Matthew 10:24-25

Posted by DJL on Jul 15, 2014 in Daily Bread | 0 comments

“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it 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!”

This line seems to me to be the key to this larger set of passages of warning and promise, as Jesus tells his disciples that they should expect no better treatment than he himself has received. As I read these words on a pleasant July morning sitting on the porch of my home, it occurs to me that these words are not just for Jesus’ “original” disciples, but for all those who would follow him since.

So, I’ll ask it this way: if the one we call “Lord” and “Son of God” where rejected, falsely accused, beaten, and eventually crucified, how can we expect much more as those who identify as his followers and servants? Yet to be a Christian today, particularly in the Western world, is to profess a set of beliefs, to attend occasional worship, and to enjoy a relatively comfortable status in the larger culture. Can this possibly be like anything Jesus imagined, or Matthew and his community, or the early centuries of Christians who knew little more than minority status in a largely indifferent and at times hostile world?

Or to put matters more bluntly: if those who follow the crucified Messiah do not share in his suffering in any discernible way, can we truly be called his followers? I have no answer and I mean by my query no judgment. But the question haunts me.

Perhaps we should rejoice that the world and culture at some distant point recognized the lordship of Jesus and drew the Christian faith so warmly and fully into its embrace. Or perhaps we should be suspicious of that relationship.

Either way, the larger relationship between the world and Christianity seems now to be under re-negotiation, as broad elements of the culture seems again disinterested in the goings-on of those who claim to follow Jesus. Is this cause for alarm or rejoicing? Does it present a crisis or an opportunity.

Again, I have no answers. But they seem like the questions we should be about.

Prayer: Dear God, no one asks for suffering, for rejection, for persecution. But we do ask that we might be faithful and for the ability to do what is required that we might witness to your grace, mercy, and compassion as we know them through Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen.