Text: Matthew 10:24-39 Revised Standard Version (RSV)
24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant[a] above his master; 25 it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant[b] like his master. If they have called the master of the house Be-el′zebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.
Whom to Fear
26 “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. 28 And 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.[c] 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Not Peace, but a Sword
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 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; 36 and a man’s foes will be those of his own household. 37 He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
What, really, is this thing we call “the Church”?
The textbook answer is one that we all know by heart: The church is the Universal Body of Christ – the group of people who believe in Jesus as the Christ and seek to follow in his ways.
So far, so good; but there’s more to it than that.
St. John’s, for example, is an oasis. It is a place of refuge from the dry desert of modern life, a place of renewal, a haven of fellowship, a community in the best sense of that word. It is a place where we come to remove ourselves for just a little while from the demands of daily life and recharge our batteries. For me, St. John’s is a place where my sense of Call finds focus and expression.
A church is also a lifeboat. This is the place where people who are floundering, who are tossed from wave to angry wave by the storms on the sea of life, can grab hold of a lifeline thrown to them, clamber aboard, be rescued, and find safe harbor. There’s a great old hymn composed ‘way back in 1888 by Edwin S. Ufford titled “Throw Out the Lifeline” – it goes like this:
Throw out the life line across the dark wave;
There is a brother whom someone should save;
Somebody’s brother! O who then will dare
To throw out the life line, his peril to share?
Throw out the life line! Throw out the life line!
Someone is drifting away;
Throw out the life line! Throw out the life line!
Someone is sinking today.
Throw out the life line with hand quick and strong:
Why do you tarry, why linger so long?
See! he is sinking; oh, hasten today
And out with the life boat! away, then away!
Throw out the life line to danger fraught men,
Sinking in anguish where you’ve never been;
Winds of temptation and billows of woe
Will soon hurl them out where the dark waters flow.
Soon will the season of rescue be o’er,
Soon will they drift to eternity’s shore;
Haste, then, my brother, no time for delay,
But throw out the life line and save them today.
This is the life line, oh, tempest tossed men;
Baffled by waves of temptation and sin;
Wild winds of passion, your strength cannot brave,
But Jesus is mighty, and Jesus can save.
Jesus is able! To you who are driv’n,
Farther and farther from God and from Heav’n;
Helpless and hopeless, o’erwhelmed by the wave;
We throw out the life line, ’tis ‘Jesus can save.’
This is the life line, oh, grasp it today!
See, you are recklessly drifting away;
Voices in warning, shout over the wave,
O grasp the strong life line, for Jesus can save.[1]
St. John’s is just such a lifeboat, and we are the ones who both grasp that lifeline even as we throw it out to others.
Oasis. Lifeboat.
As we saw last week, Jesus does indeed need each of us. Jesus needs St. John’s to be an oasis and a lifeboat for those who find their way to us. Because it’s still true even today that, although there are billions of us who follow Jesus throughout the world, we are still pilgrims in this hostile world.
The disciples were definitely pilgrims. The subtext of today’s lesson is that Jesus and they know that following him is not going to be a walk in the park in springtime, far from it. There will be strife and heartache. If signing on as a follower of Jesus were written like a want ad, it might look something like this: “Wanted: Follower of Jesus of Nazareth, recently executed by the Roman authorities for sedition. Follower will face floggings and persecution, and will be constantly on the run. Travel to hostile foreign countries is required. Arrest is likely. Execution probable. Apply at Upper Room, Jerusalem.” There would not be too many takers, I imagine. And, even worse, Jesus says that they should expect strife in their own families: “[A]nd a man’s foes will be those of his own household.”
So who in their right mind would join up? What happened to the oasis, the lifeline, the lifeboat?
Our UCC Statement of Faith states that we are called “into his church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship”[2] – well, OK, here we get a full load of the cost, but what about the joy?
The UCC Statement of Faith also gives us some of the answer: We “share in Christ’s baptism and eat at his table…[we] join him in his passion and victory…He promises to all who trust him forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, his presence in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in his kingdom which has no end.”[3]
To recap: As followers of Jesus, we join in his victory, we receive the fullness of his grace, we have “his presence in trial and rejoicing,” and – best of all, we have “eternal life in his kingdom which has no end.”
Hang on! I hear the faint sound of hooves…the cavalry is coming over the hill!
So today, Matthew recounts how Jesus gives both consolation and advice to his disciples – “Don’t worry,” he tells them – all will be revealed in due course. Don’t worry about what the world can do to you, because God – the all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing, loving Father – is in charge. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will… Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (That great old hymn “His Eye is on the Sparrow” rings in my ears whenever I read that passage.) Jesus says, don’t stop proclaiming what you have heard and know to be true. Resist the temptation to go find some desert island and hide there. Don’t lose heart!
None of us is ever likely to face the brutal persecution the early Christians did; nonetheless, our lives are not without their share of trials. The people on our prayer list – and others we pray for, too – know the gnawing fear that comes with illness. We know many people, I’m sure, who face work issues, relationship issues, inner crises of all sorts. You don’t have to have a Roman soldier pounding on your door to suffer real pain and anxiety.
But in all of our problems, large or small, Jesus is there, just as he promised. He is with us, bearing us up, healing us, strengthening us, helping us. He’s heaving out that lifeline and rowing that lifeboat in our direction! He’s prepared us a place in the coolness of that oasis!
The words of the Apostles Paul thunder down the corridors of time to this very minute: “What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39, RSV).
Since I can’t add anything to these mighty words, I’ll end now…
Except to say: Take refuge in the oasis! Rest awhile and recharge. And then – throw out that life line! Row that lifeboat! Jesus needs us!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
[1] http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Throw_Out_the_Lifeline/
[2] http://www.ucc.org/beliefs_statement-of-faith
[3] Ibid.