Context

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Context, and my focus is Matthew 10 and Jeremiah 28. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

By now, I am sure you have noticed the recurring pattern of three points in my sermons. They usually begin with the same first letter, and I try to emphasize the importance of prayer, putting faith into practice, and context. Today, one point: Context. Several weeks ago, I spoke of context and how it broadens our minds and hearts as we read, study, pray over and appropriate the teachings of Christ into our lives.

This past week, most of us received our property tax re-assessment in the mail. That said, let me use my home as an example of context. If you use Google maps to see where I live, it will offer a very limited view. In fact, a search of my home address shows a gravel driveway set next to a partial concrete driveway. It no longer shows the orange brick house where we once lived, but after two years, delivery drivers are still instructed to leave the package at the old demolished house. An overhead shot does not show the shed built over a year ago, nor the log pile behind that.

If I told you that our house sits on 21 acres of land in Potter Township on Mowry Road and State Route 18, and extends south into Raccoon Township, you would have a broader understanding of where I live.

If I informed you that my father was given those 21 acres by his father, and that his two brothers also received equal plots and built next to us, that would tell you that the three of them owned 60 acres on one side of the road. If I also told you that my grandfather had a fourth son, my Uncle Leonard, who was killed in WWII, and that grandpa eventually divided that land into many one acre lots now owned by various families, you’d surmise that grandpa owned 80-some acres nearly 80 years ago. My point is that context is important not only in one’s family history, but also in the Bible. So, to better understand our Gospel passage today, I will expand it into the greater context of the Bible.

We begin with Matthew where Jesus continues instructing his Twelve Apostles. Keep in mind that they are going to towns and villages where the lost sheep of Israel live to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. They will be healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers and expelling demons. They know that acceptance and rejection await them, and how to respond to both, and they are not afraid.

Today’s passage opens with Jesus’ words, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” One would wonder why Jesus the Christ would utter such words. After all, is he not the Lamb of God? Did he not refer to Himself as the Good Shepherd? In next Sunday’s Gospel, he states that he is gentle and lowly in heart. In John, he says that he is the way, the truth and the life before he promises, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (14:27). Why would this peaceful, humble, gentle man who embodied the Beatitudes say, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Mt 10:34)? I answer that question with a question.

Did Jesus impose peace by kingly rule on anyone? On his Twelve Apostles or women disciples, on Jewish leaders or Roman rulers? On Israel or Egypt? On the Holy Roman Empire, the British Empire or the United States, the Soviet Union, Communist China or Cuba? Jesus did not come to impose peace by kingly rule. On the contrary, his coming involved painful choices people must make, and as much as Jesus loves us, He will not interfere with our freedom to choose. Yet, God’s love is so awesomely overpowering, how else could we choose? I mean, what are our options? And that brings us to the last few words of our opening verse.

Jesus is not bringing a simple peace but a sword. Jesus brings the sword and He is the one who divides. The sword is another word for war. Matthew’s reference to a sword is a “powerful metaphor for the way a community can be split by the preaching of the Gospel. The community here in question is the family. Acceptance of the Gospel pits children against parents in the bitterest of quarrels, as in Micah 7:6.”[1] There, we read, “The son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.” So, we see how the Word of God, the Incarnate Word of God Himself, divides families based not on sinful fear and hatred, but on loving kindness, compassionate mercy and divine forgiveness. Yet, as the Son of God knows men’s hearts, he forewarns his Apostles of people’s responses.

They would also know that from their own history. In Exodus we read how Moses descended Mt. Sinai after receiving the Ten Commandments from God and witnessed that the people fashioned a golden calf and proclaimed that it was not Yahweh and Moses who brought them out of Egypt, but these inanimate gods. When Moses saw that the people were completely out of control, he “stood in the gate of the camp and said, ‘Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.’ And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. And he said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go … throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. And Moses said, ‘Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day’” (Ex 32:25-29). The men that the Levites put to the sword were evil people committing idolatrous acts against God.

We heard such words from the Lord’s lips last Sunday. “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt 10:21-22).

Now, notice that Jesus never advocated acts of physical violence against others. Even when betrayed by Judas and seized by the mob in the Garden of Gethsemane, and one of his disciples struck the ear of the high priest’s servant, Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Mt 26:52). So, if you’re thinking about taking up arms in the name of Jesus, think again. (Not that anyone hearing these words would be thinking that.)

Now, before moving forward with the rest of our Gospel, let’s step back and put the passage from Jeremiah into a wider context. Then, we’ll return to Matthew. … Think of this sermon as preparing a meal. You sauté vegetables or brown the onions and then set them aside until later.

Our passage from Jeremiah must be read within the context of chapters 27 and 28. Actually, we need to consider our passage within the entire book of Jeremiah, for we know that here too the Word of God divided people like a sword.

