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Matthew 10: 16-23
Over the last several weeks, I have been preaching from Matthew, chapters 8-10, which some have called instructions for apostles, given by Jesus in word and in deed. I have been drawing "A" words out of these readings, and up to now they have been strong, affirmative words: apostles are "active", they are "available"; they are "anchored" and "authorized"; they are "accepting" and "able"; they are "ambassadors" for Christ.
Today's "A" word shifts the tone; it takes us off in a different direction, and, on the surface, doesn't seem like an affirmation at all. It seems downright scary.
We've been looking at scriptures that describe Jesus calming the storms, driving out demons, healing diseases - demonstrations of great power. The impression would be easy to grasp that being an apostle is quite a head trip, with unbelievable power at your fingertips, and great admiring crowds wherever you go.
And then, all of the sudden, when those disciples must have been in a "Sign me up!" frame of mind - Jesus changes the tone totally, and begins to say things like this:
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves... Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues... (Think about that phrase for a moment. The village synagogue was used for many purposes, but among them were for worship and studying the scriptures, and religious conversation. How deep must the hatred be, to turn it into a place of flogging, and violence, and punishment? Yet this, says Jesus, is how much his apostles will be hated.) "...and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake. . ." Now, the betrayal Jesus is talking about goes very deep and very personal; your very families will turn against you: "Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death." And again, what hatred Jesus is describing. And then he sums it up: "...you will be hated by all for my name's sake."
So, the "A" word I have chosen for today is much different than the others: apostles are "afflicted". If you were getting any kind of notion that this is a rosy life, Jesus shoots is down from the start.
It wasn't long before people of faith found out exactly what Jesus was talking about. Start with Jesus himself - he died on the cross. Then Stephen, the first martyr - stoned to death for his faith. Disciples like Peter and John, thrown into prison. Peter, and most of the others, killed by various means. The apostle Paul, in II Corinthians, summarizes this side of his life as an apostle like this: "Five times I have received from the Jews forty lashes minus one. (That was the way of saying he was beaten within an inch of his life.) Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters, in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked."
That is the life of an apostle. And nobody was tricked - Jesus described it from the very beginning. If you're going to sign on here, be ready for trouble. This afflicted life was embodied in the two signs that Christians would make for one another. The first was the sign of the cross. The cross was an instrument of torture and death; the place where the Savior was executed. That this was the main symbol of our faith was a remarkable thing. It says that we are not in this faith for the easy path; from the get-go it is intertwined with suffering, with persecution.
And the second sign Christians gave each other was the sign of the fish. You see this sign today on cars, and on jewelry - not as common as the cross, but still remembered as a sign of Christian commonality. Why the fish? Because Jesus talked about fishing in key ways; because his closest friends were fishermen; because the letters for 'fish' are the same as the first letters for the name of Jesus in Greek. But whatever the origin, the fish was a sign born out of affliction. At a time when Christians were being thrown to lions or gladiators, or burned alive, the sign of the cross was a sure way to- bring on violence and death; So; the fish was an underground symbol by which Christians could recognize one another. One person might make an arc in the sand with his shoe; and the other person would make an opposite arc, completing the shape of the fish. The head of the fish would be a pointer in the direction of the secret meeting place of the local Christian group. This is how people in the first decades of the church often had to live - a hated, hunted group.
A1ot of people are totally puzzled by the Book of Revelations in the Bible. What does this bloody, vindictive writing have to do with the God of love, and the Savior Jesus who said to turn the other cheek? It seems like a contradiction. But aside from those Christians who have taken this book and formed it into an elaborate description of what is going to happen in the Last Days of history, I believe the best way to read the Book of Revelations is to see it as encouraging news for people who are desperately, violently afflicted - people who are persecuted and hopeless, who need a strong and forceful reminder that if they simply hold on to their faith, God will prevail over evil, and God's people will be rewarded with glorious peace and blessing.
And this is what we have to remember about this scripture lesson about affliction in Matthew. We might very well read it differently than the first readers did. Because, let's face It: we have it pretty easy by comparison. We don t have to be afraid that soldiers are going to burst through the door this morning and arrest us; we don't have, fresh in our minds, a friend or relative who was violently killed for his/her faith. We don't have to make secret signs to identify other people of faith.
