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June 22, 2008- RCL Year A, Proper 7

The Rev. Mark Byers

Family Ties- Reflections of Jesus’ Discipleship Teachings

 

This Gospel today continues where we left off last week. It continues a teaching section of Matthew on discipleship. Jesus was in Galilee, teaching his disciples what he felt they needed to understand before sending them out in the region to do mission and ministry. Again, just a reminder, they were sent out to heal sick and broken people and cast out demons, and to announce the kingdom of God, within the Jewish world.

So what Jesus is driving home is:

-what to expect

-how to receive it

-what’s at stake

and

-how it might affect the disciples’ lives and relationships.

What to expect: expect, proclaiming and performing the ministry of Jesus Christ, to be treated as he was. That is, some people will be grateful to receive healing and deliverance from the grip of slavery. Some will misunderstand or ignore the messengers. Some will be hostile. The point is this: people sometimes hurt one another for no other reason than that they are feeling ugly or angry inside. They don’t even think about it. If a person actually goes out and offers healing, offers help, offers another way of living, others may take the opportunity to change the way they’re living.

Or they may also take the opportunity to focus hostility on the messenger. If you say that God is in charge, and we are not, that can really upset and anger some folks. And many times, these people will feel their position, or choices, are threatened. Even among fellow believers, neighbors, and families, Good News doesn’t always sound good. So the Lord told his people, “Don’t be surprised, and don’t lose track of why you’re out there.” “Did I say ‘Change your life because the Kingdom of God is here?’ I meant to say, ‘Can I get change for a five in here?’ No? You like coffee? We have some at my church. Yes, I suppose they do have it at Starbucks, too. But ours is free. Yes, it’s still in the morning. Yes, on Sunday. But TOTALLY worth it.”

Not, perhaps, quite that radical an about face, but often close enough that we may think we’re proclaiming Good News, but we’re really not saying anything that sounds all that different or essential. Certainly nothing that troubles anyone enough to react. Keep in mind, we don’t need to be deliberately provocative in order to get a negative response. As I said, just the idea that God’s got different plans for the world than we do, and intends to follow through with them, is sufficient to get a Gospel proclaimer in trouble.

How to receive the response of the world. This is important: delivering the Gospel and the healing of God elicits a variety of responses, as Jesus suggested and I elaborated just now. The grateful or searching response is the one we love to see. “This is truly wonderful; what do I do now? Where should I go.” You can simply point to God, and say, “Come and see.” The disciples all know how to do this, because it’s what Jesus did with them. They were curious, and he invited them to know him better, to learn more about what God is doing through him. But Jesus also wanted them not just to EXPECT negative responses to their ministry, but to RECEIVE those responses appropriately too. Expect to be frustrated. Expect shut doors and worse. Know somehow that you will be made stronger in faith through these trials.

When I trained to start new churches, I was told to expect that ¾ of what I tried would fail. I was told that I would need to meet hundreds of people just to bring a small number into the church. Know what? It’s true. It’s also true that God is there through it all. Last year at this time, I wondered what was going to happen with this church. I still don’t know, really, but I do believe that God is working through us as we proclaim the Gospel through this church.

Part of being a good disciple is knowing what is at stake, and also that the Good News of Jesus Christ doesn’t belong only to you and me. It belongs to every person. There are plenty of belief systems, and even some that claim to follow Jesus, that have “secrets.” There is nothing in this church, or in any legitimate Christian church, that belongs to the “insiders” only. No special knowledge, no secret books: once a person is baptized, all that God has promised in Christ is available through faith.

Jesus said, “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” In other words, don’t fear the consequences of being open about who God is, who Jesus is. Whether or not we care to think about it, even our very existence is God’s choice, God’s gift, and it is in God’s power to determine our fate, not only in this life, but for eternity. I thought the Message translation got this really well: “ What's the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries.”

How might this affect our lives and relationships, this dangerous, costly Gospel? You can probably think of any number of examples, just as I can, of Christians who have believed and loved Jesus Christ so much, and their fellow human beings so much, that they would sooner die than compromise that faith and love. Oscar Romero, the El Salvadoran bishop martyred by the death squads for standing up for the poor and oppressed. Or Andre Troeme, a French Protestant pastor whose congregation and village sheltered thousands of Jews during World War II, even at the risk of their own lives when the authorities would come to the town. He was asked to identify the Jews in the village, and replied, “We do not know what a Jew is. We know only men.”

Faith, like muscle, sometimes grows most from resistance or at least from the mission work of a loving community. Know that in the midst of all that is most difficult and all that is most beautiful, God is watching and sustaining us, loving us and encouraging us, because God values us infinitely more than we value those we love most. I try to imagine how God could possibly love me more than I love my wife and daughters, and I can’t believe it’s true, but it is. And in a sense, God is doing with us something like what we do with those we love, especially our children. We try to give them the character and ability to grow up into mature people who are capable of love and truth and strength, even in the deepest adversity. Parents know, or should know, that they will have to make hard decisions for the sake of who the child is to become someday, rather than for the sake of the child’s happiness today. Disciple is the name we give to Christians who have learned from and cooperated with God to such an extent that he has brought them into something like spiritual adulthood.

I think that’s what Jesus is talking about in that last bit, when he speaks of coming not to bring peace, but a sword, and setting family members against one another. Sometimes the Godly and loving choice can place a person in tension with loved ones. Have you ever seen someone you love do something you know was wrong? What did you do? Many families, or religious communities, or tribes and nations, will ignore or justify wrongdoing for the sake of peace. (Or at least quiet.) You and I are not allowed to do that. There comes a point where the word “Christian” will fade into meaninglessness, if we do not have some notion of where our deepest trust and loyalty should be. "If you don't go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don't deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me.” Does that ring true? In some churches, they say “Amen!” when they agree with you. Most of the time when I hear that, I assume it’s a new member, because cradle Episcopalians try and avoid sticking out.

Let me share something with you to sum up. I know there’s a lot that sounds challenging here. But the world is a dangerous place, and we live in a culture that has shielded itself from exactly how dangerous it is out there. We insulate ourselves with entertainment and possessions and ideas about ourselves, about our story that reinforce the idea that we are truly exceptional people. We sometimes even suspect that, although He would never say it, God likes us better. Periodically, things break through the illusions: Abu Ghraib. Katrina. The floods in Iowa, the fires in San Diego, a random act of violence or death, a senseless expression of cruelty or hatred that we witness. But normally, we manage to put everything neatly back into place, because we like things to be neat, orderly, and, when all is said and done, safe.

A lot of times, I’ll hear someone telling me something, and I’m trying hard to believe it, but I can’t quite do it, because it just rings false. Maybe it’s a sales pitch. Maybe it’s a politician. Could be any number of things. A thing I like a great deal about the Gospel is that I never feel like Jesus is going to drop a big surprise on me later. “It’ll be awesome. There’s waterslides, and steak, and you just have to make a few sales calls later.” Jesus asks us to put aside our illusions of tranquility, prosperity, and security in favor of truth-telling and God-listening. Perhaps not entertaining, but fulfilling. Not a quiet suburb, but the raucous world. Not peace, but a sword. The kind of truth and purpose that families should always share.

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