Matthew
10:24-39
Jesus
was sending them out and had to make some things clear. The disciples were not Him. They were like Him and that was good
enough. He sent them out warning them
that some would say that they are of the devil because they said He was of the
devil. He sent them out instructing them
to keep real power and value in front of them, and not to fear those who did not
have real life or death power over them.
Jesus reassured them that they are precious to God, though I have always
thought that being told one is worth many sparrows may not be a
compliment. They are beloved children of
the creation and God loves God’s creation.
Jesus
then launched into a message about loyalty to the mission and His Way. They needed to have their priorities straight
and not back down when it got dicey.
They needed not to deny Him when it got hard for them with others. It was a tough love message.
Jesus
then offered a hyperbolic message on how His Word and His Way would divide the
world, even families. They should not be
surprised when His Way puts them at enmity with others who are close to them,
because it confronts the hateful, greedy, power hungry and arrogant ways that
had become normative under empire. Jesus’
Way of Agape Love flew in the face of empire’s ways, and people who had come to
adopt empire’s normative ways as their own would defend it, even against their
own family members, thus ruining their family holidays.
Jesus,
again full of hyperbole in order to underscore how important steadfastness to
His Way is, gave a strong and difficult teaching on how much love it will take
for them, even to comparing the level of that love to the hatred of any other
loves. Jesus pointed out that it was
about going to the cross. It
is about knowing the one we serve and keeping the priority of that service in
front of us. It is about self-denial for
the sake of all of God’s children in a world that teaches predatory practices
for the sake of individuals getting all they can at the expense of others. It is about valuing, not great prosperity for
some, but enough for all so that all may have Shalom. It is about living a different life, in the
face of empire, that resists and challenges empire and empire’s values in every
aspect of life together.
Finally,
Jesus told them that if they find a life apart from His Way, a self-serving life at the expense of others, they will lose
their life with God, and if they lose the life that empire has offered, along
with its values, for His sake they will find their life with God.
Jesus
was preparing them for the conflicts in the real world between living God’s
Kingdom Values and Empire’s values in the world. They had to go knowing what was at stake, what
was at risk and what they were likely to face.
They had to go knowing what faithfulness to Jesus is and being willing
to count the cost and pay the price of following Him and His Way in the
world. They had to go and build a better world for God's children by living the Agape Love that Jesus commanded them to live. A lot was hanging on this for the
people of God. His disciples needed to
know just how important it was.
We
need to know how important it is today.
The world suffers under empire still, and we must understand that we are
followers of the one whose way may repair the world. We must understand that of which we should be
afraid, and understand that we can face it.
We must understand what our loyalty to Jesus’ Way will mean if we
persevere and persist in living it, and we must know at what cost that may happen. If we gain the life apart from Jesus that
gives us everything we want at the expense of other children of God, we will
lose our life in Christ Jesus. If we
lose that way of life for Jesus’ sake and the sake of God’s children, then we
will know real, sustainable life for all people.
Just
so you know what you’re getting into as a follower of Jesus.
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