Third Sunday after Pentecost: June 21st 2020
Matthew 10: 24–39 Sunday 21st June 2020 – Third Sunday after Pentecost
Reading from the Old Testament: Genesis 21: 8–21
The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.’ The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named after you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.’ So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, ‘Do not let me look on the death of the child.’ And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Psalm 86: 1–10, 16–17
Incline your ear to me, O God, and answer me: for I am poor and in misery. Preserve my life, for I am faithful: My God, save your servant who trusts in you. Be merciful to me, O Lord: for I call to you all the day long. O make glad the soul of your servant: for I put my hope in you, O Lord. For you, Lord, are good and forgiving: of great and continuing kindness to all who call upon you.
Hear my prayer, O Lord: and give heed to the voice of my supplication. In the day of my trouble I call upon you: for you will surely answer. Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord: nor are there any deeds like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you: O Lord, they shall glorify your name. For you are great and do marvellous things: and you alone are God. Turn to me and be merciful, give your strength to your servant and save the child of your handmaid. Show me some token of your goodness: that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, because you, Lord, are my helper and my comforter.
The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of Matthew 10: 24–39
‘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 unperceived by 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.
Reflection:
What a crazy world we have been experiencing recently. Not only in Australia but around the world as the demonstrations and unrest continue in other countries. We see disasters, turmoil and suffering continue. We see insecurity as economic crisis affects this and all countries. We see people who thought they had wellbeing thrown into uncertainty.
Consequently, where do we see God at work? Where is his mercy? Where is his purpose?
In the midst of a pandemic of magnitude that we have never seen before, how do we as Christians rationalise all that is going on, and how do we form our opinions and attitudes towards these circumstances? And perhaps since it is not affecting us greatly personally, we are feeling that it is all a little surreal. Where ever you sit presently let me share a couple of things that help me.
First- I know that God suffers with us and how his heart must ache at the moment for the way the would is. Second- I know that God desires that none should perish, he has given us the Good News, that is Jesus Christ.
Third- I know that nothing is impossible for God.
However, there is a caveat, we have a role to play- to trust and obey. As Paul says in his letter to the Romans: Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! No, we are to walk daily with our Lord.
Today, Jesus continues His “Mission Sermon” instructing the disciples in the ways they are to carry out their mission of proclaiming the Kingdom. This is a difficult reading in many ways, but remember we need to understand the context and who Matthew is writing to- the Jewish Christians, living in the immediate proximity of their homeland.
Jesus is aware of how daunting the task before them is - to take what he has been teaching them out into a world that is not always going to be open to their message. Jesus sets the mission before them - to go into the world and make known all that they have heard - to uncover things that the world may well prefer to have kept hidden - to proclaim a message that the world will try to silence.
It can be a scary prospect - and not something many people would choose. No doubt, the disciples were well aware of the reception they’re likely to meet and had, perhaps, expressed these fears to Jesus. Jesus does not pretend that there is nothing to worry about - but he does not let them dwell on the fear - rather he turns their minds to the value they have in God’s eyes. And the care that God will have for them.
Sparrows were the cheapest things that could be bought at the market but, Jesus says, even a sparrow is known to God. If God values the life of a sparrow, how much more does He value the lives of His human children - made in His own image.
The life which Jesus is speaking about is not just physical well-being - but a spiritual and eternal life. He is forewarning them that there will probably be suffering ahead - but that, if they are faithful to the One who called them, He will claim them as His disciples and friends.
Those whom Matthew was writing to would have known from personal experience the cost of being a disciple of Jesus. Some would have found the cost too high to bear - and may have “disowned” Jesus - turning back to ways that felt safer and ways that seemed easier.
Matthew is encouraging his readers to hold firm to their new faith - not denying the problems that come with it - but assuring them that, ultimately, any suffering now will be more than outweighed by Jesus declaring Himself for them before the Father.
Suffering is unfortunately a part of this life. Whether we are cast from our home, cast from the normality and things of life that we ‘love’. Whether we suffer physically, mentally, emotionally, or suffer because of the pain we feel from the sufferings of others. I have to wonder if suffering holds the key to finding God, the key to allow us to reach out to the God who saves and the key to God revealing himself in the midst of suffering.
Today’s Old Testament reading from Genesis shows a picture of God that encourages us to trust that God is hearing our cry in the wilderness. While God may have had a chosen people, the people of Israel and God may have his preferred plan that would probably include a world where all people loved him and loved each other as the two great commandments direct us.
In the story from Genesis, we are told about Hagar, an Egyptian slave girl, who is selected and given to Abraham so that she can provide barren Sarah with a child by proxy. But a few years later Sarah is jealous and she insists that Abraham cast Hagar and her son out into the wilderness with little provision.
When all hope is running out, in her distress, God called to Hagar from heaven saying, ‘Do not be afraid; for God has heard’. God demonstrates his Divine care and mercy for Hagar and those who are outcast, he has compassion and shows no discrimination. We too are also to show mercy, and act justly. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind. This is the first and great commandment and a second is like it, you shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Thomas Merton, a twentieth century Trappist monk, wrote that the way to contemplation- (to finding the rich gifts of God) ‘lies through a desert without trees and without beauty and without water. The spirit enters the wilderness and travels blindly in directions that seem to lead away from vision, away from God and away from fulfillment and joy.’ And yet it is in the wilderness, it is in the sufferings and times of struggle that God reveals his power and himself.
Jesus says we will even suffer as we seek to proclaim the good news. Life will not be easy for us as Christians, people will mock and belittle our faith. Our families may not share our faith. This should not stop our mission. God does not want us to turn away from or neglect our family but he wants us to have our priority set on Him.
Finally, today I turn to Psalm 86 that reminds us that God is good and forgiving: of great and continuing kindness to all who call upon him.
The psalmist says ‘Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord: nor are there any deeds like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you: O Lord, they shall glorify your name.’
You know there is a wealth of richness to be found in God’s Holy Word. It encourages, strengthens, enables and urges us on to the abundance of what God longs to lavish on his people. Merton writes, ‘Once we have faced the desert, and confronted the reality of our vulnerability we will rush into divine embrace.’
And may God add his blessing to our contemplations this day. Amen.