Matthew 10

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Matthew 10 is a manifesto of revolution, a stark and unflinching set of marching orders for the 12 apostles. 
     It's hard for us to read, following so closely on the gentle tones of the Sermon on the Mount. “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.” 
     Much of it might raise our eyebrows sitting here in big, warm houses in a free country entering data on a computer, two cars in the garage and so many friendly faces around us that we could never count them. Our Christian journey (if that's what it is; by Matthew 10 standards we would hardly dare to carry Christ's banner) doesn't seem to demand such courage, such sacrifice, such taking up of a cross.
        Something we're not told must have happened between Chapter 9 and Chapter 10, one might justifiably be thinking. Perhaps the authorities had made it official: this movement must be squelched; this Beelzebub—verse 25, meaning Lord of the Flies when used derisively—was no longer welcome in the synagogues and the streets of Galilee and Judea. Maybe the Great Sanhedrin had just legislated a Bill C-51, an edict to give extraordinary powers to the temple guard to interfere in Jesus' itinerant preaching activity, to lower the threshold for arrest, to restrict travel, to combat radicalization of the people to Christ's message. If some such event had just occurred, the reading of Matthew 10 would fall right into place.
      In any case, these clearly are calls-to-battle words. Empowered to travel two by two throughout the “Orthodox Jewish” areas (not the Samaritan or Gentile neighbourhoods, for now), the apostles are to “proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.” In other words, we're splitting up to cover more ground; the work is urgent, we are being opposed!
      The urgency of the project is evident in the instructions: don't encumber yourself with worries about money, food, night lodging; if someone welcomes you in your travels, be thankful and accept what is offered; if no such welcome can be found, forget you were ever there and move on. This missionary journey was not to resemble present-day church planting, school building, long-term teaching strategies, baptisms. The times demanded something else.
      The net of religious orthodoxy was closing in.
      “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” 
     I assume as I read that as the 12 prepare to scatter, they're leaving behind families: wives, children, brothers, sisters, parents. Good byes would need to be said, their purpose and its urgency explained, last minute details would need to be negotiated. The ultimatum, though, is clear: unless you can place my commission ahead of all other obligations, you're not worthy of me. 
     It's not a simple jump from that to the way in which Christian Peacemaker Teams, MCC workers, MC Canada Witness workers put themselves in harm's way while their families worry, but there is a continuity there. Isn't there?
      On matters of faith, brothers and sisters have been known to turn on each other, countries have been divided, civil wars have happened. One look at ISIL should convince us that Christians can and do face great physical, emotional and spiritual danger from time to time. Matthew 10 is such a time. 
     For Christians in the Middle East, today is such a time. And so I wonder at my own place in this time, given the violence others face because they, like the 12, have the courage to “acknowledge Christ before others.”
      Maybe the clues for our day and my people here in Canada in this age are represented in the final, softer tone of verse 40ff:              
“Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
      So What does Matthew 10 say to you?

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