Third Sunday after Pentecost

June 21, 2020

Transitions

St. Matthew 10:24-39

Jesus warns his disciples that their ministry in his name will meet with opposition, requiring absolute trust in God and an unswerving commitment to their Lord.

²⁴A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master;  ²⁵it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

             ²⁶So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.  ²⁷What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.  ²⁸Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.  ³⁰And even the hairs of your head are all counted.  ³¹So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

             ³²Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven;  ³³but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

             ³⁴Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

             ³⁵For 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;

  ³⁶and one's foes will be members of one's own household.

  ³⁷Whoever 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;  ³⁸and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  ³⁹Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

(Hand Out Laminated Card with following quote)

Transitions are almost always signs of growth, but they can bring feelings of loss.  To get somewhere new, we may have to leave somewhere else behind.  ~ Fred Rogers

I do not like this Jesus that Matthew portrays here.  This is not the Good Shepherd Jesus or the one who took children on his lap and blessed them.

This passage sounds more like the call of a Zealot.  In fact Jesus certainly had a Zealot streak in his teachings.  There is a new book out entitled Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan.  It claims that Jesus was indeed preaching a call to justice against the oppressive power of Rome.

Zealots were a group of political adversaries to Roman rule in Judaea.  Loosely organized they were determined to protect their religion from the imposition of Roman rituals and to end Gentile rule over the Jewish people.  Zealots were willing to take to the sword to assure the end of Roman oppression.

There is a Zealot streak in the teachings of Jesus.  We may not like these passages, but whether we like them or not we cannot ignore these teachings of Jesus, but rather explore what they mean for us today.

Why would Matthew include these teachings of Jesus in his Gospel?

His Gospel is written to Jews and many of the people it is addressed to may have been open to taking up arms to overcome the oppression of Rome.  Fresh in their memory was the Jewish Maccabee clan that fought and got independence for Palestine from the Greek Empire from 164 BCE to 64 BCE.

Zealots were inspired by such recent history.

In studying the background of this passage I discovered something new:

Scholar and theologian John Howard Yoder explains that the cross was “the standard punishment for insurrection for the refusal to confess Caesar’s lordship.”  The phrase ‘take up your cross’ was the standard cry for Zealot recruiting.  “In defiance of Rome – take up your cross!”

[Source:  Awaken: The Art of Imaginative Preaching – Pentecost 1 2014, Year A, page 12]

So here we have Jesus laying out the cost of discipleship.  It is one thing to listen to the teachings of Jesus and nod one’s head in ascent.  It is quite another to follow Jesus.  Here Jesus, the Zealot, is spelling out the cost of discipleship.  You will be maligned if you follow Jesus.  You will be opening up the truth to people and such truth telling just may cause division.  Jesus, the Zealot is calling his followers to a new allegiance away from family and tribe to an inclusive community that has no tribal boundaries.

Jesus the Zealot is calling his followers to join the radical cry of the zealot – ‘take up the cross.’  Jesus is calling his followers to a way that in losing life, one finds life.

So what do we do with these outlandish statements of Jesus?

We all too easily sidestep them and move on to passages that affirm the Jesus we like.  But we are not getting the full story if we do so.

It is one thing to believe things about Jesus it is quite another to follow Christ.  It is one thing to admire and worship Jesus, it is quite another to live one’s whole life in the way that Jesus taught.

Soren Kierkegaard, Danish Lutheran Theologian, wrote:

“The difference between an admirer and follower still remains.  The admirer [of Christ] never makes any true sacrifices.  He always plays it safe.  Though in his words and songs, he is inexhaustible about how highly he prizes Christ, he renounces nothing, gives up nothing, will not reconstruct his life, and will not be what he admirers.”

Kierkegaard goes on to say:

“Not so with the follower.  No, no.  The follower aspires with all his strength, with all his will to be what he admires.”

[Source:  Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard, page 88]

Transitions:  Christ is constantly calling us to transition from admirers to followers.  The way of Christ is a way of growing in our faith.  Our faith is not something static but growing.  A static faith will become a dead faith.

Transitions:  The caterpillar crawls around on two-dimensional surfaces. At some point it stops, eats to oblivion, wraps itself in a cocoon and begins to dissolve. Out of the soup of the dissolution, 'imaginal cells' begin to emerge that transform what was the caterpillar into a whole new form that can fly in three-dimensional space. Where is this story happening in our lives?

[Source:  http://www.greattransitionstories.org/wiki/Main_Page] 

Is this what our parish is going through? 

Is this what the church at large is going through?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is calling us to continue to transition from admirers to followers.  His zealot streak comes through announcing the radical change that is ahead – a future of letting go so that something new can take hold.

Paul states it clearly in the second reading for today:

³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  Romans 6:3-4

The daily discipline of remembering our baptism is a helpful practice.  In baptism we die daily to the old self, so that a new self comes forth - a self that is created in the image of Christ. 

The power for us to be made new does not come from us.  We can never pull ourselves up by our spiritual boot straps. God takes the initiative. It through the power of the Holy Spirit – the Divine is unleashed in us through the sacraments and the proclaimed Word. 

Empowered by the Holy Spirit we get a fresh start – a new life each and every day. 

In following Christ we hear the promise:  “…the hairs of your head are numbered…you are of more value than sparrows…so do not be afraid.”

Fred Rogers’ words are a softer summary of the gospel lesson for the day. Take these cards home, use them as bookmarks or put the saying on your mirror. 

Transitions are almost always signs of growth, but they can bring feelings of loss.  To get somewhere new, we may have to leave somewhere else behind. 

Amen