Jesus ends his sermon on the mount and descends into real life. The people he meets are suffering or aware of suffering. Jesus is not the detached lecturer on spiritual matters. He is willing to heal the leper. He does speak an authoritative, healing word for the centurion’s servant. He overthrows the power of demons, heals the paralyzed, blind and mute. When confronted with a woman suffering for years in blood, the One who helped form, not only the male body, but also the female body, heals her. He walks into the presence of death, pronounces death as harmless as sleep and wakes the little girl. Jesus is not only Lord over sickness, demons and death; he is Lord over creation, who can speak a storm into serenity. Jesus is the one who takes up our infirmities and carries our diseases.
This Jesus acts in the power of the kingdom of heaven. He also invites people to follow him by the authority of the rule of heaven. He asks people to think less about their homes and their pillows than they think of following him. He calls Matthew from his tax collecting because Jesus loves to call and save sinners like Matthew. These folks who decide to follow Jesus get to think with Jesus about the harvest of souls, reaching out to those who are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Chapter 10 is the second discourse of Jesus in Matthew. There are five discourses. Some think there are five because Moses has five books in the Old Testament, and Jesus is the New Moses offering his five books. Matthew 10 contains the marching orders for the twelve apostles as they go out to do ministry in the name of Jesus in the power of the kingdom. It is amazing that Jesus is willing to share his message and his power with ones who don’t exactly know who he is. They are given authority over disease and demons. They are told what to do when people like them and when they don’t. They are told the Spirit of the Father will speak through them in times of trial.
The feeling we get at the end of this second discourse is that following Jesus can be hard, dangerous, risky and more. Of the twelve called to be apostles, only John died of natural causes. This chapter is like the drug side effect disclosure statements we read and hear—the truth about what could actual happen if we follow Jesus. The good news is that Jesus says, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.”
By now in our reading, we are seeing Jesus in all his power and glory. His teaching and his actions are consistent with his coming as God with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment