June 30, 2002 -- SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST -- Proper 8
Matthew 10:40-42
Color: Green
Title: “How we make God become visible.”
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.
Rewards
40 "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple--truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."
Jesus concludes his discourse on missionary discipleship.
In verses thirty-seven to thirty-nine, Jesus explains the conditions and cost of discipleship and in verses forty to forty-two, of its results and rewards. In verses thirty-four to thirty-six, Jesus has made clear his awareness that being reconciled with God and following his ways can cause alienation from humans, even hostility from one’s own family. It is all part of the price one must pay to be a disciple. As a learner, a disciple, the follower must learn God’s language and definition of terms. One must learn that peace in God’s dictionary means much more than absence of conflict. Living the Gospel can actually disturb the, human, peace, even among relatives. It means war with evil in all its forms, even the warm, cuddly forms. Having said that, Jesus gets specific about love of parents, attachment to the family and the familiar, love of one’s comforts and even one’s life. All of these, even if they be good and healthy, must take a back seat to the new family of God which the disciple joins.
In verse thirty-seven, whoever loves father and mother more than me: The family was the center of existence and life for a Jew. This was, and is, so true that a successful marriage was defined in terms of a man leaving family of origin and “clinging,” to his spouse according to Genesis 2: 24. If a man did not have his priorities and loyalties straight, and the same for a woman, -wife first, parents second- it could ruin a marriage, and often did and still does. Jesus applies the very same principle to a commitment to him and his cause. To be worthy of him the disciple must place nothing and no one above him. Matthew speaks in smoother Greek by using “love more,” while Luke retains the Semitic form of “hate.” They both mean the same thing. “Love,” is not Greek agapan but philein, natural affection. As a groom leaves home, as Jesus left home, so must his disciples. Of course, Jesus does not mean to stop loving or actively “hate,” psychologically or dislike, one’s parents when he claims for himself a higher or more central place in the affections and loyalties of his disciples any more than a groom, or bride, stops loving his, or her, parents.
Is not worthy of me: In the parallel sayings in Luke 14: 26-27 Luke has “cannot be my disciple.” That is the meaning here of not worthy of me.”
In verse thirty-eight, whoever does not take up his cross and follow me: At this point in Matthew Jesus had not yet taught his disciples about his coming death, but already he, and they, had experienced enough opposition that persecution even up to the point of martyrdom was on the horizon. Roman citizens, unless they were rebellious against the state or emperor, were not condemned to death by crucifixion; it was so cruel and barbaric a form of death. Slaves and rebels were and there were many Jewish rebels. So, “carrying one’s cross” the Romans made the condemned carry the cross beam to the place of execution as an “example,” to others of like mind, was a rather common sight. Even before Jesus’ crucifixion it was a symbol for losing one’s life for a good cause such as the overthrown of Occupation Rome. Anyone not willing to give up his or her familiar life in pursuit of Jesus’ goals- even to the point of martyrdom- is just not fit to be his follower. Jesus demands nothing less than death to self.
In verse thirty-nine, whoever finds his life will lose it: The paradox- finding, losing, losing, finding- of this verse recurs frequently in the Gospels in slightly varying forms. Clearly, it was the keynote of Jesus’ call to discipleship. In effect, he says, “If you follow me what you think you are losing you will really be finding; but it will not appear so at first.” In this context, the verse sums up what Jesus has been saying about commitment. Putting family loyalty and the impulse to self-preservation and personal comforts second or third or fourth and putting Jesus before natural inclinations and interests results in real fulfillment-- the very thing putting these other values first were thought to advance. To “find life,” in the sense of the things one delights in here and now and without regard to other considerations is really to lose life in the truer sense, both now and in eternity. What a would-be disciple might think he or she is losing or giving up in order to follow Christ, “for my sake,” turns out to be well lost. “Love,” be it of things or people, is merely attachment, being nailed to something, if it does not free both the thing or person loved and the lover. Such attachment may bring temporary comfort but never fulfillment. However, one does not give up, let go of, in order to get more. That is just another form of the attachment and selfishness Jesus condemns. The giving up is for the sake of Jesus, a greater cause that self-service.
