Jesus Teaches
Kevin Geddes
Matthew 10: 24 – 39
In this morning's Gospel Jesus teaches us about fear. Fear is the most the pervasive, corrosive non motivating force in human experience. I certainly was fearful of trying to interpret this Gospel because while all of us know fear, mostly we push our fears into the background, feeling, if we don't think about fear, it will go away. Wrong!
From the moment we are born, we are taught to fear the world around us. Fear is a primitive response to the unknown. We are taught by caring parents to fear the stranger, sometimes to fear even those who are closest to us. Political leaders have long recognized the power of fear to ensure peoples` conformity to the structures of this world that they promote and benefit from. And we acquiesce, even when doing so, does not serve our best interests. Fear is the driving force behind vast segments of our economy, fear of not having the latest fashion, fear of missing out, fear of what other people will think of us.
Our contemporary world has fear of the Covid 19 pandemic. The current fear of racial abuse, the ‘black people matter’ movement and associated violence is based in the fear of coloureds at the hands of white authority. Fear is generated in people of all colours. Fear allows tyrants to flourish and silences good people to do nothing. History is full of examples of terrible things happening, when ordinary people, overcome by fear did nothing. Fear can destroy us and condemn us to slavery.
In Mathew 10, 24 – 39 Jesus teaches the disciples that fear will cause them to fail. Jesus’ disciples courageously left the security and anonymity of their homes and families to follow him to proclaim the advent of God’s reign. With him to lead, they are brave. However, we know that without him, his disciples buckled because of fear. Their faithful proclamation of the scriptures and practice of the God`s word, put Jesus and his disciples on a collision course with the powerful of their day. So, as Jesus prepares his disciples for their mission to the “lost sheep of Israel,” he is starkly realistic about the threats they will face. So it is important to him to build the case for why they should not let fear overcome them or hinder their witness.
Jesus’ is asking much of his disciples. On the one hand, through him, they are invited to walk alongside him and be part of his remarkable ministry, demonstrating God`s powers to heal, exorcise demons, cleanse lepers, even to raise the dead. But alongside all this power, he denies them what we would call the basics. Money to buy food and clothes, a walking staff for their protection, even sandals. Jesus wants them to undertake their mission in complete vulnerability and dependence only on God V 8, Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. V16 I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves,” He knew that they were going to face arrests and beatings, face opposition, even from family members, and face hatred and persecution.
Question. Why does Jesus highlight the horrors that await the disciples? That is hardly a good way to recruit people to follow you. Answer. Naming aloud the source of fear, confronting it, understanding it, and managing fear and its causes, is the first step towards freeing the disciples from the paralysing grip of fear. V 17,18 Be on your guard against men, they will hand you over to the local Councils and flog you in their Synagogues. On my account you will be brought before Governors and Kings as witnesses to them and to the gentiles.
In the latter half of the reading, Jesus continues to teach the disciples about fear, together with statements of reassurance and repeated calls to resist fear, through understanding how fear will be used against them, to subvert their mission. The most important element of reassurance lies in the integral relationship that is affirmed between the disciples and Jesus, and through him, to God.
“Do not fear” is the dominant, recurrent message in this morning's reading. Jesus is telling the disciples they have a powerful ally. V 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul. Jesus warning is: whatever fate awaits teachers or masters, also awaits their disciples. Israel’s elites, the Pharisees call Jesus “the prince of demons” (Ch 9:34,But the Pharisees said, it is by the prince of demons, that he drives out the demons. And again in Ch 12 V24, It is only by Beelzebub the prince of demons that this fellow drives out demons. (that fellow was Jesus) Jesus was telling his disciples that the world`s powerful will answer to God for their misdeeds. V26 “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. Have no fear of them.
The claim that whatever is covered up will be uncovered and secrets made known. This arises from Jesus` teaching of the true meaning of the scripture. Not the manipulated stories on which the Pharisees use to base their self serving rules. Jesus teaches the liberating power of scripture, and the disciples are taught the real meaning of the scriptures by Jesus. Thus they are able to show God`s purpose for all his people. The disciples` simplicity, vulnerability, and dependence on God, demonstrate the reality of God’s presence and character in the face the power of the world's leaders, who claim to possess the real power. Even though confronting wrongdoing may bring them suffering, the gospel must now be proclaimed “in the light and from the roof tops” for the gospel proclaimed and lived by the disciples, is the most powerful tool against the evil powers of this world.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of Evil, is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke wrote those words 200 years ago. Those words were appropriate in Jesus` day, just as they are still appropriate today. The modern participatory democracy in which we are so fortunate to live, depends on us all being prepared to speak up for what we believe is right. We may not face alienation or death when we speak up, but we do need courage. We must never let fear silence us. In Jesus day, for centuries after, and in some countries today, the threat of death is the most powerful form of control of dissension. Fear, is the constant companion of the person speaking out against corrupt leadership.
Jesus’ next expression of reassurance to his disciples addresses this fear directly, yet with irony. The right to kill is one of the chief props in the facade of human political power. Jesus accepts that humans exercise this power, but notes that they have power only to kill the body, not the whole person. God alone can destroy both soul and body; God alone, therefore, is the one we should fear.
This claim represents God’s power as surpassing, that of human rulers. Jesus reassures the disciples that God is not like the world's powerful. God knows and cares even for the sparrows that are sold “two for a penny.” God knows us and loves us. V 30 And even the very hairs on your head are all numbered , V31 so don't be afraid. The threat of violence and death were real concerns for the disciples, but as Jesus teaches, no longer the determining force in their lives, for the one who has ultimate power over our whole being, exercises that power with mercy and love.
V39 who ever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake, will find it, encourages the disciples to remain firm in their commitment to Jesus and their mission, even when that mission generates conflict. V34 is crucial. Although Jesus has called his disciples to be peacemakers (5:9), he is quite clear that as long as the powerful of this world resist God’s will, Jesus` mission does not bring peace, but a sword. The very act of peacemaking, as Jesus’ ministry demonstrates, can generate violence because healing, loving restoration and the conquest of death, threaten the world's powerful, who rule by fear, in defiance of the word of God.
Jesus` call to discipleship renders secondary all other claims upon our identity and allegiance, even before family. While it may sound dreadful to abandon family and personal relationships to “take up the cross”, many people abandon family and personal relationships for much lessor purposes. Jesus` fate and that of the disciples was to suffer opposition, humiliation, shame, and even the death that Jesus persistently speaks about here.
Taking up the cross implied identification with the slaves and outcasts who were subject to Roman crucifixion, because they did not submit to Rome’s authority. But Jesus promises that those who “lose their life” for him will in fact “find it,” while those who “find their lives” in the world will lose them (10:39).
Jesus` answers to fear, include a clear-eyed recognition of the hollow facade of human power. An understanding that the powerful of the world control through fear. An acceptance of our own fear when speaking out and confronting wrongdoing. Because we are all called to witness through our lives and actions, the deep awareness and conviction that God is present in the world, and his mercy and compassion is here for all people.