Author: Revd Stephen Buckman

As we have been journeying through Matthew’s gospel in our daily readings, we have come to see Jesus in a context that makes many feel uncomfortable. We have been brought face to face with Jesus the innovator, Jesus the bringer of the new – and the different Jesus has taught us to seek a new and more intimate relationship with his and our Father in heaven. And he has taught us to pray in a different way, and of course, he has stretched out the hand of healing love to the untouchables of society.

Today, Jesus reveals himself as the great innovator yet again.

The words that Jesus speaks about division and conflict would not have been new to his Jewish audience. They come from the writings of the Old Testament prophet Micah. By quoting these words, Jesus is reminding us that it has always been known that true love of God might well separate us from even those most near and dear to us in this world.

But, having delivered these words of dire warning, Jesus also reminds us that those who live the life of true discipleship will come to know the joy of eternal life in the nearer presence of God in heaven.

Jesus also reminds us that devoting ourselves to following him, above all earthly demands, is not a mere intellectual exercise.

Jesus tells us that the simplest acts of Christian love, even the quenching of the thirst of the most challenging social outcast, is an act of love to our Lord himself.

Such acts of love may have been difficult during our days of lockdown, isolation and chilling, but they were not impossible.

Have you demonstrated your devotion to Jesus?

And how will you show that devotion even more as the lockdown eases? 

You may be surprised to hear that the most repeated command in the Bible is: Do not be afraid. In today’s reading alone we encounter the command to have no fear three times.

Over the last few days we have heard of Jesus challenging his apostles (those who are sent out) to travel very uncertain and dangerous roads with very little preparation or physical protection. Fear must have been in their hearts. And yet he says: Do not be afraid.

Rather than following up this command with such words as: God will protect you (although he does say that eventually), Jesus rather says that a time is coming when everyone will understand their message because: nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.

In this passage, that often causes confusion, Jesus is actually referring to two very different dangers in this world.

He is certainly talking of the danger the apostles will face when they encounter other human beings. The intolerance of those of other faiths, the anger of the religious authorities who felt threatened by the Good News Jesus brought into this world, and the violent aggression of the Romans and their collaborators, such as Herod.

However, he is also talking of another, and even greater, danger.

Jesus is also talking of the danger to the immortal soul of everyone who chooses to reject the love and grace of God, and to take the path to hell and eternal damnation.

Such language seems archaic to our sophisticated modern minds, but is it really?

Faith in Jesus Christ entails our total surrender to the call and command of God.

In his commissioning and sending out of the apostles in chapter 10 of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus makes it clear how great the challenge is. It is no less great for us in the twenty-first century. But … are we any better prepared than those first disciples? How have we used the last two thousand years of human history to inform our journey through this world in the name of Jesus Christ? How equipped are we to be true apostles, and sheep in a world full of wolves?

I invite you to read the narrative in Matthew 10.1-33 again and as a continuous whole, and then to consider which road you are travelling – the one to God, or to the opposite destination?

Then I invite you to seriously consider how you can, and will, respond to the call to apostleship that is uniquely yours.

Many years ago we went on an extended family holiday to Florida. Whilst there we visited all the normal tourist attractions including, of course, Disney World.

My sister, who was always an adventurous holiday maker, was determined to go on all the rides, no matter how scary they were thought to be by others. She queued, sometimes for an hour or more, to be thrown around in unimaginable ways, always to emerge looking an alarming shade of green.

Reading Jesus’ words to his apostles today, reminded me of my sister’s adventures in Disney World. Surely, as they journeyed from town to town, they must have experienced the same feelings of uncertainty, stomach-churning fear and pumping adrenalin.

Jesus brought an exciting and new message about God into this world, and he knew what it was to be opposed in terms that were uncompromising and relentless.

Jesus was not surprised by the strength of the opposition he faced, hence his words of to his apostles on the day of their sending out.

Even today, when clergy are ordained there is an aftertaste of Jesus’ warning to his disciples – we are all charged to unfold the Scriptures, to preach the word in season and out of season, and to declare the mighty acts of God.

That phrase: in season and out of season, has a direct connection to Jesus’ warning to his apostles – a warning that they were being sent out like sheep into the midst of wolves.

As we look back in time, we know the truth of Jesus’ solemn warnings. There have been many persecutions, beatings, imprisonments and killings down the centuries, just because of faith in the Good News of Jesus Christ.

In the same way, faith in Jesus Christ has certainly split families in cruel ways.

We often speak of our own society with pride because of its tolerance, but there are still many in this world that are far from tolerant of the differing faith of others. And, in fact, it doesn’t take too much examination to find similar intolerance even in the ‘civilized’ United Kingdom.

Throughout the verses of chapter 10 of Matthew’s gospel that we have encountered in recent days, we have been presented with a challenge that is even scarier than those horrendous rides in the world’s biggest fun fairs.

