Sermon 6/22/14
Matthew 10:24-39
The Next Step: You Look Just Like Him
Our
gospel lesson this morning is a sort of hodge-podge of things, and at first,
you might have a hard time threading them together, because they seem like
separate sets of instructions. First, the part about disciples and teachers.
Then, a section about fearing only those who can corrupt our souls, rather than
those who can kill our bodies. Then finally, Jesus talks about coming to bring
not peace, but a sword, resulting in family members being set against one
another. But, Jesus concludes, “those who find their life will lose it, and
those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” These seemingly
disconnected instructions are all part of a larger section of Matthew. Jesus is
sending out the twelve during his years of ministry, giving them authority to
heal and preach and teach as he has been. And before he sends them, he wants to
give them instructions for their time away. These verses we read today are part
of the list of things the disciples should keep in mind as they travel, and in
that context, they make more sense together. Remember that they are still
disciples, even though they’re preaching and teaching and healing. Remember not
to be afraid, even though they’ll face threats. As long as their souls are
safe, so are they. And remember, their ministry will cause people to need to
make decisions about whether to follow or not, and sometimes this will result
in division and conflict. But, following in the subversive, upside-down, cross-carrying
way of Jesus is the only real way to find life. In context, then, it seems
these verses are really quite perfect for our time together today, as we, all
disciples, prepare to head our separate directions, but still seek to remain
faithful in our journeying.
Have you
ever seen one of those stories online showing people who look like their pets?
Or maybe married couples who remarkably look very much like each other? It
turns out, scientific studies actually show this to be true in certain scenarios:
couples who have been together for years and years actually do begin to resemble each other over
time. Even when couples “bore no particular resemblance to each other when
first married had, after 25 years of marriage, come to resemble each other,” the
research shows. And what’s more, “the more marital happiness a couple reported,
the greater their increase in facial resemblance.” Scientists say this is
because of “decades of shared emotions” between couples. The theory is that “people,
often unconsciously, mimic the facial expressions of their spouses in a silent
empathy and that, over the years, sharing the same expressions shapes the face
similarly.” (1)
Who do
you resemble? Or who are you trying to
resemble? When I saw little, about 4 years old, I asked for “boy toys” for my
birthday. My brother Jim is 6 years older than me, and I adored him, and I
wanted to be as much like him as possible. So I wanted to have the things that
he had, so that I could imitate him all the better. I wanted to be like Jim. Of
course, I’ve also read stories about people who are trying hard to look like
celebrities, going to the extent of paying for plastic surgery to alter their
appearances. “Toby Sheldon, 33, has spent almost $100,000 in an attempt to look
like Justin Bieber. He underwent hair transplants, "smile surgery,"
eyelid surgery, and Botox, among other things, over a period of five years.” (2)
Who are you trying to resemble? These days, one of the biggest compliments you
could pay me would be to say that I remind you of my mother, or my grandfather.
Who do you so admire that you would love to be told, “You remind me of….”
Jesus
sent out the disciples during a time in Jewish culture where it was typical for
students, when they’d learned all they could from a teacher, to either find a new teacher to learn from, or to set
themselves up as a teacher. (3) Jesus says we don’t need to do that. It is
enough for us to focus on being like our teacher and master. Because we’ll
never learn all we can – we’re always still in process. We need to be honest
with ourselves, though, about our discipleship. How hard are we working to
resemble Jesus? To be more like him? Are we putting as much in as the people
who are giving their all to look like a celebrity whose fame is fleeting? Are
we even trying as hard as my 4 year old self, making sure we’re well equipped
to be like the one we want to resemble?
Like the study about the married couples, I think it takes years of
practice, of shaping our lives to look like Jesus’s life. We may feel like we
start out pretty different. But years of sharing Jesus’ emotions, of feeling
empathy and compassion just like Jesus does, of making the same expressions
with our life that Jesus does, will result in us resembling Jesus. And that’s
why Jesus asks us to do what he does, even when that means picking up the cross
like he does, and putting ourselves last, and being a servant, and losing our
very life like he does.
Jesus
tells us that our journey to be like him might be challenging. He knows it
will, in fact. He tells us that following him will be more like balancing on
the edge of a sword sometimes than like strolling through peaceful meadows.
Because we’ll constantly have to choose. We’ll constantly have to choose,
again, following Jesus, seeking God’s kingdom, instead of other choices. And
sometimes our other choices will look so good, or pull so strongly on our
hearts. There’s no promise of no conflict. But he tells the disciples, and tells
us: don’t be afraid. God knows even about the lives of every bird of the air.
And we’re even more precious to God than that.
Our two years together have been such a short time in the
scheme of things, friends. In our time here, I think Aaron and I have most
emphasized to you that as a church, we always need to remember to ask ourselves
“why” we’re doing what we’re doing. Why are we coming here? Why are we willing
to support a budget for the work of the congregation? Why do we want more
people to come here? Why do we spend time planning and in committees? Why do we
want our youth to make a confirmation here that they too choose this family?
Why?
My
answer is that I choose this path because I want to be like Jesus. I choose it
because I’ve found nothing and no one else that helps lead me into a
relationship with God, that helps me glimpse the kingdom, than following Jesus.
So I want to spend my life trying, even if so often I fail, to be as much like
Jesus as possible. I hope you want that too, that you choose that too. If it is
Jesus you want to resemble, I hope that
you will commit with me, wherever we are, to the lifelong task of choosing
again and again to follow Jesus, even when it is costly, even when we will be
offered endless opportunities to follow other shinier, glossier things.
Be as much like Jesus as you can, so that eventually,
people even say you look alike, that looking at you is like looking into the
heart of the living Christ. Don’t be afraid, because you are precious beyond
measure to God, who guards your soul. Know that you will have opportunities
again and again to choose paths that aren’t about following Jesus. Hard choices
to make. Other paths that look dazzling. Choose the way of Jesus, even if it
costs you everything to do so. Even if it costs your whole life. Because in the
choosing, in choosing the way of Jesus again and again, you’ll find your real life. Amen.
(1) Daniel Goleman, Long-Married Couples Do Look Alike, Study Finds, August 11, 1987. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/11/science/long-married-couples-do-look-alike-study-finds.html
(2) http://www.newser.com/story/185451/7-people-who-had-surgery-to-look-like-a-celebrity.html
(3) Chris Haslam, http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/apr12l.shtml?
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