Israel’s rulers and many of its people embraced other inanimate gods and idols. Some outright rejected Yahweh and Mosaic Law. Others attempted to blend the two religions. This we call syncretism – attempting to blend Law and Gospel with alternative beliefs, lifestyles or practices in an attempt to please people and appease deities. But we don’t have time in a sermon to study all of Jeremiah; so, we begin in chapter 27.

In chapter 27, we read that the yoke of Babylon was imposed by God upon Judah and her neighbors. Judah’s plans for rebellion were against God’s will. Perhaps Zedekiah, King of Judah, heeded Jeremiah’s earlier warning and did not carry out a rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, who then spared Judah when he conducted his punitive campaign against his neighboring enemies.

Jeremiah repeated his warning: God did not send the court prophets who were advising King Zedekiah. Earlier in the book, we read, “The Lord said to [Jeremiah]: ‘The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds’” (14:14).

Jeremiah also cautioned the priests and the people against believing the baseless assurances of these prophets that the temple equipment taken as booty several years earlier (in 597 BC) would soon be returned. Instead, Jeremiah told them that they should pray that what they have will not be taken to Babylon.

When we get to chapter 28, four and one-half years into Zedekiah’s rule, one of these prophets, Hananiah, assured the priests and all the people that total restoration of Judah would occur within two years because God had prophesied to him that God broke the yoke of Babylon. We read, “Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon” (28:3-4).

That gets us to our passage, and Jeremiah’s response, which contradicts Hananiah’s words and concludes with, “As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet” (28:9).

At this, Hananiah broke the wooden yoke Jeremiah had worn as a symbol, stating that the Lord would also do to Nebuchadnezzar within two years. How did Jeremiah respond? He went home.

Sometime later, God spoke to Jeremiah and instructed him to confront Hananiah with this message: “You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.’ … [Jeremiah continued,] The Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.’” The chapter ends by telling us that two months later, Hananiah died (28:14-17).

The lesson learned is to be faithful to God alone. Jeremiah and Jesus were faithful. They did not teach disciples to choose or promise false peace – or the peace the world gives. They did not promise to unify all people. They were not delusional political candidates. They were faithful to the Kingdom of God for nothing else will bring life to the full and eternal life to the sinner.

Let’s return to our Gospel. In verses 35-37, it seems that Jesus’s words contradict the Fourth Commandment to honor one’s father and mother, but His words must be understood in relation to Matthew 8:22. “Another of the disciples said to him, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.’” For Jesus, faithfulness to the Kingdom of God and His call were more important than anything, including family duties. His words in these three verses echo the words of the Prophet Micah. In chapter seven, the Prophet cried, “Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms; for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me” (7:5-7).

In Micah’s prophecy the terrible conflict within families is symptomatic of the sinful condition of the people in the prophet’s day. In a tragically similar way, even though divine peace comes to those who are given faith to trust and follow Jesus, conflict will result between them and those family members who refuse to repent and believe in the Messiah.[2]

By their very unregenerate nature, unbelievers do not want the salvation that Christ accomplished, and that Christian pastors and missionaries, together with the whole church, offer.[3] Given the condition of the sinful human heart and the unchanging nature of Christ’s message, which calls for repentance and faith, the inevitable result of Christ’s coming will be conflict and strife.[4]

Some will hear Christ’s call to faith and discipleship, and by God’s gracious action through the Gospel they hear, they will repent and believe. Others will hear the same call, but due to their own ingrained sin and stubbornness, they will reject the Christ who summons them to salvation. Even the family … will become fundamentally separated from one another because one will confess Christ, and the other will deny him. Both confession and denial have eternal consequences.[5]

In these divided families the believer will sooner or later face this challenge from unbelieving loved ones: ‘Choose me and my ways rather than your Jesus and his ways.’ … To be sure, Christians will be more loving, more patient, more accepting of non-Christian family members than they otherwise would be, since the love they receive from Christ enables Christians to display Christlike love, whether or not it is [returned]. At times God will use such a loving witness as part of his way of bringing unbelievers to faith. Other times, however, the non-believing [family member] … will demand allegiance and conformity in ways to which the Christian simply must not agree. Then, the disciple must love Jesus more than father or mother or son or daughter.[6]

In the days and years ahead, if our society remains on its present course, we may be required to give a defense of our faith that could lead to impoverishment, imprisonment, suffering and even death.  Although we hope these things won't come to pass, we need to be ready – armed with the weapons of spiritual battle – to strengthen us for every eventuality. In the meantime, let us pray for the grace to grow in faithfulness each day, and as we do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching.  ….. Westminster John Knox Press (1993), p. 117.

[2] Jeffrey A. Gibbs, Matthew 1:1-11:1. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (2006), p. 537.

[3] Gibbs, p. 538.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Gibbs, pp. 538f.

[6] Gibbs, p. 539.