Getting Ready
Jesus encourages the disciples to live in beloved community as fully as they can and to not be afraid. He tells them to act. To go out into the world to heal, cast out demons, and preach the kingdom of God. To share the good news.
In Matthew 10, Jesus instructs the disciples in how to approach their mission and what to expect. It is a challenging passage.
One important thing to know is that Jesus does not define success for them. He doesn’t put benchmarks out or state what must be achieved. Jesus is not demanding that 100 people join each day or week or month.
This work will be difficult for each of them. They will be present with people in their pain and their suffering. They will see the worst of people and how cruel they are to each other. They will spend time with people who live in deep fear, worried about being taken into custody by the Romans with no warning; people living without enough food and without the basics for a good life; people living lies so that they are not rejected by those around them and, as a result, carrying deep pain; people living with severe sickness because they are seen as impure. The call of the disciples is to be present with all these people.
As Jesus’ followers cross the lines which divide their community, people they never expected will get angry, resist them, and try to disrupt this campaign of love.
Jesus adamantly and clearly states what they will face. Jesus only wants them to go on this mission with their full consent, knowing what they are getting into, which is why he describes these extremes. What Jesus wants is their best effort in sharing this love and the vision of the kingdom of God.
We find Jesus’ final instruction to the disciples in all four gospels. In Matthew 10:39 Jesus says:
Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
A different translation says:
The person who hoards his life throws it away, and the one who abandons his life for my cause discovers it.
What is Jesus’ cause? Love God, self, neighbor and enemy. It is the most compelling cause in history. It can radically change the world.
If we fail to live love, if we live a life trying to protect ourselves and our loved ones and shield ourselves from hurt, we throw our lives away because we have not lived..
Let’s be clear-there are times when we have been hurt and need a time for healing.
If we try to live love a little bit every day, we can live a life unimaginable. In living that way we open ourselves to sadness, but also to joy. But that sadness comes from caring for people and being disappointed or hurt. And we live a life full of experiences we cannot even begin to imagine. A world where people flourish; where people are loved for who they are. It happens when we are fully present with people as we share the kingdom of God with each other.
Jesus wants his followers to live this type of life. He wants us to know that if we do we will experience pain, grief, suffering, and sadness. We will also live a life beyond imagination…we will experience the kingdom is near.
AMEN