“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!
Matthew 10:24-39 (NRSVue)
“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 the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[a] 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.
My sermon from the 4th Sunday after Pentecost Sunday (June 21, 2020) on Matthew 10:24-39.
This reading from the gospel according to Matthew – is a bit weird. And I think it’s okay to say that. On a day when some of us will be celebrating Father’s Day, we just heard Jesus talk about sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, turning against each other. We’re also two days from the celebration of Juneteeth – a holiday marking the moment when enslaved African-Americans in Texas received word that the victorious Union army had declared them free. The legacy of slavery and the impact of racism in our country is being contested almost daily in protests all over the country – and yet we hear Jesus use the language of master and slave which sounds different for us today. It’s also a bit odd to hear the word Beelzebub – which I’m pretty sure I’m mispronouncing. And finally the words Jesus used to describe himself – as one who doesn’t bring peace but, instead, a sword – doesn’t really match the Prince of Peace that we celebrate on Christmas. So what do we do with this collection of sayings that might leave us feeling unsettled and confused?
Well – the first thing we should do, I think, is to acknowledge the weirdness. The Bible isn’t always going to make us feel comfortable. The Bible is a collection of words from God that actually does something to us. And part of that doing is going to make us feel weird. We’re going to be uncomfortable. We’re going to feel convicted by the text in some ways. Part of our job as followers of Jesus is to be honest about what Jesus’ words are doing to us. We can say that his words about familial bonds troubles us or that we’re confused by what he means about taking up the Cross and following him. We can also admit that it’s more than just one word or phrase in the text that’s making us feel this way. It could be that our lives, caught up in whatever we’re experiencing, is struggling to see the good news Jesus brings. We’re supposed to share with ourselves and others when following Jesus is hard. And we shouldn’t just ignore what we’re feeling or try and hide behind a different text that sounds a bit nicer.
Instead, we can use what we’re experiencing as a way to enter the text in a deeper way. If we’re struggling with Jesus’ words – there’s a good chance Jesus’ first followers struggled with those words too. The weirdness we’re feeling invites us to put Jesus’ words back into context – into the narrative of Matthew itself – while also wondering how these words would have sounded to the early disciples. These sayings from Jesus, that sound a bit disjointed and maybe like they don’t really go together, are a continuation of the message Jesus began last week. Jesus gathered together his imperfect disciples – the ones who would eventually deny him, betray him, and abandon him on the Cross – to go out, and do the things Jesus did. They would tell others about Jesus while living out what it means for God’s kingdom to come near. They would heal anyone in need; cast out every demon that fosters pain and suffering at the expense of connection and love; and they would offer hope to all who feel hopeless. Jesus’ knew that their mission wouldn’t be easy. Too often, we are suspicious and threatened by the call to live and love out loud because it forces us to admit that what we’re doing now isn’t always right. The status quo is not God’s kingdom. Rather, it’s just something that we’re used to. We’ve learned, over time, how to at least exist in this specific moment in time. But living for this moment does not mean we’re living for God’s moment. And so there’s a cost that comes with following Jesus – and today’s words give voice to what that cost might look like.
And what I see in this passage is tension. The family relationships described in verses 35 through 37 are pretty specific. They reflect words shared by the prophet Micah and they name the core relationships at the center of what a family looked like in the ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman world. The ideal back then wasn’t the nuclear family we idealize now. Families were more extensive and the family’s health was seen as the foundation necessary for a good life. Jesus’ words pierced the cultural realities that people used to define who they are. And he didn’t need a real sword to do that. All he needed was his presence; his actions; and his words. Jesus doesn’t come into our life to merely pat ourselves on the back as we keep living the life we’ve always lived. His relationship with us is too busy transforming us – shifting our priorities and our vision of who we are. It’s a transformation that names sin and how we live as if our own point of view is the true center of the universe. It’s a transformation that shows us that there is a God and we’re not it. Jesus gives us a new life where God can be at the center of who we are. It’s a life that we’ll never fully reach during our time on Earth. But it is a vision we get to live into – a tension we embrace – because Jesus is here – and the world is changing because he’s already a part of it.
And it’s changing not because we are perfect or wonderful or always on the right side of history. It’s changing because God just loves. We often read this passage, especially the warning about loving father and mother more than God, as a description of what our priorities should be. We end up creating for ourselves a hierarchy of love – where our love is doled out based on a descending list. As we sketch out what this hierarchy should look like, we put God at the top – and then, as we move down the page, we add children and spouses – parents and families – cousins and best friends – and then maybe a catch-all term for everyone else in the world. But what does that hierarchy of love actually look like? How do we put it into practice? We could define that love through what we do – making each level of hierarchy a reference to what we might do for them. For the stuff near the top, we might choose to listen to them, support them, and offer them a place to stay in their time of need. They would get our love first – while the others, near the bottom, would get whatever we had left over. But if God is at the top – have you done for God what you have already done for your parents, for your children, for your friends, and even your neighbors down the street?
In the words of Lewis Donelson, “hierarchies of love work only on paper.” Because an absolute expression of love – is just love. Love can be expressed in different ways – but love, as God wants us to love, isn’t always quantifiable. Love is love is love. “[And] when we love our [children; our parents; or our chosen family], we love them absolutely. We do not rank them on a descending list.” The love we express in our relationships – that kind of love that isn’t a transaction but rather an expression of wholeness and hope – that love is at the heart of who God is – and that is the love we are called to share with the world.
Following Jesus isn’t easy because it asks us to lean into a love that doesn’t just change other people’s lives; it also changes our own. It’s a love that admits hard truths; it’s a love that knows our sin; and it’s a love that will show us we were wrong. The love of God and path of Jesus challenges the status quo – including our understanding of family, community, and who is valued and who is not. And this challenge is going to make it hard to love like God wants us too. But – we are called to make our reverent, life-giving, and loving best guess in everything that we do because we’re not doing this on our own. We have, with us and for us, a God who knows every strand of hair we have – or had – on our head. And this same God, in Jesus, went to the Cross to show us what a love that does not end. Jesus has already changed the world because he lived in it; he died for it; and he now lives again through a body that includes even us. We get to do the hard work of following Jesus because he doesn’t have a hierarchy of love. Instead, he just loves – and that love already includes me and you.
Amen.