Shannon Koehler
Matthew 10:24-39
Before I start I'd like to say that I'll be using the words Jesus and God interchangeably. Just a heads up.
It's about 80 AD and a guy sits down with some old scrolls and compiles the information. He's got the gospel of Mark, which is pretty new at the time, and he's got a few other out takes. He figures he'll attribute his writing to the apostle Matthew, then some people might read it, after all the writer is just a scribe.
The writer of Matthew lives in a world of division. The Pharisees are stronger than ever before and it's led to a lack of communication between Jews and Jews who are following Jesus. Even the church has false prophets, already! You'd think the crazies might lay low till we hit the century mark. But the writer of Matthew lives in a mixed up world where living out faith is hard, oppression is common, and the truth is the only thing a person can hold onto.
Here's a scribe looking at the gospel of Mark and some other scriptures while right outside his window, the families of religion seem to be tearing themselves apart. But he's got a rock, he's got his truth, and Jesus is his truth.
Folks, Jesus tells it straight in Matthew. No knock knock jokes. He doesn't play hambone and he doesn't do yoga. I know what you're saying, why yoga? Well, it most certainly doesn't sound like he's trying to chill anybody out. In verses 24 and 25 Jesus tries to make the disciples understand that he is their only teacher and this road they are about to walk down isn't going to be easy. A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master. In the Jewish scholastic system of that day once a student had learned all there was to learn a student could either continue to study under their teacher or set themselves up as a teacher. This is parallel to the fears that the writer of Matthew had, people continue to set themselves up as teachers "false prophets" and go astray. Jesus makes it clear we are to continue studying under his supervision. But he parallels this with a slave being like a master. Slaves, recipients or cruelty, and students of Jesus. Jesus is preparing them. Being a students and followers of Jesus doesn't mean we'll be sleeping in beds of rose pedals. This is not a vacation. Jesus says If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! If the nay sayers can call Jesus Beelzebul, meaning demon or Satan, then what will they do to those who follow him? He continues to warn the disciples in verses 34-37 when he says: Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword. He's come to divide families, set kids against parents, and just get people down right angry.
Remember, this is all on the disciples first day! Imagine you're at your first day of work at a new place and the boss calls you in and says: Look, we don't pay all that much, and we can't really offer you any perks because hey, what do you want from a paperclip factory? Oh, and don't feel bad that you don't get any health benefits because I don't either. I'm sorry but I don't want to work for a place like that!
Right after the warning in verse 25 Jesus says have no fear, and in verse 28 he says have no fear again. And in verse 31 he says have no fear again! We are not to fear in verse 26 because nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered. Jesus parallels what is covered and uncovered with his teachings. We are to proclaim his teachings, shout them, act them, yell them, get them out there! But that sounds a little weird because behavior like that can bring on persecution, and persecution is definitely something to fear! But Jesus follows with Verse 28 do not fear those who kill the body but kill the soul... The soul is the true self. Our true selves, our souls, are our lives. And Jesus goes on to say our souls are worth more than any other creature many times over. Within are souls are the teachings. If we let those teaching, those truths, become our identity, and make us who we are, then there is no persecution that can harm us. If we allow ourselves to freely act as we have been taught to live our lives, then there is no earthly consequence that can defeat us. By uncovering the teachings we uncover ourselves.
But Jesus draws the line, and the tension of the early church arises once again. We must acknowledge Jesus before others to have Jesus acknowledge us. This is about more than judgment. Jesus continues to ask us to give ourselves over to him as his followers. It's about releasing, it's about uncovering what was covered and shouting the teachings that were once secrets. If we make those teachings and the truth of those teachings the core of our souls and our way of life, then we need to let that truth flow through us. For the scribe putting together this text, proclaiming Jesus to others would be an offering of one's self. He would be open to ridicule, physical abuse. Jesus calls us to be free with our souls, and in return we still hold his teachings and the great truths of those teachings.
Jesus does it again when speaking about divided families. He warns the disciples. And he denies that he is the peaceful Messiah the Jewish people thought was coming from Isaiah 9: 4 For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. Jesus doesn't come with force to break the oppressor, but once again, he's got a whole boat load of teachings. It is the teachings that tear these families apart. I had to get a new cardiologist because Kaiser said I was officially an adult. I was on me to make the phone calls, find the right doctor, get the appointments lined up, all stuff that I had never had to deal with before. So I ignored it. I don't like going to the doctors so I figured I just would worry about getting there all too quickly. But my dad got on the phone with me and he told me how it was. I need to make it a priority. Forget the band, school, dad even took a day off of work drove up from Fresno to San Francisco just to come and meet my new cardiologist. My dad knew what was important, and I started to really take responsibility over that part of my life. I had to figure out what was necessary, I figured my heart was pretty necessary. But it's about priorities. And it's about being committed to those priorities. Once we commit to priorities they become a part of our lives and our identities. I have to see my doctors. I have to be with my wife, I have to be with my husband, I have to be with my kids. We have to give back to the community. We have to make peace. We have to find a way to love each-other. Those are commitments that we make that we won't break for anything or anybody.
