you will be treated any better. Whatever happens to me, is going to be how you are treated, you’re not above it. But don’t be afraid. Yes they might even kill you! But that is not the worst that can happen. Allowing them to kill your soul is what you need to be afraid of. Be afraid of yourself. Because you will want to back down when your life is on the line but don’t! What is at stake is so much more than you realize. Its up to you to stay faithful. What can I say before my Father in Heaven? Can I deny the truth?! I wish that what I was doing here was bringing peace and restoring relationships but the reality is, I am exposing where the cracks are by putting pressure on things. Whole households are going to divide because of the reality that I am forcing people to face. God is not who the religious and non-religious think He is. So don’t be surprised when the effect you have is that families divide against one another. But here’s the thing, the truth that I am revealing, for those who get it, they can’t help but put it above everything else. When you get it, you are willing to die for it. When you get it, you are not half-hearted about it. Not only are you willing to lose your family over it, you are compelled to lose even your own life!”
When Company XYZ creates a product that does a much better job than Company ABC’s product that is currently dominating the market, Company ABC has two choices. They can either quickly develop a knockoff to try to compete, but they know they will never have the market share because they were not first nor will their knockoff be as good. Or they can try to destroy Company XYZ.
The Pharisees and many others realized their way of life was being threatened with extinction and they were not going down without a fight. But obviously, killing the messenger was not enough to kill the message. Even though the message has survived, I believe that the temple continues to need cleansing.
For all its good intentions, religion seems to obscure the truth more often than it reveals it. We tend to continue to find our peace and security in our religion and not in our Father. We tend to trust our own wisdom rather than trusting the Father. We find ourselves backing down from saying anything that might offend others. The current conversation about diversity and whose lives matter that humanity is involved in right now, has ceased to be about what is right and has become about who is right. And none of us are ever always 100% right. None of us can speak for God. Like Jesus, we can only do and say what the Father tells us to do and say. And who among us can claim that we always hear God speaking to us with perfect clarity telling us what to do or say? No one! We can only look to Jesus as our example. With that, I don’t need to hear God telling me to love my neighbor. I already know that’s what I need to be doing. Love my enemies. I’ve already been told to do that. I don’t need to personally hear God tell me that. Love one another. Serve others. Heal the sick. Be humble. Be a peacemaker. Give generously. Make disciples. All of this and more are what we need to be doing. But all of these things become convoluted when religion tries to teach us to do theses things as a way of pleasing God and as a way of being a better person and as a way to get to heaven and as a way of being a christian. It is only ever when we, for ourselves, see Jesus and the truth that He reveals and we get it that we can’t help but do these things. They become the only reality that makes sense to us. They are what we long to do and really it is Christ in us that is doing them. We can’t help but lose our lives that center around us and our reality and what we want out of life and search for Christ in this world. For our life to become a life that reveals Christ in this world.