Pentecost 6/Proper 7
The Rev. Nigel Taber-Hamilton, Rector
Jeremiah 20: 7-13; Psalm 69: 7-10, 16-18; Romans 6: 1b-11; Matthew 10: 24-39
When I read today's Hebrew Scripture reading, and the gospel passage, I couldn't help but think of a question asked by a nefarious character later in the story of Jesus: "What is truth?" (John 18:38) - anyone know who said that?
This question lies behind both passages - the nature of truth and its consequences.
So here's a job description seen in newspaper: Professional position. Job expectations: 12 hour days crammed in a small cubicle. The boss is a jerk. The receptionist is obnoxious. No possibility of raise for at least five years. Salary half that of comparable positions.
Would you apply? But its true!!
When you look at a job description you would never expect to see anything like that! In fact you'd expect the exact opposite. Every ad tries to paint a rosy picture of idyllic working conditions, cheery co-workers, thoughtful and caring management, and a generous salary potential.
And mostly, if you believe everything in ads like that then do I have a bridge I'd like to sell you!
In advertising truth is a carefully manipulated commodity - often to the extent that we wouldn't recognize it as truth if it bit us in the nether regions!
Of course, that's because the advertiser wants to sell us something - often something we probably don't really need.
But on a more serious level, we do tend to underestimate the power of truth when its spoken with an honest realism. Here are a couple of examples.
"Soldiers, all our efforts against superior forces have been unavailing, and I have nothing to offer you but hunger and thirst, hardship and death." Giuseppe Garibaldi, the "Father of modern Italy" said that in 1849. His soldiers didn't abandon him after this speech, and many more joined him.
Then there's this one: "I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, sweat and tears". Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during the Second World War said that upon taking office in the dark days of 1940 that:, and again the response to his honest assessment of the grave nature of the situation and the challenge that it implied was dramatic and positive.
And, lastly, John F. Kennedy, talking of planned space flight to the moon, said: "we will do this not because it is easy but because it is hard..."
As human beings we respond to this sort of honesty. We respond for a whole host of reasons, I suppose, not the least because such language appeals to the adventurer in all of us.
But I think the most important reason is this: if we believe that the task we're being called to is honorable and just, if we believe the goals are worthy, if we believe that the ultimate vision is a good we must strive for, then we'll take up the cause and make it our own.
Truly great people know this - they know that if they are going to ask someone to do something difficult or dangerous or challenging the very least they can do is be honest with them.
We see that in today's gospel in Jesus' words.
Throughout the gospels Jesus never hesitated to tell his followers what they might expect, what the consequences of following through on what he proposed might be.
Following an unpopular course of action with integrity is an open invitation to ridicule, to rejection, and ultimately, sometimes, to persecution. That's true whether the oppressor is the State, the Church itself, or even members of one's own family, as Jesus observed in today's passage. We should not be surprised, says Jesus, if the response of others to the message of salvation is less than we might hope for, but we have a God-given obligation to try and share it.
All of today's readings talk either of this potential for sometimes vigorous or even violent opposition, or of its reality. Jeremiah, "Mr. Here-comes-doom-and-gloom" - said quite bluntly that his faith impelled him to speak and to act (the latter perhaps more important than the former).
The Psalmist was condemned simply because he was associated with God.
And of course Jesus continued the theme.
Behind all these stories is one simple fact: becoming a person of faith changes you in ways that others find difficult or threatening.
And "those who find it difficult or threatening" include our blood relatives - the ones who know us best are in the best place to notice.
And, in fact, if becoming a Christian doesn't lead to that life-altering change then perhaps a refresher course is in order!
Even here, though, we have to be careful - I heard a piece on NPR this morning from a blue-collar ex-boxer who talked in a raspy southern drawl about how his church, the Church of God of Prophesy presented God as angry and vengeful - how he was called to repentance through fear and intimidation.
That, picture of God contains a form of truth , doesn't it? Certainly there are images of God in Hebrew Scripture that show exactly that sort of God.
It isn't the God we meet in Jesus, who doesn't seek to convert through fear or intimidation, but by proclaiming by word and example the loving grace and forgiveness of God.
Today's scriptural truth is about lives transformed, about hard work and difficult relationships - about real life, in other words.
And it comes with an invitation, which is, ultimately, to ask ourselves how our lives are different through being Christians - what's changed for us that would be obvious to others in response to God's love and grace, in response to Truth with a capital 'T'.
May you discover that difference and that Truth on your own journeys, so that you can speak and act boldly as a follower of Jesus. Amen.
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