Today’s reading has a number of difficult aspects to it, and I have welcomed the opportunity to delve a little more deeply into it.  First, we shall look at the reading section by section, and I will endwith a short section on its relevance for us today.

So, vvs 24-25: “The student is not above the teacher.”  In the two examples here, student and teacher, servant and master, Jesus is talking to the disciples and he is the one in the place of teacher and master, while the disciples are the students and servants.  The disciples often talk of wanting to do what Jesus does, but when we look at what Jesus has to do – demonstrate the power of God through miracles and teaching, but also die on the cross and be raised to life on the third day – it will never be possible for them to achieve what Jesus will do, much as they might have liked to. But they will be known as his disciples – in much the same way as members of the house of Beelzebub will be known by his name and reputation. … the last is a crafty dig at the Jews who see Jesus casting out demons, and wonder if his power comes from the devil himself.   The point is, the disciples can never do absolutely everything Jesus will do.  As long as he is their teacher and master, they will never be above him. 

In vvs 26-31 Jesus implores the disciples not to be afraid of the names the Jews – or anyone else – might call them.  And he goes to encourage them to proclaim the message he’s taught them, because the final destination for those who hear his message is not contained on earth, but in heaven, the final resting place for those of us who know, trust, and are saved by the Lord.  The Jews might bodily kill the disciples for their beliefs, but they can’t kill their souls, which is the important part, which will go on to live in heaven, despite the fate of their bodies on earth.

I have just finished reading “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and published in 1852. It is primarily about the experiences of enslaved African Americans in the southern US at the time.  It is informed by her Christianity – it can sometimes read almost as a tract – and immersion in abolitionist writings, as well as her own experience during the 1830s and 40s living in Ohio, a destination for slaves escaping from the Southern states. Today her depiction of her black characters is seen as racist and patronising, but to me, it still packs a punch. In the context of our reading today, the passage that is most notable in Beecher Stowe’s book is when Tom (of the title) is beaten to death by the underlings of Simon Legree for not revealing the whereabouts of two women slaves who manage to escape the clutches of Legree.  Tom says he has no fear of the beatings or death, and he will never reveal the whereabouts of the two women, because he knows if he dies he will go to heaven, Legree’s men can kill his body, but he knows his soul is safe in the Lord.  This gives Tom a great peace which enrages Legree who orders his men to beat Tom unmercifully, and to his death. It echoes the death of Jesus himself, and others martyred for their beliefs. 

Jesus assures his disciples of the care the Lord has for their souls as he talks about how he cares for sparrows, and numbers the hairs on our heads.  And this section ends with Jesus saying, “So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” 

In vvs. 32-33 Jesus tells the disciples that if they acknowledge him all the time before others, he will acknowledge them before God.  But then he warns them too, that if they don’t acknowledge God before others, he will disown them before God.  This is a terrible warning indeed, one for us to consider carefully in our own lives.

In vvs 34 – 36 Jesus cautions the disciples against thinking he was going to bring peace, and warns them that he will bring a sword, and will turn family members against each other and they will become enemies.  To me that sounds very harsh!  Jesus sometimes overstates things to bring the point home.  I don’t think this is an overstatement, but a statement about how far things can go wrong.  I also don’t think is says what will  happen, but what might happen.  In other words, it isn’t prescriptive or looking forward necessarily, but it is descriptive of what might happen if things are taken to the extreme, when arguments become very polarised. 

Let’s think about raising children.  We raise children hoping they will take up the values we have taught them.  But it doesn’t always happen. What I think we are meant to be doing is bringing up our children to think for themselves, and there will come a time, usually in the teen years, or a bit earlier, or a bit later, when our children may come to conclusions we don’t agree with.  Hopefully we can have a discussion and maybe come to a meeting of minds, or a civilised agreement to disagree, but sometimes it causes much greater conflict, and a rupture, in the relationship and turns each against the other.  That is what Christianity can do, if unchristian behaviours and attitudes are called out.  It can happen in mixed marriages where the choice of a spouse of a different religion can bring conflict within a family, and it can end badly.  So this is what I think Jesus is talking about in these verses. 

Finally, in vvs 37 – 39 he goes further and says anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  That also, to me,  sounds very harsh, but let’s remember the story of Abraham and Isaac.  God actually asked Abraham to sacrifice his own son in place of the sheep that were usually sacrificed.  Can you imagine such a thing? Abraham is shown as a man so devoted to God he would do even this.  And he got as far as tying Isaac down, and drawing the knife ready to kill him before an angel of the Lord intervenes and tells him not to lay a hand on the boy. (This is in Genesis 22.)  When Isaac has asked Abraham where the sheep for the offering is, Abraham replies, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burn offering, my son.”  I wonder what was going through Abraham’s mind at the time?   Was he railing against God’s injustice at the notion of killing his much-wished for son, or was he so trusting of God, or so blindly obedient, that he just followed God’s instructions without question?  I think we might all understand if he were doing the former, and be in awe of his trust in God if he were thinking the latter.  But maybe there’s a lesson for us there – we need to trust the Lord for his provision in the things he asks us to do, even the most challenging ones. 

The passage ends with vs 39 emphasising that we must be willing to lose our earthly life, or the things of this earth, to find the true, eternal, saved life the Lord has for us. It is a high calling. 

So what are we to take away from this reading for our lives?  I think it can be summed up in two words: challenge and comfort.  It’s not a case of one or the other, it’s a case of both-and.  There are so many challenges set before us in this passage about following Jesus, and the depth of that following in our lives.  I don’t know what challenges you are facing in your life today, I hope they aren’t as extreme as Jesus has described them in our reading, but take heart from the example of Abraham – God gave him a way out when, in earthly terms, there wasn’t one at all.  But Jesus gives us the comfort too in vvs 29 and 31, “Not one sparrow will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care … you are worth more than many sparrows.”   God’s provision for us is so much greater than for the sparrows, and he cares hugely for them.

My prayer is that this has helped you to understand the passage a little better, and that it gives you the comfort of the Lord in the face of challenges ahead of you.   Amen.