2023 Heart of Christianity: Commencement Address?

What types of things do you write in cards celebrating a High School or college graduate? Or in a card celebrating a wedding? Or a pregnancy or birth announcement? I am quite certain that we all keep things on the positive side, wishing the recipients well as they move forward to a new chapter.

Deeper into that new chapter, our conversations with these folks change. We may still be positive and optimistic, but, if the person is even just a bit more than an acquaintance, we will also share more honestly about the reality of life. There are high points to celebrate – and we should – and yet there are challenges that we will absolutely face as well. Being honest about those things doesn’t make us a Debbie Downer, it actually gives others permission to be real.

If you’ve spent time with people in their last season of life, there is another shift that takes place. The sting of the pain experienced between the big dreams at the beginning and the later years is softened for many people. A perspective born of wisdom that only time can foster often yields a peace despite the ongoing reality of struggle. If only we could begin with the grounded perspective of age-earned wisdom!

We see a reflection of this in Jesus’ instructions to the disciples as they are commissioned to go into the towns and villages to carry out the work Jesus had begun. What we have in Matthew’s text (Matthew 10:1-39) is very likely much more than Jesus told the disciples on that day. My hunch is that Jesus’ actual words at that moment were more like a High School graduation commencement address: “You’re awesome! You’re capable! You’re cool! The world is your oyster! You’ve got this!” There was not much need for more than that. The disciples simply needed to hear from their leader that he thought they could do what he was charging them to do.

Why then is there so much more instruction, and a lot of it discouraging?

The Gospel of Matthew is not a collection of newspaper articles chronicling things in real time. Many scholars believe that Matthew’s Gospel wasn’t complete until around 85 CE – 50’ish years after Jesus’ death. Matthew borrowed heavily from Mark’s Gospel (as did Luke), and tapped a body of work scholars simply call “Q” (shorthand for the German word quelle, which means “source”). They also added remembrances from their unique body of Jewish Christians. By the time the final product was finished, these Jesus followers had experienced A LOT of reality. They also assumed that people who would read this account of Jesus’ life and ministry would already be familiar with the story, which gave them further confidence to add some things to the account to make some key points. This means that, even though the words Jesus spoke might be in red ink in your Bible, he may not have said it. This does not mean that the Matthew writers were reckless – they didn’t have Jesus instructing the disciples to enjoy pulled pork sandwiches for lunch. All the words they put into Jesus’ mouth are accurate reflections of what would eventually happen to many of the disciples over the next decades. But Jesus likely did not say them at that point in time. The words attributed to him require a knowledge of the history to come. This was written retrospectively, also reflecting the theological perspectives of the Matthean community.

The speech isn’t a total bust. On balance, there is a lot of hope in the address. Perhaps this is because the Matthean community of Jesus followers had been through and discovered that God was with them through it all, providing strength and hope all the way, gifting them with the presence of the Spirit to give them confidence in what lies beyond the grave.

None of us nail the discipleship thing 100% of the time. We’re human. Yet we are called to follow. Know that when we do, there will be wonderful times of joy and transformation. Know also that there will be extremely challenging times as well. As my Grandpa Shaw used to say, “that’s just the way it is.” Remember, though, that the goodness of God will be with you as you Go Be Jesus. Remember, too, that “You’re awesome! You’re capable! You’re cool! The world is your oyster! You’ve got this!” Because despite the horrors that may come when we bring shalom to places that prefer the status quo, the accolades are true. You’re a child of God, and that means you are inherently very good.

Commentary from the SALT Project...

Big Picture:

1) From now until November, the gospel readings will move chronologically through Matthew. This week’s reading is from the second of five major discourses or teaching sessions Jesus delivers in Matthew (likely an echo of the five books of the Torah). This one is sometimes called the “Missionary Discourse,” since it consists of instructions to the disciples as Jesus commissions them to preach and teach and heal in villages throughout the region.

2) Jesus sends the disciples out in a way that underscores their vulnerability: he tells them to bring no money, no bag, no extra clothes, no sandals, no staff (Matthew 10:9-10). This puts them at the mercy of the hospitality — or hostility — of the people they encounter along the way, and in this week’s reading, Jesus both encourages the disciples and warns them that adversity awaits.

Scripture:

1) As we saw last week, Jesus authorizes and commissions the disciples to do the very work he has been doing; in this sense, he is passing the mantle to the church. Accordingly, he sends them with words of encouragement and comfort: Don’t be afraid; God knows you and loves you better than you know and love yourself, and will be with you all the way along. But in the same breath, Jesus candidly spells out what this “encouragement” implies: their coming adventures will require courage. They will encounter opponents, hostility, threats — even persecution. The powers that be, the death-dealing forces in the world, will not quietly step aside. This is work that will require resolve and perseverance: part-timers need not apply. You’ve got to go all in, or not go at all.

2) Following Jesus, in other words, isn’t for the faint of heart. It means giving things up, even precious things, even things we hold dear. The very fact that Jesus is passing the mantle here is a tacit reference to his coming departure, to the fact that he already is on a pilgrimage down into the valley of the shadow of death. Any who follow him, then, must be willing to do likewise, to “take up the cross and follow me” (Matthew 10:38).

3) But what does “taking up the cross” mean in this context? This is the first reference to “the cross” in Matthew, and Jesus uses it as a metaphor for the difficult work of embracing an unconventional life of intense, generous commitment to God’s mission — a willingness, as Jesus sums it up, to “lose their life” in order to “find it” (Matthew 10:39). According to this ideal picture, following Jesus means making God’s mission of love and justice the first priority in our lives, even above family and livelihood (Matthew 10:35-37; 10:9-10). It means being willing to confront and conflict with death-dealing powers, so much so that — even as genuine peacemaking remains the ultimate goal — it may well initially appear as though we “have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 5:9; 10:34).

