Sent to Love: God First
Posted on Jun 25, 2017 by David Whetter
Today we continue on right where we left off last week. When we ended the reading last week, Jesus was in the midst of sending the twelve out to do the ministry he had been doing. It would be their first “road trip” on their own and so he was giving them instructions as to how to go about this ministry and he was warning them of the dangers of doing such a ministry. Even though he was sending them out to minister to fellow Israelites, he warned them that he was sending them like sheep into the midst of wolves (Matthew 10:16). And today he continues on by saying, look, when you speak of God’s kingdom they won’t like it. After all, God’s kingdom is nothing like this world. Justice in God’s kingdom looks nothing like justice in this world. He warns them that the leadership will accuse them of doing the work of the devil, or Beelzebul. Jesus was foretelling what would happen to him soon when he would heal a man who was blind and mute and the Pharisees would accuse him of doing the work of Beelzebul (12:24). Even today, when somebody does something, or says something, we don’t understand, or like, we often begin with the assumption that they are dangerous, or wrong. Doing God’s work is hard and often dangerous.
With some of the warnings stated, Jesus stops and encourages them not to be afraid of doing this work, though. He reminds them that although people will ridicule and persecute them, God values them greatly. For God knows every hair on their head. This is something all of us need to remember. I wish I would have known this verse when I was a child. As I have shared with you before, I wasn’t always exactly the most popular kid. I loved sports, but wasn’t the most athletic. So, I was often teased and ridiculed by other kids. I wasn’t fat, but I was chunky, another reason for other kids to make fun of me. I wore glasses, so kids loved to call me “four-eyes.” And of course, with the last name of “Whetter,” nicknames like “bed wetter” were used often. You know that old saying, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names will never hurt me”? Well that is hogwash! Names and words are hurtful and dangerous. As a young child, I was led to believe that somehow I was less valuable than the other kids, and although it took me awhile, I learned as I grew older how wrong they were. And when I began to really study scripture in college, I came to realize just how valuable I was and how wrong those other kids were. If you leave here with one thing on your mind today, my prayer is that you know how valuable you are to God.
Now, I wish I could end here, but to do so would leave out what for many of us is one of the most troubling sayings in all of scripture. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (10:34). A friend of mine in seminary once said, I wish this saying of Jesus’ was not in scripture. After all, isn’t the title, prince of peace from Isaiah 9:6, used as a title for Jesus? I thought Jesus advocated for peace and said that we are to bring about God’s kingdom through peace, not violence. Is Jesus saying he came to bring war and violence?
Well, let’s take a look at what Jesus literally said. In the Greek the word we translate as “sword” in Verse 34 is “machairan.” Now literally, this word means, “small dagger.” In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote, “Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). The "sword of the Spirit,” Paul says is the “word of God.” In scripture, the word “sword” is often used as an idiom for God’s word. You see, God’s word is like a double-edged sword that can take life and give life. God’s word is often meant to cut open our hearts so that we might come to know God. God’s word can cut through the lies and empty promises of Satan and speak truth to you and me. God’s word can overcome all evil, even death, and give new life. To restate Jesus’ saying, “I did not come to bring the peace this world promises, but the peace that God’s word promises. When we speak God’s word, God’s peace is promised, but that peace turns this world upside down. That peace does not subscribe to the mentality or allegiances of this world, not even family allegiances.
In Jesus' day, and I would say even today, we maintain that peace comes by forming allegiances in which we have no conflict. So in our families, if we honor our parents, siblings, etc., we will have peaceful family lives. If we pledge our allegiance to a nation, or government… then within that alliance we will know peace. But, today we hear Jesus say, if those allegiances do not first and foremost honor our allegiance to God and God’s ways, then they will not bring God’s peace. And, so on that day, when Jesus was giving his instructions to his disciples, he was saying, look, the word, God’s word, that I am sending you out to share, is a word that will challenge our cultural allegiances to family and, even to our worldly leaders, and when you do that, those in power will strike back.
As followers of Jesus, we are sent into this world to love, but as we do so, we are always to put God and God’s ways first in our lives, but that, Jesus says, will be dangerous. For when we do that, there will be times that we will be accused of letting our loved ones down, of not being loyal to our family or to our nation, and in doing so, strife will occur. Paul knew this all too well, for he challenged all kinds of loyalties as he went about sharing the Good News. In fact, in his letter to the Romans, he said, “Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:1-4). As followers of Jesus, we are sent into this world to live differently than this world, and in doing so, we will experience new life.
Today, we are challenged to remember two things. First, we, as we are, are valuable to God. In us God sees greatness. And secondly, we are challenged to go into this world to love, but to do so armed with the sword of God that is God’s word. But, when we do this, we most likely will get persecuted, but remember, “those who lose their life for [Christ’s] sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). Amen.