But … that challenge is so much more than a passing flush of adrenalin, it is an invitation to join in the most exciting, world-changing mission imaginable – to join in the spreading of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

When we travel, the majority of us like to pack for every possible eventuality. Every climatic variation has to be catered for; every imaginable financial and medical crisis has to be anticipated and prepared for.

This means, for so many, that the preparation before travelling, coupled with the act of moving from home to our destination, leaves us exhausted and incapable of fully engaging with the true purpose of our journey. And then, when we return home, we realize that we used almost none of the ‘stuff’ we took with us.

In today’s reading, Jesus is charging his apostles to adopt a very different attitude. As we read yesterday, they are being sent out to take the good news of Jesus’ exciting new message to the Jewish nation.

Firstly, they are empowered to Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. They are being told to do everything they have seen Jesus do. With such an enormous responsibility being laid upon their shoulders, their first reaction must have been to rush to gather all those ‘things’ – just in case …

But … Jesus was ready for this very human reaction. He told them not to take any money, or spare clothes and shoes, or even their trusty walking poles. Jesus is charging his apostles to go out trusting solely in God’s good grace to support them.

And … Jesus is not just talking to them about their packing. Jesus is giving them very specific instructions about what they are to do when they arrive in unfamiliar communities. And these instructions serve to emphasize the enormity of the task that is being laid upon their shoulders.

Jesus charges the apostles to bring his greeting and peace to all they visit. He does realize that some will not be prepared to accept that greeting and peace, but their first duty is to freely offer Christian love to all.

And therein lies Jesus’ challenge to us today.

We, like those first disciples, are being charged to put aside the clutter and the distractions and to share the love and peace of God with all.

We are called to stop hiding behind all those ‘possible’ crises of our imaginations and trust in that we are walking the Road, the Way, of Jesus Christ – in his name.

Are we able to do that, or are we rushing for all those extra cases? 

Today’s reading is about our call to go out onto that road and to live the life of true apostles.

In this account of the sending out of the twelve men first chosen and called by Jesus we are hearing Jesus’ call to us as well.

Incidentally, we should note that Matthew does call them ‘apostles’, which means those who are ‘sent out’. There is absolutely no doubt what Jesus expects of them, and us.

The end of our reading may seem a little strange because Jesus seems to be very exclusive in the mission he is laying before those twelve chosen men. He tells them to go only to the Jewish community, and not to those who are gentiles, that is those who reject the Jewish faith.

This is, of course, not where the Christian message was meant to stop, but it was where the prophecies of the Old Testament suggested that it should begin. Jesus’ coming to earth, the coming of the Anointed One of God, was the fulfilment of the promises of God to the Jewish nation. It was right and proper that they should hear the news first. But, as we know, the majority of the Jews were to reject the fulfilling of God’s promise and to go on to execute him in the cruellest of ways.

This is just the beginning, though. At the end of Matthew’s gospel we will encounter Jesus’ Great Commission to all who would profess the Christian faith, which in the earliest days of the Church was known as The Way. In that Great Commission Jesus commissioned his remaining eleven apostles, and us, to 

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Jesus is calling us, as his faithful apostles, to go out and live the apostolic life, even though we can never predict where that road may lead us.

Are we ready to be true, joyful and faithful apostles of our Lord and our God, and step out on to the Road he has prepared for us to walk in his name?

As we come to the end of the ninth chapter of St Matthew’s gospel we see a Jesus who has taught a whole new way of living and who has brought healing to many.

• He has challenged the practices and presumptions of the religious authorities.
• He has already introduced us to the possibility of a new, more intimate relationship with God, his and our heavenly Father.
• In modern terms, Jesus has become something of a ‘celebrity’.

This must have been very difficult for the Jewish leaders to either understand or accept!

They sought an explanation for Jesus’ success, and they came up with the only explanation that made sense to them: he must be a double agent – he speaks of God, but he is really in league with the devil!

Matthew will give Jesus’ reply to this accusation later in the gospel narrative.

After two chapters of healing miracles, Jesus is about to send out his disciples to share in his healing ministry in their own right. If they say that the leader works for the devil, what will they say about his followers?

Today’s message is simple:

Jesus is getting us ready for the call to discipleship.

We live in, what is often described as, an increasingly secular society. Those who profess the Christian faith are often criticized and condemned. Jesus is urging us to follow him in standing firm in the knowledge that God wants us to serve him, no matter what others might say or do to stop us.

Jesus reminds us that the harvest is plentiful, no matter what the most vocal might say, and he calls us to be his labourers in the field, working to bring that harvest home – just think of all those people who have engaged with the Church during our period of lockdown!

Are we up for that challenge?

No one needs to be reminded that we are living through extraordinary times, but how many, I wonder, realize how directly today’s reading is speaking to us as we journey through these complicated days? 

