Matthew 10:24-39
Late last summer, I saw the movie “Hacksaw
Ridge” for the first time. The movie tells the story of a young man, Desmond T.
Doss, who served as an army medic during World War II, and specifically during
the Battle of Okinawa. Before the war broke out, Doss was for the most part a
happy-go-lucky kind of guy. Raised as a Seventh-Day Adventist, his faith was
very important to him, and that, together with some early life experiences, led
him to make a decision to live his life as a pacifist. He didn’t have a great
deal of education – his family was too poor for that, but Doss did have an
interest in medicine.
Then World War II broke out and Doss felt called
to serve his country. As a pacifist, you can imagine the dilemma this created
for the young man. Added to the tension, was his relationship with his father,
who himself had served during World War I, and today would likely be diagnosed
as having PTSD – his action during World War I left him scarred for the rest of
his life, and his family bore the brunt of his war-induced mental illness.
The elder Doss was vehemently opposed to his
sons serving in the war. Going against his father’s will created huge conflict and ultimately a schism
between them. But the young Doss made up his mind. He had it all figured out.
He liked medicine; he would serve his country as a medic. He couldn’t bear
arms, but he could still serve, and he seemed to have an understanding with his
recruiter that that would be exactly as things would go. But of course, they
didn’t.
No sooner had Doss arrived as boot camp than
he ran into problems with his drill sergeant and his fellow soldiers over his
decision and refusal not to bear arms. He excelled physically but became an
outcast in his unit for his refusal to handle a rifle or drill on Saturdays –
his Sabbath. He was assigned physically grueling labor. An attempt on the part
of his superiors to have him discharged for psychiatric reasons failed, and one
night he is pretty badly beaten up by some of his fellow soldiers. Still, he resists going against what his faith
– and the Scriptures – had taught him.
He ultimately completed basic training but was
then arrested and court martialed for insubordination. He refused to relent. He
would not bear arms, could not go against biblical teachings nor his conscience.
All he wanted was to serve as a medic, come what may. Finally, his father barged
into the military tribunal bearing a letter from a former commanding officer of
his, pointing out that pacifism is protected by an Act of Congress.
The charges were dropped, and Doss was
assigned to the 77th Infantry Division, deployed to the Pacific
theater, which is how he ended up at the Battle of Okinawa, where through his
actions, he saved the lives of 75 men and earned Medal of Honor, the first
conscientious objector to ever earn that coveted award.
Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not easy.
You and I might never have to make the kinds of choices and decisions that
Desmond Doss did, but I think that looking at this morning’s gospel text
through the lens of Doss’ story might help us to understand what Jesus is
telling his disciples about the cost and meaning of the mission in his name.
In this chapter from the Gospel of Matthew Jesus,
in fact, has very pointed advice for his disciples, and his words help draw a
picture of the cost of Christian mission and ministry. The picture isn’t all
that pretty. Jesus paints a picture of
discipleship that is more than just a little off-putting.
The Gospel text we heard this morning is a
continuation of what is referred to as the mission discourse, or “Sermon on
Mission.” It was being delivered to a people who were persecuted, who were
needing to make tough choices about what following Jesus means, who were experiencing
opposition and divisions among families and friends, and the cost of being
disciples.
Last week our gospel
contained the words of Jesus that come just before these: “See, I am sending
you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and
innocent as doves. 17Beware
of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their
synagogues; 18and you
will be dragged before governors and kings because of me….. 21Brother will betray
brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against
parents and have them put to death; 22and
you will be hated by all because of my name….”
As this Sermon continues
today, Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I
have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 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; and one’s foes will be members of one own household.”
Between last week’s text and
this week’s, the Sermon on
Mission has moved from the sources of
mission (Jesus’ compassion, praying disciples, spiritual gifts, and church
fellowship) through Jesus’ travel instructions (travel light- “Take
no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, 10no
bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff”), and now move on to the “trouble
instructions” which basically, boil down to: “expect the worst”. Finally, we
come to Jesus’ “trust” instructions - believe in me, acknowledge me
With all these instructions, Jesus seeks to
bind the disciples to himself. He wants them to remember their bond with him,
and to honor their relationship with Jesus and their identity as his disciples even
and especially in the midst of the hardship and suffering they will surely face,
as they serve this mission and ministry in his name.
