June 25, 2023
Pentecost 4
Lectionary 12
Epiphany, Winnipeg
Matthew 10:24-39
Every time I preach on this little piece of Matthew it gets a little harder. When I was newly ordained, and even further back when I was on internship and in the thick of things at Seminary, it was easy. When Jesus would say, it’s enough for the student to be like the teacher and the slave like the master, I knew that what he meant was that we the students, we the disciples of Jesus, should be doing whatever we can to annoy someone in authority, like our teacher did. And if we weren’t in some kind of trouble we were not being faithful enough.
What that meant, of course, was that if you weren’t on the right side of the issues with me, you weren’t being faithful enough.
Then when Jesus would say I’ve come to set someone against their father, and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, I knew that Jesus was really angry about conservative megachurches – you know, where people talked about family values all the time, and where those values left out anyone with non-traditional families or orientations or loves - and I was angry about those churches too, so Jesus and I could really sock it to ‘em.
It was easy to preach on this. I was pretty sure that Jesus was talking about the ways we’re not loyal or faithful enough, and I knew all kinds of ways that someone else wasn’t being loyal or faithful enough.
I preached some tough and certain sermons on this word from Jesus. And the tough word always applied quite neatly to someone else.
Thankfully this reading only comes along once every three years, so congregations were spared the ordeal two years out of three. I’m not so certain what it all means now. When Jesus says “Whoever loves son or daughter or father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,” I honestly just think that I don’t want to love someone more than I love my sons, or my mom and dad, or my partner, or my closest friends. Maybe not even Jesus. And I’m not sure what it all even means to do that.
And when Jesus talks about taking up your cross and following, or about we students of Jesus maybe even suffering like our teacher Jesus did, I don’t take that as a chance to point out how someone else is too concerned about their own easy life. Now I just know better than I did then how afraid I can be to speak up when I think that what I say won’t be well received. And I know that if a situation comes where I need to take up my cross and do something risky, or take a stand on this or that that could get me in trouble – like Martin Luther King or Viola Desmond, or like people who try to block pipeline developments or logging, or like people I don’t agree with who support causes I don’t agree with but who are still risking something…. I know that I’ll be more inclined to do what’s easy and safe. And I wonder whether I would have the courage to take a stand, in a risky way, when my faith seems to call for it. And I know how afraid I can be.
I used to know all about how Jesus’ words applied to someone else. To you, or especially to those people over there. But now I know those words speak to me, and I’d often prefer that they didn’t. I’d like to make it so Jesus is really saying something else. Or I’ll wish I left for holidays a week earlier so I didn’t need to try this again… But Jesus doesn’t just say things that are easy, or that we’d like to hear. And I can imagine him finishing saying all of this, and then folding his hands, resting them on the table, looking at me and you, and saying, “So, what next?” And he’s got all the time in the world to wait for an answer or an action.
The funny thing is, there’s one part of this whole reading that I have missed every time up until Monday night when someone pointed it out at Bible Study. In the midst of all this Jesus says three times, “Don’t be afraid.” “Don’t be afraid.” “Don’t be afraid.
I will back up a bit and say that there is something to what I got all cranked up about all those years ago. Jesus does make it pretty clear here that there’s no reason we should expect that we’ll have an easy life, or that we deserve an easy life, or that our faith will deliver an easy life. If Jesus got into trouble then we who follow Jesus can fully expect that we might get in trouble too. Or get arrested.
But don’t be afraid.
Jesus also seems to say a thing or two about family, but what Jesus says about family isn’t what we might expect Jesus to say about family. A few chapters from now some people will come to Jesus and say “Your mother and your brother are looking for you.” And Jesus will point to his disciples and say, “These are my mother and sisters and brothers. Whoever does God’s will is my mother and sister and brother.” And it’s hard to figure out what he’s talking about when he says all this that sort of seems to cut to the heart of what for some of us are our closest relationships. And let’s be honest, the words might set some of us free from what are our worst relationships.
But don’t be afraid.
And when Jesus says “I’ve come to turn someone against their father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother in law, he’s not just talking about families. He’s talking about social relationships of authority - fathers over sons, mothers over daughters, mothers-in-law over daughters-in-law, what other lines of authority are there? – and he’s saying that he has no regard for those. The people expected to listen and submit can disagree, talk back, and refuse to submit. Jesus even says so.
But don’t be afraid.
I once thought all these lines were clear and I knew exactly what Jesus was talking about, and who Jesus was pointing to when he said it. But now it’s not so clear, and I finally figured out that Jesus is pointing at me too. Or he’s not pointing at anyone. No, he’s not pointing. He’s got his arms open wide, directed toward us, saying these things to us…all…together…as we try to sort out what it means to be faithful, with all the challenge and difficulty and promise and strengthened relationships and strained relationships that go along with that.
But don’t be afraid.
Sometimes Jesus will say things that are hard to hear. Sometimes Jesus will say things that are hard to understand. Sometimes Jesus will say things that you or I might think are just wrong – come on, I’ve heard you say it; I’ve said it myself - or that we just wish he didn’t say. And when that happens maybe the best thing to do is just let Jesus say those things and then sit with them for awhile. Just let Jesus be Jesus who says difficult things sometimes. Just let Jesus stay, even if he makes us uncomfortable now and then.
And just let Jesus say, “But don’t be afraid.”
Don’t be afraid when you can’t understand. Don’t be afraid when you think it doesn’t make sense. Don’t be afraid when your life is threatened, or you closest relationships are being strained. Don’t be afraid when you challenge authority, don’t be afraid when you’re in trouble, don’t be afraid… well, don’t be afraid when you’re really really scared.
And when Jesus says don’t be afraid, he’s not saying, “Come on, suck it up, put on your big girl pants, toughen up a little.” When Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid,” he’s saying something more like this: “Don’t be afraid. Everything you need has been given for you already. I will die, I will rise. You will die, you will rise. Your life is taken care of already.” “Don’t be afraid. My yoke is easy, my burden is light, you will find rest.” “Don’t be afraid: God watches over the sparrow; God watches over you (there’s a song about that).” “Don’t be afraid; this is my body, this is my blood. Given for you.” AMEN.