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 (Matthew 10:24-39).

Terrible times, then and now

The Gospel lesson reads like today’s news reporting strife in jarring jumps from one conflict to another. It begins with an incident Matthew reported in a previous chapter: The servant, Jesus, has compassion and heals a long-afflicted person on the Sabbath. He then faces backlash from accusers who claim he serves Satan (Matthew 9:32-34). 

Such conspiracy theories only proliferate more lies as they do today. Wise to our political ways, Jesus prophesies more division, even takes his share of responsibility for it. To our perplexity and anxiety, his promised peace requires a process, a paradoxical passage through conflict. He begins the process not with a Valium but with an invitation to radical commitment of our whole lives. “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it,” he promises. Is this just another politician or populist, another propagandist or poacher? Or is this the Son of God?

Scholars classify these verses as “eschatological,” teachings about the “end times.” But wiser historians observe that they address all times, not just end times. History books record the various ways sinful humanity traffics in lies and insider-outsider demonization, promoting division as a self-contradictory prescription for peace. Saints suffer persecution and sinners advance. Humanity rapid-cycles from one socio-political crisis to another, and every time we suspect that this is it, the end. 

Even so, they were terrible times, as our time is. And that matters to Jesus. He does not tell us to just get over it. He counsels us to face it. 

Apocalypse, Extraordinare and Ordinary

“Do not fear,” he exhorts, or more precisely, “Take heart.” The first step in the healing regimen of Dr. Jesus: Undercut the element of surprise. He might say, “You think you are the only one afraid? The bullies you fear are more afraid than you. They rest their hopes in false gods, products of frightened imagination. The One in whom you hope loves every sparrow sacrificed by the poor so certainly loves you amid your suffering. No matter what they do to you, you are safe with me.”

We might answer, well, Dr. Jesus, that is a start, but what now? I still do not like getting hurt. But getting hurt seems part of the program.

The scholars who dub this literature, “eschatological,” add a more specific term: “apocalyptic.” When we think “apocalypse,” we think of cosmic upheaval like Armageddon. But again, apocalypse is also common. “Apocalypse” means, “uncovering.” Historians report uncoverings that ebb and flow. The pandemic was an apocalypse, uncovering the economic disparities between the unprotected poor and the privileged in safer havens. 

Moreover, the insights of everyday life reveal the sins and shortcomings of ourselves and others. Trusting God’s mercy provides safety to face and confess our sins and power to forgive others. Those ordinary spiritual apocalypses mark personal, spiritual turning points. 

Even less newsworthy but important are apocalypses of light and hope. Gratuitous acts of kindnessL love discerned in a gruff and distant father who gives more than he lets on. Glimmers of beauty that shine through in unguarded moments. “Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known,” Jesus counsels. “The world will assail your reputation with lies,” he seems to say, “But your goodness as a person created in God’s image will shine through in the end for all to see.” 

Dr. Jesus Redefines Purity

Thank you, Dr. Jesus. But my reputation does not exhaust my concern. Why do we have to face the accusations and divisions in the first place?

The fear of the accusers. They fear a god who does not exist. In antiquity, deities insisted on bodily purity like clean hands and social associations, sticking with members of the tribe, even avoiding the sick or disabled. If the humans presented themselves with an odor, a ruckus, empty pockets, or the wrong company, the deity got mad. 

Israel came to see their God as fastidious too In fact, they outdid their neighbors with circumcision and kosher requirements. The religious authorities did not want God to let them suffer another sacking and exile. But in the Bible Jesus read that we call the Old Testament, he found a tension between that notion of God and a deeper understanding: The One True God wants purity all right, but purity as a matter of the heart. 

Jesus taught, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles…. (W)hat comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile” (Mt 15:11,18-20).

Moreover, Jesus befriended and blessed aliens in the homeland, the afflicted outside the city gates, even outright sinners. His accusers deemed these unclean and him unclean by association. But once afflicted, now whole and healthy, Dr. Jesus’s patients were living apocalypses, revealing God’s peaceful reign. And Jesus reversed old ideas of purity and of God.

Toxic Reaction to Love

When he chose healing over Sabbath restrictions, inclusion over exclusion, and devotion to divine mercy over fear of divine wrath, he scared the bejesus out of the religious authorities. They thought he poked the divine bear. Jesus told his jittery disciples to expect similar treatment if they follow him. Is that any less the case today?  

Our friendly historians will vouch for the incursion into churches’ fateful decisions to cast mercy aside and exclude the refugee, hide and ignore the afflicted and dying, marginalize the racial and sexual minority, and prioritize ethnic purity over justice to appease a petty and vindictive god. Does that fake Christianity not march about triumphally today? Shall we watch the parade quietly from the curb or disrupt it as Jesus did by “doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God” (Micah 6:8)?

Jesus did come to bring peace to the earth. He rose from death and dwells among us for the same purpose. Yet, Dr. Jesus hyperbolically claims responsibility for conflict because for now, the patient must get worse before getting better. By “the patient,” I mean not the blind or mute of body but the blind and mute in spirit who concoct a conspiracy theory to make onlookers see good as bad. Unlike the literally sick whom Jesus heals, these patients fight their cure, and so get worse. God does not make the strife in society and even in families inevitable. We do when we worship a false god who comforts us in our bunkers and disregards or misrepresents true peace. The division is humanity’s toxic reaction to the radical mercy of God.

Dr. Jesus Prescribes a Vaccine

Do you want peace in your heart and in the world? Dr. Jesus prescribes a vaccine. His love may provoke a toxic social reaction. Yet, letting his love in your bloodstream gives you such peace that, just by being yourself, you plant God’s peace in the world. Commit yourself totally to Christ – yes, the same commitment that can invite persecution – and follow through, building bridges across cherished divides. He will make you resilient.

The passage through rejection and conflict to peace did not surprise Matthew’s congregation. Many experienced alienation from families who feared a fastidious god’s disapproval. Family identity defined, in a sense, a person’s life, so they concretely lost their lives to find them in Christ.  

But I am convinced that the paradoxical injunction to lose one’s life to find it transcends that context and applies to each of us. Ask any recovering addict who surrenders to the only God who can restore sanity. Ask any person who lets go of a lifestyle that revolves around material security to minister to the poor and marginalized. Or remember any time you let go of identity, stuff, or habits that owned you when you thought you owned them. 

If you feel a draw to experience this anew, consider what you fear the most and what you cling too most tightly. Total letting go may be unrealistic. But you can let go of a lifestyle that revolves around it and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in a life that revolves around Christ. 

In other words, loosen your grip on that old life until it loses its hold on you. Find your life in friendship with Christ. Christ does not ask us to abandon our families, careers, reputations, or even privileges. But he does bid us prepare for them to abandon us if we live for him. 

The freedom we receive is freedom to love. I see helpful people before me. We must befriend those whom political party, neighborhood association, or even churchgoing Christians deem unclean or undeserving. Do not fear them or the judgments of others. Serve not out of duty but gratitude. For we would not have the opportunity except Christ did the same for us. And as promised later in Matthew’s gospel, in hospitality to the least we will find the same Christ who makes us peacemakers (Matthew 25:31-46).

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The Disruptive Love of Christ: Sermon on Luke 12:49-56

Pollution Wars: How the Kindness of Jesus Offended and Healed

The Belonging Game: Sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11-12).