A sermon from The Rev. Dr. David A. Marcus, Jr preached on June 21, 2008. This sermon explores the challenges Jesus’ followers would face on their journey to proclaim the gospel message
Matthew 10:24-39
Have you ever had to condense your thoughts or feelings into something that is short and succinct? I recall the story of a Mathematics Professor instructing his students that for the final exam they would be allowed to bring in one sheet of notebook paper with whatever information they wanted on that paper. Many of the students spent hours and hours writing a variety of notes, equations and formulas on their piece of paper in the hopes that what they included would help them get a better grade on the final. One particular student however on the day of the exam came to class and put on the floor a blank sheet of notebook paper. The Professor and other classmates looked at this student rather strangely. Just as the Professor was getting ready to announce the beginning of the exam, a graduate student of the Professor’s walked into the classroom and came to the desk of the student and stood on the piece of paper. “Just what do you think you are doing?” the Professor asked. The student replied, “You said we could put anything we wanted on this piece of paper so I paid this graduate student $25 to help me answer these questions!” Needless to say this student went on to major in business.
Trying to be short and succinct can be difficult for many of us. For example could you imagine putting a lifetime of advice for a child into several short sentences? In a sense, this is exactly what Jesus was doing in our gospel lesson from Matthew. At first glance this particular passage from Matthew seems to include a variety of sayings from Jesus that together make little sense they seem to be all over the place.
However if we view this passage more like shorthanded instructions rather than a series of rambling statements we can see that the disciples were being provided bread for their spiritual journey. Through Jesus’ instructions the disciples learned three things they would encounter in their journey to be faithful followers.
First, on their journey they would encounter opposition. We see that Jesus was giving instructions to the disciples to prepare them for the hostility that they would encounter on their mission to proclaim the gospel. Speaking of hostility, there was once a government surveyor who brought his equipment to a farm, called on the farmer, and asked permission to go into one of the fields and take some readings. The farmer objected, fearing that the survey would ultimately result in some highway being built through his land. “I will not give you permission to go into my fields,” said the farmer. The surveyor produced an official government document which authorized him to do the survey. “I have the AUTHORITY,” he declared, “to enter any field in the entire country to take the necessary readings.” The farmer opened the gate, and allowed the surveyor to enter the field. The farmer then marched to the far end of the field, and opened another gate– which allowed one of his bulls to charge forward into the field! Seeing the bull, the surveyor dropped his equipment and began to run for his life. He could hear the farmer triumphantly shouting after him, “Show him your papers! Show him your papers!” As this illustration shows us, there will be times when the bulls of this world charge after us! While Jesus declared that all authority had been given to Him, it’s important to note that he fully trusted his disciples with the authority to continue His ministry. We too have been given authority to proclaim the gospel in Christ’s name. Jesus prepared his disciples to be called names, ridiculed and perhaps even tortured. Jesus explained to his disciples that they could expect opposition from their enemies and even their own families.
Despite this opposition, the second thing the disciples learned in their journey is that they would encounter God’s love. Jesus encouraged his disciples to have no fear of those who might oppose them. Jesus repeated three times within these verses that they need not be afraid. He encouraged them to speak boldly the things he had taught them privately, without regard to local authorities. Jesus reminded them that they were answerable only to God, who alone had the power over both their bodies and their souls.
Jesus also took the time to share with the disciples how precious they were to God. He said:
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. (Matthew 10:29-30)
The example of the sparrow and the hairs on our heads are powerful. Sparrows like many birds are insignificant animals or so we think. We see in the passage that God cares for all his creatures. We are told not a one falls to the ground without God noticing. The same goes for our hair. Every day we lose hair in a comb or brush. Some of us lose them a bit more easily than others! No one stops to count them; most of the time we don’t even notice until we clean out our brush or wipe out the shower or tub. Yet every one of them has a number in the mind of God. How much does God care about our well being? God cares enough to notice not only the big things but the small things too. Following this affirmation Jesus challenges them to hold fast to their faith, acknowledging him before others. Sometimes in our lives, this is very difficult for us. We get so comfortable in our lives that we allow moments that can impact others to pass by without a second thought.