So, when we read from Matthew 10, we probably hear the verses that shock us: verses 16, 17, and 21: "Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves.. . they will flog you in their synagogues... brother will betray brother to death," and so on. Those verses would not be a shock to Matthew's first readers, because they were living it! They were sheep among wolves, flogged in the synagogue, betrayed by brothers. What they would seize on in this scripture would be the words in verse 19, and verse 22: "When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you... (And) the one who endures to the end will be saved."
Something miraculous happened in those first apostles of Jesus. They were thrown into situations of great affliction. They were crucified, stoned to death, burned, thrown to wild animals. And yet they held fast to their faith; they would not budge. And in the process, common fishermen became great preachers; converted tax collectors became great Christian organizers; revolutionaries became ambassadors of peace and love. And the more intense the persecution, the deeper the faith that God was doing a great thing - that the spirit of the resurrected Christ was present and powerful; and that nothing could stand in the way of sharing this unbelievably good news. And you and I are here this morning because of the unshakable faith of those afflicted apostles.
And what are we here to do? We don't face that kind of persecution. It is not a thing of the past. The recent movie "End of the Spear" showed the violent deaths of Christian missionaries in Ecuador a few weeks back. Just in the last couple weeks, a member of a Christian peacemaking team was kidnapped and killed in Afghanistan. Those things are still going on, more than we realize, I'm sure.
But we are insulated from them. They're happening 'over there' or 'back then.' The dangers we face are more subtle, I believe, and thus maybe more difficult to recognize. For example, maybe you will never have to face a soldier threatening to kill you because of your faith; but you may very well face an employer who sends the very subtle message that if you don't compromise your faith, you may lose your job. Maybe you won't be thrown to the lions, but you will be made aware that if you don't go along with the crowd, you'll be a little less popular, or you'll be talked about behind your back. Maybe you will not be stoned by an angry mob, but you'll be passed over for a promotion because of the Bible in your briefcase, or maybe you'll give up just a little bit of the good life because your faith made you change your priorities. Those are different kinds of challenges, perhaps; but faith can be just as tested in the little things, in the subtle things, as in the major attacks Christians sometimes face.
And not only that: even if we are not persecuted, life can afflict us. Severe sickness can afflict us; loss of a loved one; loss of a job, or a relationship, or a dream. In Orange, Texas, our mission team met people who were afflicted by the hurricanes, and there are many people we know right in this place who are facing devastating suffering. And that is not the same as persecution by an angry mob, but that doesn't, mean it doesn't feel like it. Sooner or later, we are all afflicted in life, and whatever the cause, our faith is tested. And we feel like sheep thrown to the wolves; and we feel like God maybe loves us just a little less for something like this to happen.
And that message from Jesus has not changed, I believe, not one bit: I am with you; do not worry about how you are going to speak or what you will say - you will be given a voice when the time comes, and it will be my voice, says the Lord. I will speak to you and through you, and it will be powerful and blessed and you who endure to the end will be saved.
Some of you will remember a wonderful couple in our church - Bob and Mary-Ellen Randall. Both have gone on to heaven now, but when Mary-Ellen was sick, Bob gave me a note and a poem. The note said, "Rev. Bassett - (This is) a copy of the verse from the best card Mary-Ellen has received to date. You may be familiar with it, I was not. Hits close to home for us. Could be the basis for a sermon? Regards, Bob Randall."
And the verse goes like this:
God has not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God has not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
But God has promised strength for the day,
Rest for the weary, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.
(Annie Johnson Flint)
Those words are shared with us by a couple who was going through great affliction, but whose faith was strong. And what a blessing it is to meet apostles like that - they are all around us here; people whose faith meets the tests of life. I want to be one of those people. And during this season of Lent God invites each one of us to step more and more into the glory and goodness of that faith that stays beautiful through the storms of life, and brightens heaven when it arrives in another faithful saint.
This is the blessed assurance we can take from this service today, wherever our path leads us, whatever new challenge we face. The Savior who died on the cross, and rose from the dead to walk beside us now, has declared for all of us for all time, "I have said this to you so that you might have peace. In this world you will have tribulation; but fear not; for I have overcome the world."
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