“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 25, 2023) on Matthew 10:24-39.
20 years ago or so, a team of psychologists and researchers from the University of California – San Diego photographed 45 dogs and their owners. Every person and their dog were photographed separately and then together and then, to mix things up, each person was photographed with a dog they met for the very first time. Once these pictures were taken, another group of people tried to look at the pictures and figure out which dog went with which person. As someone who personally spends way too much time laughing at pet videos on the internet, this project is right up my alley. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the people around us have noticed how we and the fuzzy or not-so-fuzzy friends in our life simply go together. The folks from UC – San Diego were trying to discover if there’s something behind the phenomena of pets who look like their humans. So after carefully examining every photograph, folks picked which person went with which dog. Once that data was collected, it was analyzed and the team noticed that mutts – dogs who are made up of more than one breed – were difficult to match with their own. But those who looked at these pet photos had no problem matching purebred dogs with their people. These results suggested that when people pick a dog, some seek out those animals who resemble who they already are. And I wonder if, based on our reading today from the gospel according to Matthew, if Jesus chose us because he trusted we could resemble him too.
Now I don’t want to stretch this analogy too far, implying that we, somehow, are Jesus’ pets. Yet this reading does help unpack what it means to follow him. It’s a continuation of what we listened to last week. Jesus, after being the primary teacher, healer, and manifestation of the kingdom of God come near, decided it was time to give that mission to others. He gathered together a group of imperfect people to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. In other words, these tax collectors, fishermen, young adults, the faithful, the doubters, the betrayers, and those who would leave him hanging on the Cross – they were called to be like Jesus. These disciples would be sent out to form honest, authentic, and life-giving relationships with new people while relying on the hospitality of strangers. Rather than letting their own assumptions limit what love would do, these apostles would let other people reveal the compassion, mercy, and peace they needed. That kind of work isn’t easy to do since it asks followers of Jesus to be vulnerable. It requires them to admit the hard truth that maybe they haven’t been who they’re supposed to be. Making people whole while pointing to the One who brought God’s presence near will always upend the status quo. Now last week’s reading seemed to focus on the practical aspects of what that upending might look like. But today’s words feel way more intense because when we live like Jesus, we sometimes experience all the joy and all the sorrow he experienced too.
Now I’m sure there are parts of Jesus’ life we wouldn’t mind living out. The power, with a few words or a gentle touch, to physically heal those around us is something I wish I had. It would be awesome to not only have that power but also Jesus’ ability to deeply listen to his friends, family, and even strangers. Some of us might even get a kick traveling the countryside with a dozen close friends with most of our basic needs already taken care of. Making God’s love visible among those who are often denied that life and love in the first place, would bring so much purpose to our lives. But when the kingdom of God comes near, everything else responds. Conflict comes. And while many try to use such conflict to justify their own love of self, power, and control, it’s important to pay attention to Jesus’ own description of what that conflict looks like. Those who follow him will not find themselves in some kind of culture war that values a limited vision of family, tradition, and the past. Jesus described something deeper that upends the very foundations of who we are. He points to a kind of generational conflict, believing that the young – especially young adults – would grasp what his good news is all about while their parents and in-laws remained rooted in what they always knew. The presence of Jesus pushes people away from what they imagined themselves to be and into God’s vision of who they’re meant to be. It’s why he described his own ministry in an un-Jesus like way, pointing to the power of the sword as a symbol for how God’s love changes the world. Not only will the presence of the apostles change other people’s lives, Jesus reminds them that their own lives will be changed too. When we trust that God’s promises are real and that God’s love actually matters and that Jesus is who he says he is – nothing remains the same. The kingdom of God upends all the kingdoms that make us who we are so that we can be redefined by whose we are instead.
We often expect that being made whole implies our lives are simply a puzzle that’s missing only a couple of pieces. We assume we’ve already prepared the outline of who we’re supposed to be. It’s a bit harder, I think, to wonder if the carefully constructed outline of ourselves might actually be the thing that will come crashing down. Jesus, through his own life and ministry, knew what it was like when God’s kingdom comes near. Yet he refused to let the intensity of this ongoing conflict not be matched by a promise that will never end. Even when God’s peace feels so far away, every hair on your head has been counted and your life is held in God’s hands. And it’s because God loved us first that we’re able to live as if faith actually matters. The call into this way of life isn’t easy because we need the wholeness Jesus brings too. Before we are perfect, Jesus calls us to love. We are to bring healing to others while needing that healing ourselves. We are to work for peace even when anything but peace makes up the bulk of our lives. We are to offer comfort while being uncomfortable and refuse to let the status quo become a stand-in for the kingdom of God. We are to be like Jesus because Jesus has claimed us as his own. If someone managed to snap a picture of Jesus and then a picture of us, they should see the body of Christ we are already a part of. Our faith would be seen in a life that, while imperfected and wounded, can’t help proclaim that God’s future is on its way. The call to embody this way of life is costly since it invites us to make something other than ourselves, our relationships, and our families, the center of who we are. But when we let God be God and we let ourselves be the body of Christ we already are, that’s when people discover how – in us and through us – God’s love can be found.
Amen.