In verse 38 and 39 Jesus says "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." It's clear now that God asks us to take the cross upon ourselves and then give ourselves to God. Once again, the writer of Matthew acknowledges the difficult split in his time. Jesus asks us again to offer ourselves to God, and release what ever it is that is hindering us from strengthening our understanding and immersing ourselves in the teachings. We need to lose our lives to it, and for the writer of Matthew he was talking quite literally. We need to lose our lives for God's sake. We lose our lives, which is also understood as giving up our souls for Jesus' teachings. The commitments we make to God's teachings are the foundation for the commitments we make in our lives. And the only reason why we have our lives back is by the grace of God. God is being gracious here. It's because we gave it up that we get it back. There is this circular motion that continues to appear in Matthew, if you give you get something back. God keeps asking us to give and give. And God's not just asking for us to give him a sandwich, God's not asking for a couple of bucks for muni, God's not asking for a big donation to pay the entire mortgage of the MVS house, God is asking us for our lives, our souls. Sometimes it's easy to say that we've found our life in something other than God, a lot easier than giving up our souls. My pastor at my Fresno church would say "what was life giving for you today and what was life draining?" Well, some of us feel that getting a new car is pretty life giving. A new apartment, flipping off your boss on your last day of work, or making out with a random person at a club, those can all seem pretty life giving. But while those things might give us temporary happiness, our commitments to God don't always entail the fleeting moments of happiness. We can feel drained, tired, depressed, and would love to break those truths, teachings, and commitments. But our rock of truth, and our EVERLASTING joy that comes from that truth pulls us in and brings us back to our uncovered relationship with God.
Just when you though God couldn't ask for anything more from 12 pretty rough dudes, fisherman, tax collectors; God asks for manors. In verse 40 Jesus says "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me." The word welcomes can also be interpreted as showing hospitality. Jesus seems to be giving the disciples a tip on how to spot good people. Not only will people say good morning, or what's up? They'll say come in, have a glass of what? Have you ever tried one of my home made cookies? A good helping of kindness is fitting for all people. Verses 41-42 say, "Who ever welcomes a prophet a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever given ever a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple –truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward." The term prophet can also be used as the term missionary. The word righteous can be understood as elderly, a teacher in the congregation. And the word little one's can be understood as the least of Jesus' followers. Jesus said welcome the prophet in the name of the prophet, help the prophet for the prophet's sake. This isn't just about us anymore. We need to not just welcome, but show hospitality to missionaries, elderly folks, children, everyone and everybody. Don't just say welcome to San Francisco, we're called to help eachother, and show a great sort of kindness.
Jesus stopped to talking to the disciples. That was enough, and that is enough. The writer of Matthew lived in a time where Pharisees didn't pull punches, so the Jesus we see in Matthew prepares his disciples for the difficulty to come. This is not easy, and it's not supposed to be. The people for which the book of Matthew was written needed to preach the gospel when they knew they would face persecution, they had to acknowledge God before others when those others could bring about bodily harm or death, they needed to understand that because of their commitments to God, because of the way the had shaped the minds, bodies, souls around Jesus' teachings, and because of their commitments, they could lose their homes, friends, families; and on top of that they had to be gracious about it with hospitality and wearing a big smile on their face.
Such is the tax for following a healer, a revolutionary, for following God. We have to be willing to open ourselves to God, and to do that we need to put our selves on the line for the whole world to see. We release our pride, we release our fear, and we release our lives trusting that God will give it back. We have to trust God. That means we have to trust in the teachings, in the truths that come from them, and the commitments in our lives that come from them. This is not easy, but it is enough. If we go back to the starting point of Jesus' discussion in verse 25 Jesus' says it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher. It is enough that we are like Jesus, not that we are Jesus. Being like Jesus is enough to be acknowledged by Jesus. And when we give our lives in doing like the teachings, and doing like the truths of Jesus, God will help us find our lives anew. And once again, in verse 42, Jesus says "truly I tell you none of these will lose their reward." The rewards of following God are ours to lose, God has given us our reward and in return we need to trust in it. Our trust is enough. And just as the writer of Matthew gave his trust and stood firm in the truth when faced opposition, so do we. God values us and has given us the teachings, truths, and a foundation to build our lives on. We need to trust and stand by our foundation. That's not easy, but do not fear because it is enough. It is enough.