In our sophisticated world we take health care for granted – so much so that we have even had to be regularly reminded how to wash our hands.

In earlier times, before the wonders of modern medicine, it was essential that people followed strict codes of hygiene, and of who could and could not be touched. The adherence to such codes could be a matter of life and death.

Does that sound familiar?

Today we encounter Jesus breaching those rules in spectacular style: he is touched by a woman who had been suffering from uncontrolled haemorrhages for many years, and then he touches a dead body.

Jesus’ largely Jewish audience would not have missed the point – he was touched by and touching the ritually unclean thus, according to Jewish law, making himself unclean.

In these actions Jesus is not saying: Ignore the guidelines and the regulations that are put in place to protect us. Rather, Jesus is urging us to live with hope in our hearts.

Jesus is showing that God’s love and God’s power to heal are all around us.

Of course, we have to play our part. We cannot trick God or demote him into some sort of cheap conjuror by ignoring our role in keeping well.

We have to live as responsible members of society, we have to hold firm in our faith, we have to live as the leader of the synagogue and the woman suffering from haemorrhages lived – in the certainty that Jesus holds us all in his loving embrace, no matter what trials we are called to face and endure.

Let us pray for that strength of faith as we live through whatever lies before us.

I wonder what you make of today’s reading? It begins with Jesus being asked a straightforward question about fasting. Jesus, however, responds with three confusing word pictures. So often, in my experience, this passage is glossed over as something that is ‘just there’ in scripture, something to be skipped over until we move on to another more accessible part of the narrative.

In Jesus’ time, fasting was an essential practice within the Jewish faith. All of those fasts commemorated the many tragic things that had happened in Jewish history. John’s followers were devout Jews and, like the mainstream of their faith, they fasted because they were waiting for a new day to dawn. Jesus did not feel the need to dwell on past tragedies, and neither did he feel the need to mark a period of waiting. Jesus did not fast because the sun had already risen on that new day. The Pharisees lit candles to remind themselves of the light of earlier times; Jesus threw open the curtains to let in the light of the new day that had dawned in him and was already shining brightly on the world.

The three pictures in this reading illustrate this point admirably. Weddings and funerals cannot be combined. Jesus (the bridegroom) is in the world to celebrate. At such a great celebration there is no room for mourning and misery.

Then we are cautioned against just making do and paying lip service to the old ways. If we have an old coat that is in need of repair, we need a patch that is already seasoned. If not, the patch will react in a different way and a gaping hole will result where there should have been something that revels in new life.

Similarly, new wine needs new wine skins. Ignoring this necessity will result in an explosion that will waste the new wine. Similarly, if we follow the new ways that Jesus represents, we cannot do so under the guise of the old religious practices. We need to allow ourselves to be poured into new minds and bodies that have been shaped and crafted by Jesus.

Today’s reading is a real message for our times. For more than three months we have heard talk of the ‘new normal’. For many this phrase has become annoying and irritating. For those people, the ‘new’ normal needs to be a reinstitution of the old ways. But … that is not where we are, either as a nation or, indeed, as a world. Things have changed and, for once, we have no choice but to change with them.

At the recent Diocesan Clergy Conference one of the speakers asked this: Is 2020 the year we have been waiting for? We have often spoken of change, well here we are having to change … what are we going to do to make things better?

The same speaker went on to say: Things are not as they should be, nor are they as they will be. That is exactly the message Jesus is giving us in today’s reading.

May we find the courage to bathe in the new light that is shining all around us, in Jesus’ name.

‘Authority’ is a difficult word.

For many people it goes hand-in-hand with the more negative issues that dog human society. People who are associated with authority are often seen as stern and solemn, uncompromising and unfeeling in their rigidity. This negative view of authority is, of course, about the abuse of power and strength; it is about intimidation and coercion, rather than enhancement, enrichment and protection.

Today’s reading shows us how authority can be used for good.

No one can doubt that Jesus has authority. Jesus teaches with authority, heals with authority, brings calm and order with authority, expels demons with authority.

And … today … we encounter something else. Jesus shows he has authority to do what God does … he has the authority to forgive sins, that is, to change a person’s life from the inside out.

To accept Jesus’ authority to forgive sins demands faith.

For the religious leaders, Jesus’ claim to share in God’s authority was a challenge.

Their physical and political strength would appear to win as they nailed him on a cross.

But … of course … Jesus’ divine authority would ultimately overcome all that abuse of human authority as he conquered sin and death in his glorious resurrection.

The paralysed man had faith in Jesus’ authority and he was forgiven and healed.

Do we share in that simple but sincere faith, or are we too caught up in the human take on authority?

Are we ready to lay our shortcomings and sins before Jesus and ask that we may know the unspeakable joy of his healing touch?