“So, what does it mean to be a disciple of
Christ?”
Bible commentator Frederick Dale Bruner puts
it this way: “Jesus comes crashing into history, and then into our lives, and
takes over, preempting our most instinctive
loyalties, presuming on our deepest
affections, usurping our natural ties,
and asking (and so claiming) to be the most important
person in our lives.”
Jesus knows that for the mission to be served
well, the whole lives of his disciples must be marked by our relationship with him, by loyalty to him and that they be consistent
with his own cross-shaped life, where the decisions we make, the interactions
we have, and our every choice be made with God’s mission in the forefront of
our actions.
Jesus knows well how difficult this journey
will be and he isn’t pulling any punches. To follow Jesus is to cause the same
kind of trouble Jesus caused, because Jesus’ way is countercultural. Absolute
adherence to the ways and commands of Jesus are what Jesus demands from his
disciples. Anything less brings destruction and chaos.
The thing is, Jesus knows that we like our
comfortable little lives. We strive to make a “good life for ourselves” – for
most of us, that kind of comfort and security is our ultimate goal and priority
in life. Our lives include the relationships we have with family and friends.
They include attaining and maintaining a certain status, perhaps living in the
best neighborhood we can afford, to have the best things in our homes, to make
the best connections in our community, all those things that go into making our
lives pleasurable and secure. Given a choice we will choose the “easy way” of things.
And so, Jesus says, “Do not think that I have
come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Jesus isn’t advocating violence here. These
words have been misinterpreted in that way over the centuries. Rather, the
peace that Jesus is here to disrupt and even tear apart is the “peace” of the status
quo – the “peace” of self-sufficiency; the “peace” that allows tyrants to
oppress and persecute those with little power; the “peace” of keeping about our
neat little lives safe and secure while scores of people face death, disease,
hunger, abuses and persecution.
The sword of Jesus is meant to cleave us from
our complacency, our blindness to the inequality happening all around us, or
our adherence to earthly values, idols, even
those relationships that keep us from being wholly centered on Jesus and on
the mission he sets us forth to serve.
Jesus says to us, “You know what? If your
life passion is to “make it” you will be lost. If security is what you are after, your search will only lead to your
destruction.”
We hear those words and realize that really,
truly, this Jesus is trouble.
So central is trouble to the Christian
mission that Jesus says that his purpose in coming to earth was division. Jesus
will bind disciples to himself in faith and then move them out into life to
love people on the edge, but the historic consequences of faith and love have
always been as much persecution as reconciliation. A few will believe the truth
of Christ, but most will oppose it. Jesus shoots from the hip here. This is as
true today as it was in Jesus’ time.
Jesus is not triumphalist about the future of
Christian mission; he knows that his mission is a rugged minority movement, a
tough, divisive affair, and he prefers to make this clear rather than to give
false hope. “The gate is wide and the way pleasant that leads to destruction,
and many people [a majority] go this route; but the gate is narrow and the way
tough that leads to real life, and very few people find this way.”
Yet in the midst of
all this sobering news, there is gospel good news for us as well. In the midst
of this passage Jesus tells us, “Do not be afraid.” These words for us are both challenge and
promise. God will always be with you. God does not leave us alone to face this
battle, but with the kind of care and love that knows and counts each hair on
our heads, the Lord God will strengthen, supply, and keep us in steadfast love.
Jesus encourages his followers to step out into the light and tell the truth
about their lives – a truth that is seen as healing, as life-giving, as witness
to the goodness of God who cares for the little sparrow, the faithful soldier,
the struggling, disciple, and all those who cling to Jesus and to his Way.
Jesus tells us that in
losing our life we will find it. Paul reminds us in baptism we died to sin, and
we were buried with Jesus in death, that we might arise and walk in newness of
life. As disciples of Christ, we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, going
without fear, knowing that though this new life, the life of discipleship might
be costly, by his death and resurrection, Jesus has already made us alive to
God, counted, treasured, accompanied and restored, for the sake of the kingdom
of God.
Amen.
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