Year A

Matthew 10:24-39

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

The Tension in the Good News

It takes a lot to be a Christian, to follow Christ and to do his work in the world we have to be willing to make our share of sacrifices. A story that speaks to me about Christian sacrifice is a story about the remarkable slave woman named Harriet Tubman who led African slaves to freedom by way of the Underground Railroad. When she was a teenager, she tried to stop the beating of a fellow worker. Her master hit her on the head, and the blow broke her skull. Harriet lingered near death for weeks. For the rest of her life she suffered from occasional catatonic spells due to the injury. But the injury also set her free. The blow that cracked Harriet’s skull struck off her psychic chains. She had already died once; she had nothing to lose and she spent the rest of her life helping to set others free from the chains that bound and held them captive. 

Paul tells us today that this experience where life begins after something has died is at the heart of the Christian life. He says, “We die when we are baptized.” The old life dies and we are so deeply united with Christ that we are “buried” with him. Something new begins as all our sins are killed off through Christ’s death. Everything that kept us from the joy and freedom of the gospel is now loosed, and we are set free to live the rest of our lives in the love of Jesus Christ. Like Harriet Tubman, life is going to be different from that day forward provided, of course that we let the old life die. In the Christian communities that Paul and Matthew address today, many believers must have misunderstood the implications of the gospel and therefore, they misunderstood the meaning of the gospel.

Members in both communities presume they could follow Christ and not go so far as to “lose their lives,” to let the old life die. They believed they could give absolute trust in and loyalty to the God revealed in Jesus Christ yet withhold a commitment to living out the ethics of the new community Jesus revealed in the Sermon on the Mount and the love commandment. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and your neighbor as yourself.” They presumed that grace made no demands on those who receive it. That is, as Detrick Bonhoeffoer said, “cheap…cheap grace” Paul responds, absolutely not! And we hear Jesus say “Don’t think that I’ve come to bring peace to the earth. I haven’t come to bring peace, but a sword,” and then to clarify the point, he says “Those who don’t pick up their crosses and follow me aren’t worry of me.” This is Jesus’ call for all who follower.

A call we hear continued today in the gospel text from Matthew. Last week and this week and for the next two weeks, we hear Jesus instructing and commissioning his disciples to prepare them to go out into the harvest. He encouraged them to see the advantage they had in viewing life as it really is. He pointed out that they were not to be intimidated by what was going on in the world. As one of his followers, going out into the harvest would involve trials and tribulations but they are to endure the sacrifices for the sake of others. He reassures them of God’s care for them and reminds them that they are not above the teacher. They are to be like the teacher. The point in these first couple of verses in the text today seems to be that Christians get what Jesus gets. And since he endured suffering and needed to make sacrifices, that is what we can expect.

The disciples, sent on a mission of preaching and healing, quickly learn what it means to face opposition and struggle. This will be a part of the Christian story in every generation to follow.  Yet, Matthew declares, in spite of all the trials of this life, the church will persevere. Even in times like these days, in times of fear and unknown, the gospel will remain true. Even if the evil powers are bent on destroying the world and all that is good in it, we do not have to fear them. We are of more value than many sparrows and God dwells within us. Therefore, nothing must be of less concern than the over-arching importance of proclaiming God’s love. For when the gospel’s good news is heard and embraced, individuals, families, and the whole of society thrive. Jesus is asking his followers to keep on keeping on because of our love for him and because, in the end, it will be real and everlasting life that we find.

We are the vessels of God’s love and grace for redeeming a mad, mad world. Jesus assures us that if we engage with him in this redeeming work, he will acknowledge us before the Father in heaven. When we share the good news of God’s grace in Christ, we are being true to our discipleship. On the other hand, to fail to share the good news is to allow the world to suffer the damage it brings upon itself. This is the tension that is worked out in our readings today. The demand is the challenge to live and speak the truth of the Christian message, even in the face of opposition and rejection. Matthew, Paul and Jeremiah, remind us that our membership as Christ followers requires more than that we be simply card-carrying Christians.

Our lives must reflect the values and faith we profess. Being anonymous is not really an option. Jeremiah found this out to his dismay: as he lived his prophetic mission, he was to be rejected and despised by those whose injustice he denounced. He cries out “O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived,” when he finds out that God had attracted him to a ministry that would require more than he had bargained for. But by the time the prophet had reached his own personal point of no return: the only way out was to work his way through the trial by fire demanded by his prophetic mission. Yet, he also tells us of his absolute conviction that God will support him in his trials. Just as Jesus assures his disciples that we are priceless in God’s sight more cherished than the value of many sparrows.

As lovers of God and eager to do God’s will, we live in the tension between comfort and challenge. The challenge to be faithful to our identity as followers of Jesus is a daily one, as we go about our lives in this mad and fearful world. You and I are not the same, we no longer share the world’s ways. “For the old self was crucified with Christ so that sin might be destroyed, and we might consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” In choosing life over death, faith over disbelief, integrity over sin, we have accepted God’s invitation to go out into the harvest with God’s Spirit to help and guide us as we go. And with each challenge brings a deepened realization of the constant loving support of a God who needs us, cherishes us and sees us in the face of the beloved Son Jesus Christ. We can worry less about persecution and more about failing to witness to the Good News of God’s love.