Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life
for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39)
Hot diggity dog!
I’m really looking forward to the Fourth Sunday in Pentecost this year.
It’s not because the lessons are so exciting—although just about every reading
we get in the RCL during Ordinary Time has some jazzy stuff in it. But, no,
it’s not the Scripture lesson. This week I’ll get the honor and privilege of
baptizing an adorable little baby girl named Ariana. She’s the first adorable
little baby girl I’ll baptize whose mother I also baptized when she
was an adorable little baby girl.
I guess this should make me feel old, but, strangely, it doesn’t. It’s
weird, but haven’t you noticed how kids grow up but we stay the same? I’m just
happy for Ariana’s parents and grandparents, and I’m delighted that this
adorable little baby girl is being brought to the Lord’s house to receive the
outward sign of God’s inward grace through the sacrament of Holy Baptism.
The problem I’m having is with the Gospel text the RCL assigned for
Pentecost 4, Year A (Matthew 10:24-39). It’s not exactly the jolliest text for
a baptism. Jesus warns the disciples that he hasn’t come to bring peace but “a
sword.” (v. 34b) He tells them they can expect to be maligned by others and
that anyone who loves their family members more than they love him is not
worthy of him. That’s some pretty harsh stuff, don’t you think? He also tells
them that he’s come to set family members against each other, like setting a
daughter against her mother. This is not a cool thing to be saying on a family
occasion like a baptism.
(Of course, if Ariana is anything like her mom, she just might have a little determined streak
in her that could keep Mom up at night. Not a mean or naughty streak I must
add, but stiletto-sharp intellect, self-confidence, and a tendency to question
authority. Kids like that make their parents proud—and really nervous at the
same time!)
I won’t try to put spin on the words of the Lord, but I will point out
that our evangelist Matthew probably didn’t take down Jesus’ words with a steno
pad. If you read this passage through, Jesus seems to be jumping from topic to
topic like a kid with ADD. Most smart Bible scholar folks think Matthew had
access to a lot of Jesus’ more memorable expressions[i],
and that he glued some of them together in his Gospel to make it sound like a
series of long speeches. It probably didn’t go down like that. Nevertheless,
the through line here—the point Matthew seems to be making—is that discipleship
is hard. If we’re not facing conflict because of our faith in Jesus, we’re
probably not doing it right.
I can testify with first-hand knowledge that love of Jesus and the
Christian faith can set families at odds. Back in the ‘70’s my sister Maryanne
was a real card-carrying Jesus Freak. My parents—who loved the Lord, took us
all to church, and said grace at every meal—started to complain that Sis was in
church too much. Personally, I think if going to church is the worst thing your
kid does, you’ve hit the kid lottery. But we had some real discord in our
family back in those days. Today, I’d probably admire my sister for standing up
for her new-found faith, but I’d argue doctrine with her because I now feel her
new denomination was too focused on “End Times” theology to the exclusion of incarnational ministry; furthermore, and
I’d probably argue the same thing with thousands of Americans who are my brothers
and sisters in Christ. In fact, if my wonderful, faithful, church-going parents
were alive today, I bet we’d have lots of
arguments over the issues of society, and we’d each cite Scripture to prove we
were standing on the moral high ground. Jesus wasn’t kidding when he warned us
discipleship can lead anywhere from a frosty silence at the dinner table to a
jail cell after a protest march.
But, if you stop to think about it, this is really a good thing. Why?
Because even asking our grown kids why they don’t go to church can open up a
dialogue which will force both sides to go deeper into what they truly believe.
Every theological argument is an opportunity for us to engage more deeply with
the Word and with Jesus.
When Ariana is baptized, she’ll be baptized into conflict, but that
conflict will have rewards—emotional rewards for her, and, possibly, merciful,
healing, and life-affirming rewards for people we will never meet whom she will bless through her faith.
May you engage in some beautiful conflict for the sake of your baptism
this week. Thanks again for stopping by my blog!
[i]
There’s this cool thing Bible scholars are pretty sure existed called the Q
source. It was basically a collection of Jesus’ sayings, sort of “Jesus
Christ’s Greatest Hits.” Most Bible experts think Matthew and Luke relied on
this material when they wrote their Gospels. You can read more about it if you
check out the Wikipedia entry here:
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