Fourth Sunday after Pentecost A; 06.21.26; G. Miles Smith+
Matthew 10:24-39 4th Sunday after Pentecost A; 06.21.26; G. Miles Smith+
Jesus said: “…I have come to set a man against his father…”
And “whoever loves father more than me is not worthy of me…”
Happy Father’s Day!?
It is a fairly rare occasion when this gospel text, which comes back around every three years, actually falls on Father’s Day. But this is one of those years. And it is especially jarring to hear Jesus’ words like this…on Father’s Day.
+
If we did not know any better, we could think that Jesus was talking about a requirement of Christians…to be troublemakers…intentionally creating family conflict…inciting social discord…and even aggressively pursuing violence. After all, Jesus also said: “I have not come to bring peace but a sword.” And Christians have, in fact, often enough justified all kinds of conflict--which really has had little to do with Jesus--by quoting this passage. But there is a larger context to this scripture that is crucial to recognize, lest we go terribly astray.
For, in every other instance in the gospel books, Jesus emphasizes seeking peace:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” (Mt. 5:9)
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you." (Jn 14:27)
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.” (Jn 16:33)
And then, every time Jesus appeared to the disciples after his resurrection, he would begin by saying: “Peace be with you!” (Lk 24:36, Jn. 20:19, 26)
The Gospel of John even goes so far as to say that "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (Jn 3:17)
Jesus was not a troublemaker. And yet, the fact is that Jesus…bringing the Kingdom of God near to people…led to troubled reactions. So, what Jesus is effectively saying in the passage today…is that he came from God bringing peace…and yet…people strangely responded to him as if he was the devil.
A Christian is not supposed to seek conflict…say…with their father…neither…not love their father. But the reality of the emergence of Jesus’ gospel then…was that there were fathers…who could not accept the change in their son or daughter who was touched by Jesus. Jesus’ early followers discovered that becoming a Christian…often created painful disruptions in their relationships with their families and friends. Jesus knew that this would be profoundly unsettling to his followers…and that’s why Jesus wanted to prepare them…in rather blunt words.
It would seem that we don’t live in those same kinds of circumstances anymore when the Christian faith was just beginning. But it hasn’t been all that long ago…that converting to another form of Christianity from your parents…could provoke serious opposition. Some of you have told me your own stories. That’s not so much the case now of course. But there can still be very difficult tensions to navigate within families and friends…over conflicting forms of Christianity…especially in terms of their conflicting political sensibilities.
So these words of Jesus that anticipate that kind of intense conflict…end up being just as relevant as they were in the beginning. These words don’t fix the conflict…but they do remind us that conflict doesn’t necessarily mean that the gospel of Jesus is false or unreliable…but that so much is at stake with Jesus… that conflict is inevitable.
One way I see it…is that the good news of Jesus is in fact…so good…that, oddly enough, the world is always going to have some kind of problem with it…and we will too…from time to time. When Jesus is truly being heard, then everyone is going to have some issues with Jesus:
For some, Jesus is far more gracious and merciful…than they are comfortable with...and so it will be tempting to ignore that…and to find a church that also ignores the grace and mercy of Jesus.
For some, Jesus expects far more moral accountability…than they are comfortable with...and so it will be tempting to ignore that…and to find a church that also ignores moral accountability.
Effectively--even though it is not intended--every person and every denomination ends up “filtering” Jesus in certain ways. And yet the Holy Spirit keeps breaking through those filters. It seems to me that Jesus…does not completely fit…within any person’s assumptions about the world…or any denomination’s habitual ways of thinking. We all have pieces of the puzzle…and we actually need each other to complete the picture. Jesus is capable of blessing all…and effectively offending all…on an equal opportunity basis.
The point today is that Jesus did not come seeking to provoke, to trouble, or destroy…but to save us from ourselves…and to bring peace. And that is the promise that I think many Christians…in the pews…actually do want to hold onto somehow…despite all the inflammatory rhetoric that constantly gets thrown around these days. Many Christians still have a lot more in common in Jesus…than all the other things that we can also disagree over and don’t know how to resolve.
+
Which brings me back, in conclusion, to…fathers…and the memory of my own.
I had a good relationship with my father, who was in many ways very supportive. But also, looking back…I wish I could have spent more time talking with my father…about the many things we shared in common in our faith and life…instead of having spent quite as much time debating our differences.
How I wish…I could have had the peaceful presence of mind then, to have been more graciously curious with him about his life…and to have sought opportunities for him to recall for me more stories from his life. What it was like for him to have navigated so many big changes during his lifetime?: the Great Depression…World War II…the Civil Rights era…marriage…children… work…finances…and church.
Did our fathers…actually have unspoken dreams for their lives…things they wished they could have done…or done differently? That may perhaps resonate with our own unspoken dreams…and things we wish we could have done differently?
It was too easy for me back then…to be distracted by other things…points of differences…and just the busyness of our lives.
I pray that in the life-to-come…I’ll be given the grace…of being able in some unimaginable way…to amend that with him…and my mother too.
+
And I do hope for such a blessed opportunity with our families and friends…as well as…a blessed resolution of the struggles of the life of the whole world.
Because I do increasingly believe…that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…is far more good and true…than we are…or have yet been able to imagine…in so much familiar religious talk.
And so I return to the words from Jesus…that I think are both the beginning and the end…the Alpha and the Omega…of everything about God…when Jesus said:
“I have told you these things…so that in me…you may have peace.” (Jn 16:33)
