The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew 10:24-39.

People Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said to the twelve disciples, “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” The Gospel of the Lord.

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Basically, I am a retired person, retired from the Navy for more than 45 years; retired from parish ministry for 25 years and since 1998 only serving part Time, variously, here and there as supply priest, at Holy Nativity as Priest Associate, at Grace Church as Interim Rector, again at Holy Nativity as Priest Associate, at St Thomas by the Sea as Vicar, and finally again and now back at Holy Nativity as Priest Associate, which is not Assistant, but helper. It has been long years since I worked as "head priest" with another priest as my associate, colleague, or helper in some sense.

Where I'm heading with this morning's nonsensical introduction is that if I were the head priest, senior pastor, whatever title, with an assistant or associate, I would have assigned that person to preach the sermon tomorrow, and let her/him struggle with this gospel reading that brings to my mind a steaming hot stew of, maybe, chicken, carrots, apples, pork, potatoes, strawberries, rutabagas, prunes, onions, scallops, and watermelon in a thick dark brown roux. I'd leave it to my helper to sort it out, maybe during his/her sermon I'd browse the web or check my cell phone for email and text my friends and relatives.

And, on the other hand, if I were the helper who was assigned to preach tomorrow, I'd ignore this gospel and preach on the developing Old Testament story about Isaac. "Developing" that is, in the Bible stories that our Lectionary has us reading this summer of Year A. 

But I'm neither in charge of anything any longer, nor am I assigned to preach tomorrow. However, I thought that, being an Episcopal priest these most recent chapters of my life, and having let my blogposts of late wander far from any relationship to religion, I'd just return to base and have a short hack at our gospel reading for tomorrow, Matthew 10:24-39 above. 

What's going on? Luke, John, Mark, and Thomas do various other things with this collection of sayings of Jesus and of the later Church, that Matthew has assembled, reportedly drawing largely from Q, to use as Jesus' monologue of commissioning his disciples for their ministry. Matthew names The Twelve, he has Jesus instruct them in their warrant, what they are to do, and he has Jesus warn them about the perils they will face.

Scholars - - a favorite source of mine for many years has been "The Five Gospels" ("The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus - The Five Gospels - What Did Jesus Really Say?", New Translations and Commentary by Robert W Funk, Roy W. Hoover, and The Jesus Seminar, Poleridge MacMillan 1993) - - have opined that what Matthew quotes Jesus as having said includes, gathered from here and there and combined in this passage for Matthew's own agenda purposes, some things likely said by Jesus, some likely said by the Early Christian Church as it faced various trials, persecutions and challenges, some likely composed by Matthew as part of his agenda, his story about the life and ministry of Jesus. For folks like myself who grew up with a Red Letter King James Bible, it takes some study, an open mind, and accommodation to accept/realize that "what Jesus said" is what each gospel writer said Jesus said, and that the sayings vary Both from gospel to gospel, And in how each gospel writer uses various sayings and where the writer places them throughout his story. For an earthy metaphor, my favorite is "What did Tom Sawyer say?" "Tom Sawyer said whatever Mark Twain said he said." Just so, what did Jesus say? Jesus said whatever the gospel writer said he said; and what Jesus said, and when, varies from gospel to gospel. What did Jesus say? It depends on whose story you are reading.

This, my study approach, could make for an interesting Sunday School or midweek Bible study discussion; but it would not be helpful in a sermon in which the preacher tries to draw a life lesson for today out of this jumble of things that Matthew says Jesus said. 

The upshot is this. In our gospel reading for tomorrow, June 25, Matthew is telling us what Jesus said to his disciples as he prepares them for their own ministries. It sounds like Jesus is telling his disciples that this business of following him will be a really tough calling. 

With Matthew writing around, maybe 85 or 90 AD, in the circumstances of that age some sixty or so years after Jesus' life on earth, I suspect that Matthew was trying to encourage his audience of Jewish Christians to hang in there during the rough Times they were facing.

That's enough, eh?

RSF&PTL

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