Matthew 10:34-42

Matthew 10:34-39     Cost of Discipleship

There is no indication that, in Jesus’ time, such ostracism had been experienced by those who followed him.  However, it had certainly been the lot of many members of Matthew’s community.  Jesus’ purpose was not to set people against each other.  His hope was to draw all into the Kingdom, where everyone respected and cared for others.  That outcome, however, required conversion.  Not all would accept Jesus’ invitation to change; some, indeed, would oppose it.  In Jesus’ mind, the Kingdom imperative overrode even family ties.  His insistence was in line with the prophetic tradition (verses 35-36 were taken from the prophet Micah [7:6]).

Jesus continued to clarify the same point: the Kingdom imperative took priority over family loyalties.  In fact, the attitude that loves father or mother (or son or daughter) more than Jesus may not necessarily be love, but, rather, the fear of hurting them (or of being hurt by them).  The word love referred, not to emotional intimacy, but to preferential choice.  Real love can allow hurt to happen, for the sake of some greater good.  It is the kind of love often referred to as “tough love”.  In fact, there is never reason to stop truly loving others, even though those others may interpret the “tough” behaviour as a denial of love.

Matthew was assuming that his readers were already familiar with the Christian story and the fact of Jesus’ crucifixion.  So far in his narrative, he had made no reference to Jesus’ death on a cross.  Much of the context up to this point was that of relationships within Jewish families or Jewish communities.  To the ears of his hearers, cross spoke of Roman punishment, the excruciating penalty facing those who challenged national security.  It is uncertain whether state-administered persecution had been the actual experience of members of Matthew’s community, but, elsewhere in the Empire, Christian disciples had certainly known that fate.

Jesus was distinguishing physical life from another kind, which he did not specifically define.  Disciples would come to understand Jesus referring to risen life – the fullness of life, shared with him, in the on-going Kingdom of God.  

Jesus obviously wished that those sent out to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom realised what might lie before them.  The message of God’s Kingdom would not be seen as good news by many: especially by those with vested interests in oppression and the maintenance of the status quo, and, sometimes, even by the oppressed, unable or unwilling to respond to the call for radical change and conversion.

The Sword - Social Discord

Matthew 10:40-42     Receiving the Message

(Mk 9:41)

The context still remained that of the mission of the Church community.

Opposition would not be the only response to the mission of the community of disciples.  To some, they would be welcome, their message accepted as a message of liberation and of life.  That message, of course, was not their own.  It was the message of Jesus.  Prophets carried their message in words; the just (and the little ones) embodied that message in their way of life. To welcome them was to embrace the preached and exemplified message of Jesus.  More than that, Jesus saw such a welcome as not simply a welcome of his message but of himself personally.  Somehow, without any effort at further clarification, he maintained that disciples in the Christian community were extensions of himself.

Jesus spoke of reward.  The concept can be misunderstood.  Jesus was not speaking in terms of something extrinsic – a prize or payment of some kind.  The reward would rather be the reality (and the experience) of human and personal growth:  growth in love, truth and inner freedom, in the enjoyed intimacy of love for God, which is its own reward. 

Apostles of the Kingdom or Disciples of Jesus

Jesus chose the twelve and sent them out to proclaim that “the Kingdom of Heaven has come near”, and to exemplify and introduce that Kingdom by “curing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers and casting out demons”.  In that mission, he would not only work with them but would identify with them [v.40].  

It happens, however, that Christians can tend to identify themselves through their focus on Christ and on each other more than on the Kingdom.  In fact, it can be easy to allow the primacy of the Kingdom almost to be forgotten.  Disciples have, indeed, mysteriously become one with Christ, but that unity is not their purpose.  Their purpose is to call people into the Kingdom; that is the reason why Christ has identified them with him. The mission requires, calls forth and creates the Church, rather than the Church creates the mission.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had warned about a facile and superficial confidence, based on relationship simply to him: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father” [7:21].  He had made clear the Father’s will: “Your kingdom come” [6:10].

Mere membership of the Church can become, however, more absorbing than the challenge to work for the Kingdom.  Internal Church matters can take up more energy than does the spreading of God’s Kingdom.

In today’s world, as shrinking faith communities seek to carry on, sometimes without the constant presence of an ordained priest or leader, the struggle for survival can unfortunately assume greater importance than the reason for survival.  Maintenance can triumph over mission.  Perhaps it has been an on-going problem for Christians.

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