The Jesus Nobody Wants To Know
Matthew 10:34-39
If I were to ask you today to name some characteristics of Jesus, what would you name?
If you were describing the personality of Jesus to someone, what adjectives would
you use? Think of some in your head, and I will share with you the first ones that
came to my mind.
The three characteristics that immediately came to my mind were: GENTLE, FORGIVING,
and LOVING. My guess is that most of you think of Jesus in similar terms as well.
When I came to the end of chapter 10 in Matthew, however, I got a very different portrait
of Jesus. After reading this section, I was reminded of the book by Philip Yancey
entitled, "The Jesus I Never Knew". Not many people, until reading this particular
section in Matthew, know this side of Jesus. And if we are aware of this side of Jesus,
we often choose to forget about it.
We are anxious to hear how Jesus loves His enemies, forgives prostitutes, touches
lepers, and feeds the hungry, but that's it. The Jesus we see in chapter 10, verses
34-39--this Jesus, quite frankly, is the one that nobody wants to know
.
It would have been so easy, and tempting, for me to skip this section of Matthew as
I endeavour to reach the "Passion" narrative by Easter. But if I skipped this section,
you would miss an essential side of Jesus. The side of Jesus that is DEMANDING.
This is where Jesus is, what you might term, "brutally straight forward". He holds
nothing back here. "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace,
but a sword"(v.34).
What a shocking statement! Jesus "did not come to bring peace, but a sword"?!. Why would He say such a thing?
What Jesus is doing here is He is correcting false assumptions about what the Jewish
Messiah's mission was. According to Isaiah 9:5-7, the Messiah is described as the
"Prince of Peace". The interpreters of the Hebrew Scriptures took that to mean that the Messiah would
be the "Prince of Peace" ON EARTH. That, however, was not Jesus' mission. The ultimate goal of the Gospel
was, and is, not harmony on earth, but PEACE WITH GOD(Rom.5:1).
Jesus says, "Do not think that I came to bring peace ON THE EARTH", but He did come to make peace between God and humanity(Rom.5:1).
I think we would all agree that peace does not come easily. Right now, all over the
world, wars are being fought. And it would be ignorant for us to suggest that these
countries are enjoying being at war. Peace is always preferable, but the reality
is, when two sides strongly disagree on something conflict is inevitable.
The same goes for the Gospel. The goal of the Gospel is NOT conflict--with God, or
with each other. The goal of the Gospel is "peace with God"(Rom.5:1). The difficulty is that the Gospel is such a penetrating message that it
acts like a "sword". It pierces the consciences of humanity and calls us to love God more than we love
ourselves.
Jesus warns us that profound conflict should be expected between those who accept
the Gospel and those who reject it.
I am not telling you anything new here. Likely every person in this sanctuary can
relate to what Jesus is saying. When you go to work, what do you usually talk about
with your co-workers? Sports? Fashion? Home repair? Anything and everything, but
not religion.
When your family gathers at Christmas, what do you talk about? Anything and everything,
but not religion. Why? Because honest, from the heart, discussions on religious beliefs
inevitably causes conflict. We have all been there--at least I have--many times. Even with fellow Christians, conflicts arise when it comes to getting straight the
message of Jesus. The Corinthians fought, the Galatians fought, therefore so will
St.Andrew's and Fraser if you try to get the message right, stand by that message,
and share it with others.
Nowhere in this section is there the sense that we should run from this conflict either.
It is presented as an inevitability--"A man's enemies WILL be the members of His household"(v.36). Now that doesn't give us permission to be obnoxious for the sake of the Gospel.
This does not give us permission to pick fights with people who don't share our views.
We are still required to be gentle, patient, loving, and gracious towards everyone. The cause of conflict SHOULD NEVER BE our personality or our manner of presentation.
The only legitimate cause of conflict is the CONTENT of the message. An abrasive
personality should never be the "sword"--the content is the "sword"--the Gospel is the "sword".
After warning His disciples about the potential the Gospel has for conflict, Jesus
reminds them of their need for loyalty. Jesus tells them that "he who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son
or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me"(v.37).
Now Jesus isn't calling us to dislike our family members. And even though Luke's version
would have us "hate" our family, we must conclude this to be relative. Scripture is clear in its command
for us to "honour (our) father and (our) mother"(Ex.20:12). And Scripture makes it clear that we should love our spouses(Eph.5:25).
So what is Jesus getting at here? Quite simply, Jesus wants us to prioritize Him.
He wants us to make Him our first loyalty, and to emphasize this He names the two
things most precious to us: our family
and our own life
.
Those of you with aging or ailing parents, think about how you devote yourselves to
seeing that they are looked after. Those of you with children, think about to what
extreme you would go to, to defend, protect, and look after your children. You invest
your valuable time and resources in them on a daily basis. Quite frankly, you put your
"heart and soul" into your care for them.
Then you read this passage, "he who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son
or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me".
If you work hard to love, and care for, your parents and children that is terrific.
It really is. Jesus would think so too. Jesus is NOT asking anyone to abandon their
love and care for family. What Jesus is calling for here is, that you put the same
energy and care into your relationship with Him, as you do with the people you love most.
In fact, He calls for more. This is the mark of a Christian disciple: ONE WHO PUTS
JESUS FIRST.
Christians should be known as hard workers at work. Christians should be known as
good parents and committed spouses. But above all, Christians should be known as
people committed to Christ--committed to Him above all else.
And just in case those listening to Jesus' message still haven't figured that out
yet, He drives the point home with this challenging statement: "He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has
found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find
it"(v.38, 39).
What does Jesus mean, "take (our) cross"? I have heard some people describe their chronic illness as a "cross". Others will
name everything from their nagging boss to their car trouble to their cranky mother-in-law
as their "cross". But this is NOT what the word "cross" meant to a first century audience. The "cross" did not call to their minds the idea of long term difficulties or troublesome burdens.
Even though Jesus had not yet revealed how He would die, the disciples knew the meaning
of cross bearing well enough. To bear a cross was to shoulder a heavy wooden beam on the way to one's execution.
No, this doesn't mean disciples of Christ should go and get themselves killed. Christianity
does not teach salvation by martyrdom. What Jesus is calling for here is loyalty
so profound that one should be willing to make the most extreme sacrifice if necessary.
The apostles of Christ did just that. "The Foxe's Book of Christian Martyrs" records,
that of the 11 apostles who remained after the Resurrection of Christ, 10 of them
were executed for preaching the Gospel. At least 6 of them were executed by crucifixion.
We are extremely blessed here in 20th century North America. Few, if any, of us will
ever be in danger because of our belief in Christ. Yet the Word of God still challenges
to make sacrifices for the sake of the Gospel. And making sacrifices of time and
resources is never easy. In fact, sacrificing may make us quite uncomfortable and cause
us distress.
But this is the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ. We stretch ourselves. We think
about the vigour we have towards our career, towards supporting our family and we
hear the call of God to give even more vigour and more enthusiasm for the sake of
the Gospel.
I am not trying to present the Gospel as some charity case that needs our contribution.
I am trying to communicate precisely what I see here in Matthew 10--and that is a
summons to sacrificial discipleship
. Not sacrifice to a "charity case", but sacrifice to a God who came to us in human
form and made the ultimate sacrifice--He died for us.
He died because He loves us. And He wants our loyalty not simply because we owe it
to Him. Christ desires our sacrifice to have the same motivation as His--LOVE.
May you resolve today to follow Christ no matter what the cost is. And may you resolve
to follow Him day after day because you love Him.