With the recent announcement of a new I-Phone coming out next month, I remember when Apple Computer fell on difficult times back in the early 1990’s, Apple’s chairperson, Steven Jobs, traveled from the Silicon Valley in California to New York City. His purpose was to convince Pepsico’s John Sculley to move west and run his struggling company. As the two men overlooked the Manhattan skyline from Sculley’s penthouse office, the Pepsi executive started to turn down Job’s offer. “Financially,” Sculley said, “you’d have to give me a million dollar salary, a million dollar bonus and a million dollar severance.” Flabbergasted, Jobs agreed to his demands on the condition that Sculley would move to California. Sculley however would only commit to being a consultant from New York. At that, Jobs issued a challenge to Sculley saying, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want to change the world?” In his autobiography Odyssey, Sculley admitted Job’s challenge, “knocked the wind out of me.” He said he’d become so caught up with his future at Pepsi, his pension and whether his family would be happy moving to California that an opportunity to change the world nearly passed him by. Instead he went to work for Apple.
Many people don’t recognize a chance to change the world. As Christians we have an opportunity do this on a daily basis. Part of our calling as Christians is to let people know what a difference Jesus makes in our lives. As we experience God’s love in our lives—how are we sharing these experiences with others?
Finally the disciples learned that on their journey to proclaim the gospel they would encounter difficult decisions. Jesus continued his directions by challenging the disciples in their allegiances. He shared that their allegiance to the gospel would likely put strains upon their relationships with others. Jesus says concerning the cost of discipleship the following:
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. (Matthew 10:34-36)
Verse 34 is often seen as one of the most controversial verses in the Bible. As Jesus refers to the word sword in this passage we need to remember he is using the word as a metaphor. Jesus is not advocating violence in any way in this passage. Jesus never used military analogies in his teaching. This was a time when the teachings of Jesus were seen as a new interpretation of Jewish beliefs. Often a new believer was required to deny certain teachings of their tradition and faith in order to embrace the teachings of Jesus. Jesus wanted his followers to know that their new faith may not bring peace to a family, but may “split” it up, which is the function of a sword.
Finally, Jesus issued the ultimate challenge to those who would follow him; that of picking up our individual crosses and being willing to lose our lives in service for God’s kingdom. These words for the disciples are still relevant for disciples today. Jesus calls us to be more open in sharing with others what we value most in our lives. We are called to move beyond our fears and listen to our hearts.
We are now into the heart of the baseball season. Many years ago the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals) were playing the Philadelphia Phillies in Montreal. They were the top two teams in their division so this series was very important in the standings. In the first game of the series the Expos were trailing 7-4. Their first two batters reached base. The manager sent a pinch hitter to the plate a rookie named Curtis Pride. Pride had never gotten a hit in the major leagues. He took his warm up swings, walked to the plate and on the first pitch laced a double scoring two runners. The stadium of over 45,000 fans started screaming their approval. The Expos third base coach called time, walked toward Pride and told him to take off his batting helmet. Pride initially thought something was wrong with his helmet but he realized what the coach was telling him to do—Pride tipped his cap to the appreciative fans. After the game, a reporter asked Pride if he could hear the cheering. The reporter wasn’t giving Pride a hard time, Pride is deaf. Pride responded by tapping his heart saying, “I could hear it here.”
As Pride heard the approval of the fans in his heart, sometimes we hear things strongly in our hearts. It is in our hearts that God wants us to know his approval of our faith and our devotion. I conclude this sermon by sharing with you the remaining verses from the 10th chapter of Matthew in which Jesus says the following:
Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes 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 gives even 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. (Matthew 10:40-42)
Together let us continue to quench our thirst and share the Bread of Life with those around us.
Finis
The Rev. Dr. David Allen Marcus, Jr.