Well how are you feeling after hearing the words of the gospel this morning?
Uncomfortable? – I thought church was about being welcoming to all
Anxious? – I thought church was about praying for peace not causing division
Fed up? – I don’t come to church for this sort of contention. My children are my top priority I don’t care what anyone says.
Defensive? – Well it;s not about us is it – here at Hampstead Parish Church we are a respected and a loved part of the community . Jesus must be talking about those down the hill not us at the top of the hill.
I for one was really looking forward to being with you today but then I read the gospel set for today and I thought, O Lord what on earth do I say this morning?
Breaking up of families. Not bringing peace to this world, but rather division and a violent sword. This seems harsh.
These words of Jesus seem so out of character. Is this the same Jesus who proclaims good news to the poor and who brings liberation for the oppressed? Who promises peace when gifting the Holy Spirit and eternal life for the faithful? The one who commands us to love our neighbours as ourselves, to welcome the stranger, to feed the hungry, to provide health care to those who are sick? The one who sought to tear down walls that exclude and who gave his own life so that the world might be saved?
But here we have Jesus saying to us: ‘I have come to bring, not peace, but a sword – to divide people one from another. And whoever loves even their closest relatives: their parents, their own children, more than me is not worthy of me.” Is not the Church meant to be engaging in peace? Is not the Church meant to support families? How can we allow such talk when we are all meant to be signed up to tolerance and diversity? Should we erase such remarks from our Bibles?
Of course taken literally and out of context, these words we hear this morning are out of character for Jesus. They totally contradict who he is and what he is all about.
And so we need to look a little closer at the context of our passage in order to better understand what Jesus really was referring to here.
These words of Jesus follow from last week’s extract from this gospel. Just last week we heard Jesus summoning the Twelve together and commissioning them to continue Jesus’ work in the world. And, as Jesus explains this, he gives the Twelve a sharp warning about what they will likely face when they do follow Jesus in this good news work.
And it’s not pretty.
Just before today’s passage, Jesus says to the Twelve: “See I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves. Beware of those who will hand you over to councils and flog you in the synagogues. You will be dragged before governors and kings because of me. People will hate you because of my name. Some of you will be betrayed even by those you love. Even brothers will betray brothers, fathers will betray children, and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.”
Why? – we might ask. Because Jesus’ good news is subversive and it disrupts. It challenges the status quo and is a threat to Empire and those who hold power in it. And when one proclaims this good news from the housetops, there are going to be people who will get angry, feel threatened and will resist it… and often will do so with force.
Being a disciple of Jesus is a risky business. And it is in this context, with this backdrop that Jesus is warning the Twelve – and all of us – about in our passage this morning.
Because to be his disciple is to choose to speak as Jesus speaks. To make peace in this world as Jesus – the Prince of Peace – makes peace. A peace that is not about making sure everyone is happy, respected or tolerated and being careful not to ruffle any feathers: or in our modern culture to be woke or politically correct.
No, Jesus did not come here to keep the peace. Rather he came here to make peace. A kind of peace that is – in fact – quite dangerous and – for Jesus and his earliest disciples – would bring about the sword from those who found it threatening, and it has done so throughout our history as church.
Because to Jesus: when there is no justice, there is no peace.
And – as we know too well today – justice does not always win the seat of power.
As we recall the events of 75 years ago when the HMT Empire Windrush docked in Tilbury; or 55 years ago in North America when Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. In the anger and confusion, in the broken hope and shattered dreams of that assigns bullet that threatened to take more than just the life of one Godly Man, millions rose up with their rallying call NO Justice NO Peace – a call that echoed in the nations across the world in May of 2020 following the killing of yet another Black man by Police.
“But have no fear,” Jesus urges us. “For nothing is covered up that will not eventually be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not eventually become known.”
In other words: the truth will set us free.
In the face of our fear, in the glint of the sword that seeks to take life, in the sting of words that divide and actions that betray: Jesus urges us to only worry about how God sees us. For we are beloved. We are cherished. God loves the tiny sparrows. And yet, we are more valuable than many sparrows in God’s eyes. For even the hairs on our head are all counted.
To follow Jesus and take up our own cross means we must follow Jesus’ way of the cross – a way of love that proclaims peace and justice for ALL God’s children. A way that sees the imago Dei, the image of God, in our neighbours AND in ourselves.
To take up the cross means we will shut down and speak up against any and all forms of hate on social media, in our workplaces and schools, with our families and friends, and in our communities and our country.
And I think this is what Jesus was trying to convey in our passage in Matthew. To follow Jesus and take up the cross means we must live our lives putting: “God first. Others second. Me last.”
So may we choose to do so, knowing this is not always easy. And when we do, let us “expect a sword,” as the theologian Karoline Lewis says in her Working Preacher commentary. “Because God’s peace expects justice. God’s peace asks for righteousness. God’s peace demands value for and regard of all. And God’s peace is what will save us all.”
Sisters, brothers, in Christ called to be friends
Let us prepare to meet with Jesus in word and sacrament
By acknowledging our sin and failure to love
We do this at a time when this small island
Failed to show hospitality, and welcome to those who came from their islands in the warm Caribbean Sea
Failed to honour those who came as requested to rebuild our broken mother country.
Failed to understand the hopes and dreams of those in our midst who came 75 years ago our shores.