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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
In today’s Gospel Reading, we heard the Lord Jesus Christ continue to instruct His twelve disciples-turned-apostles as He sent them out on at least a short-term “mission trip”. As we heard in the last two week’s Gospel Readings (Matthew 9:35-10:8; 10:5a, 21-33), Jesus told them to let peace come upon those homes that were worthy; Jesus told them that their own family members would betray them unto death and that they would be hated by all for His Name’s sake; but Jesus told them that not to fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul and, Jesus encouraged them to confess Him before people and so endure to the end and be saved.
In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus continues that instruction and advances some of those same themes, often described as divisions in households and the conditions and rewards of discipleship (see SQE). Jesus tells the disciples-turned-apostles that He came not to bring peace but a sword, that those who do not love Him more than their family members are not worthy of Him, that whoever does not take (or, perhaps better “receive”) his or her cross is not worthy of Him, that whoever finds his or her life will lose it and whoever loses his or her life for Jesus’s sake will find it, that whoever receives (or, perhaps better “welcomes”) the apostles welcomes Jesus and God the Father, that those who welcome a prophet or righteous man because of who they are themselves ultimately receive a prophet or righteous person’s reward, and that those who support Jesus’s followers do not lose their rewards.
In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus may be primarily instructing His twelve disciples‑turned-apostles in sending them out on at least a short-term “mission trip”, but Jesus is also speaking to me, as a successor to the apostles in the Office of the Holy Ministry, and to all of you, who desire peace, who face opposition even in your own families for your faith in Jesus, and who should welcome and ultimately support those whom God sends to you as prophets, insofar as they are sent by God and despite their personal defects.
Hearing today’s Gospel Reading, we may be left wondering about our own thoughts of peace and division, our own worthiness of Jesus, how we welcome and support those whom God has sent, and what kind of reward we might receive in the end. Are we, who think of ourselves as faithful, truly prepared for hostility from even those most-closely related to us? Do we willingly receive our crosses of suffering for Him as we follow Him? Do we welcome and support those whom God has sent, recognizing that, regardless of what we might think of them personally, Christ is present in them continuing the very mission He was given by God the Father? Do we ultimately recognize that our own “worthiness” of any “reward” is effectively nothing, that in the end we only receive good things because of God’s mercy and grace towards us for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ?
What St. Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote to the Romans in today’s Epistle Reading (Romans 7:1-13) about his not knowing sin, if it had not been for the law, is also true of us: we also would not know sin, if it had not been for the law. And, the Holy Spirit certainly can use the words of today’s Gospel Reading as law that shows us our sin, especially so that the Holy Spirit by using the words of today’s Gospel reading as Gospel then can lead us to turn in sorrow from our sin, trust God to forgive our sin, and want to do better than to keep on sinning. When we so repent, then God forgives our sin, whatever our sin might be, for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus’s demanding the greatest degree of love makes clear that He is God, and Jesus knew what it was to be distanced at times from His human family (Matthew 12:46-50; Mark 3:21; John 7:5). Jesus’s mentioning the cross of the disciples, the first mention of any cross in St. Matthew’s Divinely‑inspired Gospel account, points to His own cross, which, out of His great love, He would receive in order to take away the sins of the whole world, including your sins and my sins. As we, empowered by the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word proclaimed by those whom He has sent, welcome those whom He has sent as prophets and righteous men, we welcome Jesus and so also God the Father, and so we, by grace through faith, are both worthy of Jesus Christ and receive the prophet’s and righteous man’s reward. That reward certainly includes the forgiveness of sins here and now and eternal life on the Last Day, but that reward probably also includes the crosses of sufferings that we bear on account of our faith in Jesus Christ.
To be sure, we—even little ones—are connected with Jesus’s cross in the waters of Holy Baptism. The sign of His cross upon our forehead and our heart marks us as those redeemed by Christ the crucified. We are buried there with Him into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4; confer Small Catechism IV:14). Those so baptized in the Triune Name and marked with the sign of His cross privately confess to their pastors the sins they know and feel in their hearts for the sake of individual Holy Absolution, made in that same Triune Name and accompanied by the same sign of His cross. Instructed, examined, and absolved, they are admitted to this rail to receive the Sacrament of the Altar, Jesus’s true Body in bread and His true Blood in wine, and so they receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Here and now we welcome Jesus in the greatest possible way, until we are with Him in His Presence for eternity.
As God through His Word and Sacraments makes us “worthy” of Jesus Christ and graciously gives us our eternal “rewards” of forgiveness, life, and salvation, we are able to judge between true and false prophets, as we in today’s Old Testament Reading (Jeremiah 28:5-9) heard that we need to be able to do. What distinguishes a true prophet from a false prophet is not whether or not we like what they say or how they say it, but what distinguishes a true prophet from a false prophet is whether or not the prophet speaks the Word of the Lord, which comes true in the Lord’s way and time. As God through His Word and Sacraments makes us “worthy” of Jesus Christ and graciously gives us our eternal “rewards” of forgiveness, life, and salvation, we also, as we heard in the Epistle Reading, bear fruit for God. Today’s Gospel Reading has us think specifically about how we as needed suffer division in our family and how we welcome and support those whom God has sent, even with what might seem to be the smallest act produced by the faith He works in us. When we fail in these and other regards, as we will, with repentance and faith we live each day in the forgiveness of sins that we receive from Him and that we, in turn, extend to one another.
As we have heard Jesus say, the worthiness and rewards that He gives do not always mean sunshine and roses here and now but rather such bliss and glory in the end. Divided human families give way to a united spiritual family of brothers and sisters in Christ, baptized children of God who, in eating the same family meal, are joined by Christ’s blood. In this world, we all individually may or may not end up losing our lives for Jesus’s sake, but, in the next world, we all together will certainly find our lives because of Him.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +