June 21, 2020
Hope Lutheran Church
Rev. Mary Erickson
Matthew 10:24-39; Romans 6:1-11
Like Teacher, Like Student
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
“It’s enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master.” – Matthew 10:25
Last Sunday we listened as the names of the 12 disciples were grandly listed. Jesus was commissioning them for service. They were about to embark on a holy mission in his name. These twelve were going to cast out demons, heal the sick, proclaim good news to the poor.
But before he sends them on their kingdom mission, Jesus gives them some instructions. And they’ve got an ominous tone! Jesus starts out by saying, “Don’t think you’re going to have it any easier than me! And they’re calling me the Devil!” Jesus talks about executions. He says he didn’t come to bring peace anyway; he came to bring a sword! He talks about family strife and even about dreaded crosses.
Goodness! Pretty remarkable that this thing called “The Good News” could get such a hostile reception!
There’s something about the gospel. On the one hand, it’s so radically liberating! We experience that freedom in today’s reading from Romans. God’s redeeming actions through Christ have set us completely free! This freedom is so thorough and so all encompassing, we’ve basically been made new all over. We’ve been born anew!
In our baptisms, we died to sin. We were buried with Christ in his grave. His death was bestowed on us in Baptism. As we went down in those waters, we died with him.
And as we arose from those waters, we became like Christ stepping from his grave on Easter morning. His new, resurrected life became ours that day, too. We were resurrected into new life.
So sin has lost its grip on us. We’ve been restored to God in perfect harmony. All this was made possible by Christ’s actions! Nothing remains to be restored, not one thing remains to be done. No, EVERYTHING has been accomplished by Christ and his redeeming actions.
And the effect that has on us is perfect freedom. It’s summed up for me by the phrase “There is nothing you have to do.”
There is NOTHING you have to do.
There is nothing YOU have to do.
There is nothing you HAVE to do.
There is nothing you have TO DO.
No matter how you slice it, there is nothing you have to do! All has been accomplished through Christ Jesus your Lord! His redeeming actions on the cross point the way to this remarkable divine love. God’s love is for you!
This is radical stuff! All the weight of regrets, they all died with you there in those baptismal waters.
So, sin has lost its grip on you and me. And not just on you and me, but all peoples for whom Christ has died. So from now on, Christ has become our lens. And through his vision, we no longer regard anyone from a human point of view. We see them as Christ sees them!
• No longer do we make distinctions based on race.
• No longer do we divide peoples based on their age.
• No longer do we calibrate people in regards to their mental and physical limitations.
• No, no longer according to gender or gender identity, either.
• No longer do we regard them from a human point of view.
We see them from Christ’s eyes. This gospel, this love of God through Christ Jesus our Lord validates and lifts up each and every soul.
As St. Paul said in Second Corinthians, “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” This radical liberation of God’s love: It affects our relationship with God. But it doesn’t stop there. It also seeps into the pores of our human bonds. It informs and transforms our relationships with one another.
That’s where the rub comes in the gospel! This divine gift: It heals our relationship with God, and it also brings healing to our human relationships. You’d think it was absolutely good news, hands down, from every direction. You’d think people would be clamoring to hear it!
But it’s just a little too liberating. It’s fine and dandy to heal our relationship with God. But it goes too far when it tips the balance of power into our human hierarchies.
Jesus has been greeting lepers. He’s validating questionable women who should in no way be lifted up. He’s embraced foreigners. And now he’s sending out his disciples to do more of the same! No, this will not end well. They definitely need a head’s up on what they’re about to encounter!
There were many comfortable hierarchies in place. Systems were built upon them. The Jewish religion of Jesus’ day had a definite pecking order. Some people were holier than others. Priests and Pharisees were more closely aligned with the ideals of the covenant than other sons and daughters of Abraham.
And the Roman Empire was built on and maintained by a highly developed system to keep everyone in their place. Freeman and slave; citizen and foreigner; ruling class and lower class; male and female. They divided the whole world into tiers of classes and peoples. This division maintained the Pax Romana. In Palestine, the glinting swords of the Roman centurions let the Jews know their place.
There was a lot invested in this careful balance of human systems. Some people – powerful people – benefited from the order. But the lives of other people didn’t matter so much.
And now Jesus was sending out his apostles with his gospel of divine love! They were going to announce from the rooftops a message validating and uplifting each and every soul!
No, this would not be received well. The student is not above the teacher.
In every age, Jesus’ apostles are faced with a difficult decision. There’s a temptation to water down this radical gospel of divine love. Do we preach good news to the poor and marginalized? Do we call out and cast out the demons that oppress? Or do we choose the safer path and not rock the boat?
Jesus clearly desired his disciples to dispense the full force of his divine gospel’s power. There was no watering it down! He knew it would disrupt the status quo. “Don’t think that I’ve come to bring peace,” he instructed them, “I haven’t come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Swords. Not the thing you expect Jesus to say, but there it is. When Matthew pulled out a sword in the Garden of Gethsemane and cut off the ear of a man, Jesus said, “Now is not the time.” But clearly, Jesus thinks there is a time and a purpose for God’s sword.
When St. Paul writes about the full armor of God, the sword is God’s word. That word pierces into our world and into our hearts. It ruptures our preconceptions, it penetrates our conscience. The writer of Hebrews put it this way:
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12
Nowadays, maybe we’d use the image of a surgeon’s scalpel instead of a sword. The surgeon deftly manipulates the scalpel to excise tumors and necrotized flesh.
When the procedure is over, the surgeon meets with the patient’s family in the waiting area. If it was a surgery for a cancerous tumor, one of the first questions the family asks is, “Were you able to get it all out?” They want it ALL out. Nothing of the tumor should remain.
The divine word works like a surgeon’s scalpel. It discerns within the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts. It separates good from evil. Its goal is to free and liberate us from the forces and systems of evil.
That’s good news for some, but bad news for others. There’s something about the gospel that disturbs. It’s controversial as well as comforting. It’s been said that God’s word comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. But that affliction is a tough love. Where we have strayed, the most loving act anyone can bestow upon us is to guide us into the truth, towards justice and mercy.
Brothers and sisters, the call to discipleship now falls on our generation. And we know full well the cost of that discipleship. It comes with the potential to raise up a hornet’s nest. But most significantly, discipleship comes with the liberating power of God’s word. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the gospel.
