GOSPEL: Matthew 10:24-39

24A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; 25it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
26So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
32Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
34Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35For 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;
36and one's foes will be members of one's own household.
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.
 

Every week there is a decision that must be made regarding worship on the coming weekend.  It all has to do with the deadline for the Saturday Religion Page – 5 o’clock Tuesday afternoon.  By that time one must email something to our local newspaper’s Religion Editor; and that means if a preacher is going to announce a sermon title on Saturday, that preacher must have something in mind by Tuesday afternoon.

It’s a painful moment for me, because it means that a full 5 days ahead of time, I must have made a decision what text will be the preaching text and what will the preaching address based upon that text, our congregation’s life, and the world situation.

And add to this the fact that a sizeable group of us gather together on Monday morning each week to look at the week’s forthcoming readings and discuss with one another what might we say.  That’s a good thing.  In fact the whole enterprise of preaching is a good thing, it’s just not an easy thing.

And the temptation is always there to ignore the readings altogether and talk in some general way about how nice it is to be members of the church or something of that nature … but you see, the very model of preaching that preachers follow – the bible stories themselves – are anything but mundane, prattle, rattling on of not much of anything.

Have you noticed that?  Have you noticed when you open the pages of the Bible that most of what you read has behind it the understanding, the insistence of life-importance … the sense that this story has something to do with God and us and we should pay attention to it? 

Oh yes there are exceptions … the endless rules and regulations and codes of Deuteronomy and the lists in Numbers and the genealogies hither and yon, but that’s not the general thrust … the general understanding of the biblical stories are … they’re important!  They mean something!  Pay attention here!

And if it were not that way, why would we ever spend anytime at all talking about these stories, what they mean, how they are to be interpreted, which is the proper context, can something composed two to four thousand years ago have anything to say to us two to four thousand years later?

Preaching is not easy.  Look how many paragraphs it has taken me to say all this (the number is 7) and I haven’t even gotten to the sermon itself, which if you have come here to hear anything it is just that! 

Well look at the stories we have this morning in front of us:

Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Isaac, Ishmael … trouble in the family.

That incredibly humorous and at the same time dart-throwing-the-truth Paul who pens to the Romans, “By the way, if grace is such a good thing, then should we start sinning more and more so that we can have more forgiveness?”

They are serious enough, but what about the  words of Jesus compiled by the Gospel Writer Matthew …

Jesus says to his followers,

If our detractors have called me Beelzebul, how much more are they going to malign you who follow me?  … Don’t be afraid of them, nothing that is covered up will remain that way, all will be brought to light … If I whisper something to you, shout it from the top of your houses … Don’t worry about dying, worry about selling your soul away … God who cares about birds cares even more about you … acknowledge me before others and I will acknowledge you before God …deny me and I will deny you before God … I haven’t come to bring peace, but a sword (and no this is not a literal thing … you can’t use this to justify war and killing … by the way, let me put it another way … ‘I haven’t come to make it easy, it’s as serious a choice you have to make as a follower of Jesus as when you decide to pick up a sword’) …

Let’s go on … Families will be divided, and you have to decide who you will follow in the end, and along the way, and even now … because if you don’t do that, if you don’t give your life to others as I am teaching you, love God, love your neighbor … if you don’t do that, then you will have lost your life.

You see what Jesus is calling for in Matthew’s Gospel is not a religion … Jesus is calling for a way of life … a way of life that permeates everything, every moment, every encounter with another, every breath we take in the world.

It is all about God and God’s reign, not about us and our religion.  Everything we do … everything we do here in worship is something that points toward God and God’s reign … reading the story, saying the prayers, sharing the bread and wine, embracing each other in the greeting of peace, blessing the prayer shawls, sending the Holy Communion to the sick, welcoming the stranger … everything!

Mouthing the words of the kingdom while not allowing one’s life to participate in God’s liberating work in the world is like playing a religious game … and the game will ultimately be exposed for what it is, just a game.

Discipleship, that to which Jesus calls us is anything but a game.  Discipleship means just that following Jesus, doing what Jesus did, acting like Jesus acted, loving like Jesus loved.

So when there is a pressing need in our community, we do not just offer a kindly prayer, we act upon it, we move with compassion and love … because that is what Disciples do, that is what Disciples are called to do.

Here is just one example:

June is National Torture Awareness Month, not a particularly happy thing, but torture is not a happy activity.   And while we are tardy in our action and there is not much left of the month of June, I’ve called a special meeting of the Parish Council today to talk about whether we will join other congregations as a part of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.  (And yes the Council will most certainly listen to you and your thoughts as we make our decision.)

In our ELCA (our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) what guides us, what guides our Discipleship are the social statements that we make as a church, voted upon in our Churchwide Assemblies.  In the matter I just mentioned, here is what we as a church have to say (this comes from the ELCA Social Statement on Peace):

[We] oppose genocide and other grievous violations of human rights such as torture, religious and racial oppression, forced conscription (impressment), forced labor, and war crimes (including organized rape);

[We are called upon to] provide for the most basic necessities of the poor; and

defend the human rights of groups most susceptible to violations, especially all minorities, women, and children …

These are the words of a church engaged in Discipleship … just mouthing the words will not do.  We are left this morning with the teaching of Jesus … confess and be confessed, deny and be denied … it is serious business this matter of the faith, and when it is taken seriously by us who follow Jesus, then nothing less than the Kingdom of God is at stake.