4) In brief, discipleship means leaving behind conventional approaches to kinship, career, and social harmony — and that’s not a prospect to be taken lightly. Count the cost before you go. The good news of the Gospel may be for everyone — but discipleship isn’t.

5) That last point — that discipleship isn’t for everyone — may at first be counterintuitive for many Christians today. Isn’t the whole point of Christianity that anyone can become a disciple, and that the goal is to make as many as possible? Well, if Jesus thought so, he had a strange way of showing it. According to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus encountered thousands of people during his ministry — but only called something like fourteen to be disciples. Nor did he send out the twelve disciples to recruit and expand their ranks; rather, he expressly sent them out to heal and liberate and proclaim that “the kingdom of God has come near” (Matthew 10:1,7-8). Likewise, Jesus and his entourage moved through the countryside feeding, healing, and teaching the crowds, but not signing them up as disciples. For the overwhelming majority of the people he met, his signature sign-off wasn’t “Follow me,” but rather: “Your faith has made you well,” or “Return home and declare how much God has done for you,” or “Go on your way, and sin no more,” or “Go in peace.” In short, Jesus comes to save many (indeed the whole world!), but as for disciples, he calls only a few.

Takeaways:

1) As Jesus commissions his disciples, he warns them of adversity to come — and such struggles continue today. Death-dealing forces come in many forms, of course, but in American life (and beyond!) a prime example is racism, a hateful injustice that will not go quietly when confronted by forces of love and equity. Peacemaking is the ultimate goal, of course, but every unjust status quo has formidable supporters with vested interests (that’s why it’s the status quo!), and so moving toward genuine peace almost always initially involves conflict. Jesus both acknowledges and normalizes this turmoil, counseling us to expect it — and calling us to trust a caring God of love and justice along the way. Likewise, if we take Hagar’s story to heart, we dare not lose hope — even when despair seems most tempting. In our lowest moments, God comes alongside us with loving-kindness, asking, “What troubles you?”

3) Building another world — a world where all are seen and honored — requires thoroughgoing commitment, and a willingness to stay engaged when things get dicey. Jesus doesn’t mince words on this point: You are embarking on a struggle; you will meet with trouble, and setbacks, and a long journey ahead. But many have gone before us, many “all in” Christians who have helped show the way: Francis of Assisi and Teresa of Avila; Fannie Lou Hamer and Clarence Jordan; Rosa Parks and Oscar Romero; Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Dorothy Day...

4) In a remarkable sermon on the demands of discipleship, the preacher and author Barbara Brown Taylor once argued that, if we’re honest with ourselves, most of us are less like “disciples” and more like “friends of the disciples.” God does raise up genuine disciples in every generation: the well-known saints and the countless others whose names we may or may not ever know, people who actually did and do, in various ways, put God’s mission of love and justice above conventional priorities of kinship and livelihood. The rest of us are something a good deal more humble than “disciples” in this sense. At our best, Taylor contends, we’re “friends of the disciples” — and like friends, we may extol and support disciples where we can; and like friends, we may be inspired (or haunted, or driven) to follow their examples here and there, in fragments or moments or chapters of our lives.

5) But who knows? The Living One Who Sees Us may yet have another adventure in mind for our itinerary. Jesus’ call to “all in” discipleship remains open and vibrant for everyone. On any given day, even words as challenging as these in Matthew may become a summons personally addressed to you, or to me, or to a particular congregation. In ways large and small, there’s no telling what kind of follower of Jesus we may yet become!

Matthew 10:1-39 (MSG)

Jesus called twelve of his followers and sent them into the ripe fields. He gave them power to kick out the evil spirits and to tenderly care for the bruised and hurt lives. This is the list of the twelve he sent:

Simon (they called him Peter, or “Rock”),

Andrew, his brother,

James, Zebedee’s son,

John, his brother,

Philip,

Bartholomew,

Thomas,

Matthew, the tax man,

James, son of Alphaeus,

Thaddaeus,

Simon, the Canaanite,

Judas Iscariot (who later turned on him).

Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge:

“Don’t begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don’t try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.

“Don’t think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don’t need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light.

“When you enter a town or village, don’t insist on staying in a luxury inn. Get a modest place with some modest people, and be content there until you leave.

“When you knock on a door, be courteous in your greeting. If they welcome you, be gentle in your conversation. If they don’t welcome you, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way. You can be sure that on Judgment Day they’ll be mighty sorry—but it’s no concern of yours now.

“Stay alert. This is hazardous work I’m assigning you. You’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as shrewd as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.

“Don’t be naive. Some people will question your motives, others will smear your reputation—just because you believe in me. Don’t be upset when they haul you before the civil authorities. Without knowing it, they’ve done you—and me—a favor, given you a platform for preaching the kingdom news! And don’t worry about what you’ll say or how you’ll say it. The right words will be there; the Spirit of your Father will supply the words.

“When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family. There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate! But don’t quit. Don’t cave in. It is all well worth it in the end. It is not success you are after in such times but survival. Be survivors! Before you’ve run out of options, the Son of Man will have arrived.

“A student doesn’t get a better desk than her teacher. A laborer doesn’t make more money than his boss. Be content—pleased, even—when you, my students, my harvest hands, get the same treatment I get. If they call me, the Master, ‘Dungface,’ what can the workers expect?

“Don’t be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don’t hesitate to go public now.

“Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.

“What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.

“Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I’ll cover for you?

“Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over me, you don’t deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don’t deserve me.

“If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.