Sermon for October 17th, 2021

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Matthew 10:16-22 & 32-39

16 “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. 19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; 22 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

32 “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33 but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. 34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.

37 Whoever 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; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

Lady Jane Grey: The Nine Day Queen

If I were putting together a list of the most difficult, uncomfortable, least-often-preached upon parts of the Bible, today's scripture passage would come out somewhere near the top of that list. I think that's because we really like meek and mild Jesus; peaceful, loving Jesus who healed people, did miracles, and spoke kind words to outcasts. And we don't quite know what to do with doom-and-gloom Jesus; Jesus who says you're going to be betrayed, flogged, hated, and killed, most likely by your own family; Jesus who says I didn't come to bring peace, I came to bring a sword, or in other words, division, strife, and death.

But believe it or not, these words have actually provided comfort and encouragement to countless generations of Christians in the past. To the early Christians who first read these words not long after Matthew wrote them, the division and strife was already a reality. Rejection, persecution and execution for being identified as a Christian were very real. And so to hear Jesus say that when your family has betrayed you on account of me, when your country has arrested you on account of me, when you lose your life on account of me--know that this is expected, and know that I will still claim you, I will still stand up for you before God, I will give you new life even after death--these words were a great reassurance. And they are probably hard for most us to identify with today.

But 15 centuries after the time of Christ, for those who first identified as Protestants and Presbyterians, these words suddenly became very meaningful once more.

For the past few weeks, we've been