In verses forty and forty-one, whoever receives you receives me: Jesus concludes his discourse of missionary discipleship. Verses seventeen to thirty-nine, stressed the cost of discipleship, what a person must renounce, but nor denounce. Now, he turns to the privilege side. The disciple represents Christ himself and just as the disciple is “rewarded,” for himself or herself accepting Christ and all that involves, so anyone who accepts the disciple participates in the same reward. “Reward,” is not something earned, a repayment for services rendered, a pay back. “Reward,” is not something deserved, an “award. “Reward” is not a bribe, a carrot to entice. Jesus uses the term as a synonym for “result,” outcome. It is a “pay off,” in the sense of positive outcome, results from a wise investment. “Receive,” is used here as a synonym for “believe,” with the stress on the initial attitude of openness toward. If the invisible God is made visible through the words, deeds and lived attitudes of Jesus, so also is the, now or soon-to-be, invisible Jesus made visible through his disciples. This is the “visibility,” of faith and thus requires “receptivity.” The idea that a messenger, one sent, an “apostle,” Hebrew shaliah, is “as the man himself,” was deeply imbedded in the Semitic mind. Jesus carries it further, for he says that the one sent, the apostle, is as God himself.” To be hospitable to one representing Christ is to be hospitable to Christ himself and so participate in the rewards or gifts Christ bestows. There is really no distinction between “prophet,” and “righteous man,” here. Both represent God, one somewhat officially, the other just by lifestyle. “Righteous man,” provides a bridge from the lofty prophet to the lowly “little ones,” of the next verse. Some think these terms reflect the “hierarchy” of the Matthean Church: apostles, prophets, holy men, that is, eminent members of the church and little ones the ordinary members. Whatever the case, Matthew intends to include all Christians, commissioned for ministry or not. Titles and handles are unimportant in the kingdom. Those who accept God’s word through his emissaries or through their word or example of life will be as equally rewarded as they.
In verse forty-two, whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones: To give a cup of cold water was and still is, an essential act of courtesy and hospitality in the arid Near east. It is really taken for granted and deserves no reward. Yet, even this small act of acceptance will receive one. God notices and counts as valuable the smallest act of kindness and acceptance just as he notices the sparrow and counts the hairs on a person’s head according to Matthew 10: 29-30.
All service ranks the same with God as Mrs. Browning once said. “Little ones,” would include children, as 18: 1-6 makes clear, but the term is a special one for disciples of every and any stripe. These would not be those in leadership positions, but the “insignificant,” or “little,” people. Only the term is not belittling here, but privileged. The smallest gift offered by the smallest person, given with the right motive will not go unnoticed by God. To give either because the one being given to is of Christ or because the giver is of Christ or because the action itself is of Christ guarantees the motive is right. While such a broad range of possibilities would make just about any action “rewardable,” Jesus is not reducing Christian behavior to mere humanitarianism. “Of Christ,” must be the motive for any action to be made “holy,” or “righteous,” in God’s sight.
Sermon
Loyalty to Jesus has its negatives and its plusses. Jesus has been clear about both. He has told his disciples ahead of time, before it happens, so that when it does they, and we, will be prepared. He has told them, and us, that there will be rejection. This will not be the personal rejection of, say, one lover rejecting another, although it might feel just as painful and abandoning. It will be rejection precisely because the Christian bears within him or her Christ himself and all Christ stands for.
There will also be acceptance precisely for the same reasons. However, the Christian should neither take rejection personally, nor acceptance personally. The Christian should not be fooled into thinking acceptance has to do with one’s personality traits and become proud because of it, erroneously thinking that others accept Christ because of one’s own personal attractive qualities. It is Christ’s power working through, shining through the witness, not the witness himself or herself. It will be this added dimension to one’s person, which attracts and captivates the other. The principle involved is that the union between Christ and Christian is so pervasive and intense that what another does to the Christian is also done to Christ himself. This is a reality not open to those without faith, but a reality nonetheless. Also true is that what is Christian does in the name of Christ, that is, aware of Christ’s presence, power, and activity within, is really Christ doing it in the body of and through, the Christian. This reality means that all we do is potentially holy. It is a working out of that petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be thy name.”
Because of the physical invisibility of all this, Jesus stresses the need to be hospitable. His audience would naturally think of Abraham unknowingly entertaining angels, who turn out to be the Lord God himself in disguise, and being “rewarded,” with a son because of it. Or, the Shunemite woman being hospitable to Elisha because he was a man of God and being rewarded with a son because of it. No matter how great, Abraham prepared a feast and the Shunemite woman went overboard in her elaborate accommodations for Elisha, or small, Jesus mentions a cup of cold water, hospitality, generosity-in-action, impresses God. It reflects his character, his name. It is a major way he becomes visible because it is so consistent with the way he always is, always treats humans and creation itself. God likes it when we act like him, imitate him, behave like his sons and daughters, bring credit upon his “family.”
The human family is another matter. While intimacy with God, relaxation with God, protection and the fostering of growth, fulfillment of dreams, experimentation with life’s possibilities, should be learned in the context of the human family, God knows and we know that such is not always the case. Families are dysfunctional, especially as a result of generational sin, sin passed down through the generations much like hereditary genes. Jesus knew this, too. So, he set up a parallel family, his Church. Among other things the Church is a haven, a place of comfort one of the meanings of “Paraclete,” Holy Spirit, is “Comforter”. In this family we have the environment and support systems we need to grow in a healthy way, even when and especially when our natural family is dysfunctional.
