Pastor Detweiler’s sermon from Sunday, June 22, 2008

It is in suffering and persecution that we are joined to Jesus

Romans 6:1b-11; Mt 10:24-39

Back in the early 1960s, when Nikita Khruschev was the leader of the Soviet Union, and that Union of Russia and other states was still strong and repressive toward all religious expression, some U.S. church leaders met with him to complain about the persecution of the churches in the USSR. Khruschev’s reply was to quote Jesus’ more extreme saying about expecting persecution (“you will be hunted in the towns and villages, brother will betray brother...”) and to ask why they were complaining since they had been warned by Jesus.

Knowing what to expect doesn’t always make it better. It is true that Jesus warned us:

“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!

Jesus is telling us we can expect the same treatment that he received. It is a sobering thought to consider the reactions to Jesus’ preaching. Going backwards from chapter 10:

- In Ch. 9:34, he is accused by the Pharisees of casting out demons by the prince of demons after he heals many people.

- At the beginning of that chapter (9:3) he is accused of blasphemy after he heals a paralyzed man by forgiving his sins.

- Back one more chapter, in Ch. 8:34, he is asked to leave a town after he heals a crazy man by driving the demons in him out into a herd of pigs.

If we go forward from today’s reading, we run into even more conflict between Jesus and the religious people of his day:

- In Ch. 12 he is accused of breaking the Sabbath law against work on the Sabbath by healing a man with a withered hand. After that, Matthew tells us, the Pharisees plot to kill him.

- In 12:24 he is again accused of casting out demons by Beelezebul, the prince of demons.

- In 13:57 we are told that the people of his hometown took offense at him after he taught in their synagogue.

The pattern in the gospels is that the crowds follow him, but the leaders object, complain, and conspire to get rid of him. Starting in Ch. 16, it gets more intense as Jesus offers the first of several warnings of what will happen to him in Jerusalem, that he will suffer many things, be killed and on the third day rise from the dead.

In today’s gospel he says we are not to be surprised nor afraid when similar things happen to us as a result of our faithfulness to his preaching:

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

This is one of those parts of the New Testament we’d rather not have to confront. It’s nicer to think that Jesus went around doing good and met with approval for it, and that we too will meet with approval if we do what he did. He went around doing good and healing many with diseases, but his doing good and his preaching were threatening to some: some saw their power being eaten away by the crowds’ attraction to him, and some just couldn’t accept the changes that he made to their religious observances.

You can hear the pathos in his words about setting family members against each other, or in verse 34: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” I doubt that was his intention, but he realizes it is the effect of what he is doing. It is not as if he is recommending persecution, telling us to seek it, but rather saying it is one of the tests of faithfulness: if you are faithful to me, your teacher and master, this is what will happen to you, just as it has happened to me.

It helps in staying the course of following faithfully to know what to expect, but it is even more important to know that it is in persecution and suffering that we are joined to Jesus. People commonly think that when we are doing the right thing everyone will approve, and that we are closer to God when everything is going well. Jesus turns that upside down, saying instead that faithfulness - doing the right thing in God’s eyes, pursuing the truth - will not result in approval but in persecution, and that persecution, rather than being a sign of distance from him, draws us closer to him:

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.

Paul says something similar in today’s second lesson. We are joined to Jesus through our baptism into his death: Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

It is dying with Jesus in baptism that links us to him; it is in suffering and death that we are drawn closest to him. Our willingness to suffer for his sake brings us closer to him. Baptism brings us into the community of Jesus’ followers, a community whose hope for “newness of life” comes through participation in Jesus’ death. Resurrection hope comes to us through the willingness to die, to be joined to Jesus’ death, Paul says.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

The last four or five years at First English have been messy, moving from the stability of long term pastorates into the no man’s land of transition. I’m sure to some of you it has felt like a time of persecution. In that time pastors have come and gone, and we have another one leaving in a couple of weeks. Musicians have come and gone, and we have another one of them leaving today. There has been a change in focus, away from what the pastors and staff can do for us toward what it means for all of us to grow as disciples of Jesus. This amount of change can be very unsettling and in any church leads to disagreement and conflict. Matthew’s church was experiencing conflict as a result of members’ reaction to persecution and the culture in which they were living.

As a long time observer of transitions after long pastorates I can say that this is the smoothest one I have ever seen. I am not saying it has been smooth. It is not possible for transitions between pastors to be smooth - there are always bumps in the road and sometimes there are explosions. We haven’t had any explosions, just some bumps. Through all the changes at FELC the emphasis has been on our faithfulness in following Jesus. Enabling all of us to grow in faithfulness as disciples of Christ is the reason for everything we do. This is a marvelous congregation full of faithful people who are growing as followers of Jesus. The opportunities to grow in faithfulness have deepened as we have been willing to disagree and to challenge each other and the culture in which we live. Jesus’ words in today’s gospel call us to be willing to disagree and to challenge each other for the sake of faithfulness to him. That is how we grow together in Christ. It is happening here and it is something we can celebrate.

Jesus tells us: Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. That is scary, but we have his promise:

“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.”

It helps in staying the course of following faithfully to know what to expect, but it is even more important to know that it is in persecution and suffering that we are joined to Jesus. We do not need to fear sharing the truth or following Jesus and the unpleasant results of that. We have his promise to be with us: that as we have shared in his sufferings and death so we will share his resurrection life. We are called to be faithful to him, to proclaim his word and the hope of eternal life he gives. That is the promise and the charge that we have in our baptism into his death and resurrection.