We now have a 3 year cycle of readings, meaning that the same things come up at least every 3 years. I can remember when today’s readings came up 3 years ago that someone said to me on the way out of Church, ‘You chickened out of preaching on the gospel reading then ?’ My memory is not usually that good, but that struck home and I remember because I realised at the time that it was probably the truth.
Today’s gospel (Matthew 10:24-39) does not make easy reading at all. Jesus begins by speaking about a disciple not being above a teacher, a slave not being above a master. He then goes on to suggest that God sees everything – nothing can be covered up that can’t be uncovered, and then there is the wonderful truth that God loves us, every one of us equally – ‘Are not two sparrows sold for a penny ?’ says Jesus, ‘and not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by God’.
We’re then told that we are more precious than the sparrows, that even the hairs on our head are numbered (and people often get rude to me at that point !) – if we acknowledge Jesus to others, we will be acknowledged by him – so far it’s all running pretty well, but then the following passage comes,
‘…whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. 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. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and 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 ever loving and compassionate Jesus we know, to be honest the one we like to talk about, is shown in a slightly different light ! These are uncomfortable words because Jesus speaks of things which seem so out of character… But actually they’re not…
Jesus is speaking passionately here about the growth of the kingdom of God, and he is well aware that that growth can only come from commitment and courage.
Pastor Martin Niemoeller who was imprisoned at Dachau for seven years, wrote: "In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists. I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. They came for the Catholics; I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time, there was no one left to speak for me."
Niemoller had learnt the harsh lesson that our job as Christian people is not to stand up simply for the rights of those we know and like and understand, but for everyone. Jesus came to love, to offer chances, to offer hope… that is a simple message we like and understand, but if we take this message, then we must acknowledge that there is another side.
What if the choices have been given, and we have rejected the idea of following Jesus ? The kingdom of God is damaged, God himself feels the pain of rejection, God himself knows our decision. As it said earlier in the reading, there is nothing we can hide from him.
Outwardly there are many who serve Jesus, who offer worship, but who are not prepared to really commit themselves to him and his message. It is to those people that Jesus is speaking in this gospel reading. It is to those who have conflicts in their lives, those who have distractions which stop them focusing on Christ, those who are prepared to find all kinds of excuses for not serving him as he wants.
Maybe it will be family, maybe it will be work or social things, maybe it will be any number of different things, but we are good at finding reasons to not give everything for Jesus… Jesus, who gave absolutely everything for us, even though he really had nothing to gain… except our love.
And that is the passion that Jesus is displaying in this reading. The sort of passion that puts this love above anything else, the sort of passion that will lead a person to do anything for the one they love… even accept a brutal death on the cross… the sort of passion that will fight for the rights of not just family and friends and neighbours but everyone, the sort of compassion that will care for a brother, sister, parent or child, will care for a neighbour, or for a friend, but also for the teenager who is lonely on the streets, the homeless man drinking from a bottle at the side of the road, the child dying of starvation in Africa, the people scared to vote as they want to vote in Zimbabwe, those who are facing conflict every day of their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Holy Land, and so many other places….
Jesus cares passionately for all of these people, just as he cares passionately for you and me… He came to bring peace, but as we all know peace sometimes comes at a cost, sometimes peace has to be fought for…
Today’s gospel is a call to commitment – a call to examine what we’re really doing and giving for God. It is a question that only you and God know the real answer to…
We’re very fortunate in this country to be brought up in reasonably comfortable surroundings. We haven’t the pressures of some, we haven’t the daily panic about survival… we have been given so much and with that gift comes responsibilities.
Jesus went to the cross willingly to show how much he loves us. He didn’t ask questions of what those who chose to follow him had done before… He knew but he didn’t care. He didn’t talk about the past, because the problems of the past were wiped away when people committed themselves to him…
Our mindsets are generally fixed to do good. Most people I meet are good people, maybe with a few sharp edges at times, but generally good people. But our mindsets are so often set on practical and material things. The call of spirituality though is beyond the practical and material – it is a call to live as God really wants us to live…
In the week somebody spoke about Gordon Brown on the radio, and they said the one thing that eluded him was the thing that he most admired, and that he had even written a book about, and that is ‘Courage’. There are some incredible quotes about courage : Winston Churchill said, ‘Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm’, Henri Nouwen said, ‘Give me the courage to show the dove in a world so full of serpents’ and Billy Graham said simply, ‘Courage is contagious’…
G. K. Chesterton said, ‘Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, but found difficult and not tried.’ Courage is what Jesus calls for from us today. Courage to stand up for his message in a world that is often hostile or apathetic to that message, courage to offer hope to those who seem to have little hope, courage to speak out on behalf of someone incapable of speaking for themselves, courage to put aside those things in our own lives that are stopping us from serving Jesus, however comfortable or easy those things sometimes help to make life for us, and of course the courage to love unconditionally, just as Christ loves us… AMEN
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