One of the characteristics of dysfunctional families if a distorted requirement of loyalty. Family loyalty gets distorted into rules like keeping the family secrets, not talking even within the family about addictions of family members, denying realities painfully obvious to everyone, enabling family members to continue in addictive behaviors, putting family mother and father first at all costs, etc. Jesus warns that Christians will be threatened with abandonment by dysfunctional family members, if they do not put them first, rather than their faith in Christ. Jesus is clear. He wants us to put even our physical lives second to him. That being so, it follows that anything or anyone in between that must also be put in proper order. The last place we would expect to find forces and influences detrimental to health would be one’s own family. Yet, that is the first place, the place where it begins, precisely because it can pretend to be motivated by love. Jesus is not being cruel or cold when he warns us about any inordinate attachments, including to our families. He is being wise, even as he provides a healthier alternative in the family of God, the Church. In doing so he actually makes it easier for the missionary to attract others by offering a viable alternative to what most people disappointingly experience as a lack in their lives and a failure in their families.
The principle of reciprocity had been long established in the Jewish tradition. God will not ignore generosity or openness and obedience to his word.
Every week you and I give a sermon. The way we live our lives Sunday to Sunday, is the sermon of our lives, and we demonstrate our kindness and Christian attitude during the week, by the way we act and react to the circumstances and conditions we confront. We make disciples by living our lives, telling our sermon by reminding people what Christ taught, what are you teaching?
We do not choose our emotional attachments, but we can choose to detach from them.
We do not choose what pains we will suffer, but we can choose how we suffer them.
The way we react to someone is beyond our choice, but the way we “receive” someone is a choice.
Finding goodness in others gives us a focus for loving them, despite their negatives.
Any good, no matter how small, we do for others will come back to us magnified.
Emotions vs. Attitudes: We know that our emotions reside in our older brain and our attitudes are functions of our newer brain. If our emotions rule our lives, if they can overrule our attitudes, we condemn ourselves to living our lives on no higher a level than the pets we might have around the house. We will be concerned at all times that our emotions are “happy” and, if not, will take even extreme measures to get them “happy.” The goal of life is to be in a “good mood” at all times. We will do everything we can to preserve the good mood. In fact, the self-preservation drive embedded in the lower brain becomes coterminous with the “survival of the species” drive. We will even take steps to not have children and so no do our part to preserve the species in order to keep the “good mood” of our own lives. If we will do only those things that make us feel good, mood good, the words of Jesus in this text will seem incomprehensible as well as impossible. Who in his or her right mind, really “right mood,” that is, “good mood,” would intentionally do something that does not feel good, something like taking up one’s cross or detaching from family ties, something one can feel, in order to “get,” something that one cannot immediately feel, something that will make one feel bad? To a person whose older brain is in charge this does not compute. Yet, to a person whose newer brain, whose more human brain, is functional this does compute. One does not need faith in order to know that in order to “get” something greater one must give up, let go of, detach from, something lesser. The athlete’s motto, namely, no pain, no gain, is based on that truth. It is that truth that Jesus “baptizes” in this text. He is not telling us that we should have no natural affection, no feelings, for our parents or children. He is simply saying that they, good as they are, can get in the way of, even prevent, a richer love for them and can limit our experience of the love of God. Now, people who have had abusive or manipulative parents or people who have been hurt by spoiled, adult, children, children they themselves spoiled, do not have this problem. They, if healthy, have long since detached from the emotional bonds of parent-child. But, many, thanks to having loving parents and or children, feel a tremendous affection for their relatives. Jesus is not condemning that, so long as it is healthy. Whether our emotional attachments, of whatever kind, are healthy can only be determined by what motivates us. Are our attitudes, the decisions we make in the peace of emotional quiet, stronger than our feelings? Do our decisions to act in certain ways trump our feelings or is it the other way around? Jesus says that we will only derive the fullest “pleasure,” from life if we keep our emotions and what they are attached to in their proper perspective and proper place and that is never first place. When we find ourselves saying, “I have no choice but to…” when referring to the strength of a particular feeling, we have replaced our attitudes with our feelings. We have let them rule our newer brain. Jesus would say that we have lost our life, meaning in finding our feelings to be more powerful than our attitudes we have realized that we do all we do for comfort sake, which is really putting second or even last the very people we are claiming to put first. Our feelings come first, then our parents or children. Jesus says unless we put him first, we will never get the order of priorities right in any case.
Reciprocity and Reward: Jesus loves irony and points out once again the irony of human life. The more we give away, he says, the more we actually get in return. This is only true if we do so for the right motives, namely, for him, for his sake. If I keep things for and to myself, if I only “love” those I like and when I like, that is all I will “get.” But if I give away all I, feel, I have, including “love,” I do not feel like giving at the time, I will “get” much more. Now, that is irony! It is in giving that we receive! So, the way to “receive,” someone is to give them something, preferably love, not good-feeling love but good-will love, attitudinal love, God’s favorite kind of love. Amen.
