Reality Check for Us All Proper 7A

 

Reality Check for Us All

Jesus does not mince words. In Matthew 10:24-39 he lays out the consequences of what it really means to follow Jesus. It’s what is often called “a hard saying.” To be a disciple, to be a faithful Christian, is not for the faint-of-heart. Just ask Dietrich Bonnehoeffer. Just ask Martin Luther King, Jr. Ask Archbishop Oscar Romero and Joan of Arc. Ask the very first martyrs as witnessed in Matthew’s gospel, The Innocent Children of Bethlehem.

 

In his final instructions, Jesus and Matthew introduce some powerful language: Beelzebul, Sword, and here is the first mention in Matthew of the Cross – a reminder that long before it became a symbol of personal piety and a common piece of jewelry, it was a sign of terror, brutality; a sign that the Empire can execute whomever it deems a problem to the pax romana.

 

Evidently ours is not the only era in history in which name-calling has been used to damage the reputation of a perceived opponent. First century Israel was a deeply divided territory before the endless occupations by other middle eastern empires. Rome was just the most recent. Within Israel itself you had the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and various militia-like Zealots which often included their own self-appointed messiahs. And like any other political parties, there were always divisions within these major political and religious parties.

 

Jesus, it seems, had been call Beelzebul – literally, Lord of the Flies. This is not another name for the satan – God’s tester. Nor was Beelzebul a challenge to the God of Israel, but rather a lesser being who is lord of all that plagues humankind, and his flies buzz around the corpses of his victims, and crawl on the faces of hungry children who starve in his famines. A formidable foe for humans, but no match for God. [Swanson, Richard W., Provoking the Gospel of Matthew, p.155] Jesus’s point is that if he is declared demon possessed by either political or ecclesial authorities, so will the members of his “household” – that is, his followers, his disciples, and anyone who dares to call themselves Christians. Sounding like one of God’s messengers, the angels, he tells us to “Fear not!” They can call us names, even kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul, “rather, fear him who can kill both body and soul!” That is, fear only God, and God will protect you. God’s eye is on the sparrow, and he’s watching over you – able to count each hair on your head, for like me, says Jesus, you are God’s Beloved.

 

Perhaps most shocking for modern Christians is Jesus’s announcement that he does not come to bring peace, but a sword. Shocking only because we forget all too soon that the mere mention of the birth of Jesus to be the “king of the Jews,” sets the tyrant Herod, Caesar’s appointed King of the Jews, into a rage, sending his forces into the village of Bethlehem to slaughter all children two years-old and younger. The Slaughter of the Innocents are the first martyrs as a ham-handed attempt to murder the future messiah and king. The sword was swiftly deployed early on, and eliminated a generation of Jesus’s cousins and potential aunts and uncles. It is no metaphor.

 

Indeed, the “sword” appears long after the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord in the treatise titled simply, “Hebrews” where we read: Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. [Hebrews 4:12 nrsvce] As we all remember from Christmas, John’s gospel tells us that Jesus is “the Word of God,” and he himself says he is capable of dividing father from son, mother from daughter, mother-in-law from daughter-in-law, “and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.” Lest this strike us as overwrought, let us remember how many Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners have recently been ruined as during the pandemic with squabbling of vaxers and anti-vaxers, or MAGA and anti-Maga, red vs blue, etc. It goes all the way back to slave-holders vs abolitionists, patriots vs loyalists, nativists vs internationalists, and on and on and on it goes. One’s devotion to Jesus also has, and continues to have, the capability of causing such division, even within one’s own household. By the time Matthew is writing such divisions are already a reality.

 

An Important Caution: This text is often manipulated by demagogues and cult leaders who are not at all proclaiming and living the kingdom of God life Jesus encourages. They will tell someone something like this, “Of course your family does not understand us. They do not have the secret knowledge we can give you. Don’t listen to them, and see, Jesus says this is how it will always be for his followers.” I have seen it too many times. And texts like this one in Matthew is all too easily perverted to mean exactly what it does not mean.

 

Jesus is quoting the prophet Micah, a contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, from chapter seven. The prophet declares that households are falling apart, and the fabric of society is falling apart due to the faithlessness of the people. Which does not mean keeping the appointed sacrifices at the Temple. In chapter six he defines faith like this: He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? It is important to remember: when Jesus spoke these words, one’s entire identity was with one’s family, clan, and tribe. Any modern notion of “the individual” was a long-way off in the future, so that the very threat of being cut-off from one’s family was in fact tantamount to a kind of death sentence among those early followers of Jesus.

 

Which brings us to the first mention of “the Cross” in Matthew’s gospel: “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.” The cross was not a symbol, nor was it a metaphor. It was an execution device. Roman crosses were to be seen throughout the empire, along roadsides, in important public spaces, as a reminder of the power and brutality of the Empire. But to take up Jesus’s cross is to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. It is to live a life shaped by God’s own mercy, compassion, justice, and forgiveness.

 

He then says those of you who follow me expecting some kind of personal gain, personal glory, or recognition, will as much as lose their life. Those who follow Jesus in giving away God’s mercy, compassion, justice, and forgiveness will gain everlasting life with God in Christ. What  at first sounds like bad news is ultimately good news. For, as he says earlier, “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” Be not afraid. Despite all possible consequences, I have your back. I am with you always, to the end of the age! In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places – there is room for everyone. Not everyone will appreciate what we are doing, but remain faithful to my Father’s mercy, compassion, justice and forgiveness, and I will have your back, just as he has my back. I am with you now. I am with you always. Together we do make a difference in the lives of others, and in the life of the world.  Have no fear. We have this! Amen.