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Scripture |
Matthew 10:24-39 24“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; 25 it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! 26“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27 What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33 but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.” 34“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
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Devotional |
The cost of discipleship in verses 34-39 is difficult to understand especially when we compare it with today’s emphasis on family values. Hating our family is tough especially in good times. Is Jesus speaking of priorities and how we are to keep all relationships in the proper order? Dietrich Bonhoeffer helps me understand these verses in writing about Christian community. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in Life Together: “Those who love their dream of a Christian community more that the Christian community itself becomes destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, and sacrificial.” Has the dream of becoming a disciple become more important to us than discipleship? This is especially true in spirituality as we study the lives of the Saints. The dream of being like a Saint replaces the discipline of becoming a spiritual person. In 1937, Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship writes about cheap grace. Dallas Willard writes in The Great Omission about discipleship in today’s Christian communities or the lack of discipleship today. He classifies us as Christians rather than disciples. For at least several decades the churches for the Western world have not made discipleship a condition of being a Christian. One is not required to be, or to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of progress toward or in discipleship. 1 The disciple of Jesus is not the deluxe or heavy-duty model of a Christian-especially padded, textured, streamlined, and empowered for the fast lane on the straight and narrow way. 2 Has the dream of becoming a super disciple, one that is bullet-proof, in today’s society? Has our dream of discipleship destroyed discipleship? Has the dream replaced the difficult work of becoming a disciple, so that we are satisfied with being a Christian? One last thought from Willard: This “heresy” has created the impression that it is quite reasonable to be a “vampire Christian.” One in effect says to Jesus, “I’d like a little of your blood, please. But I don’t care to be your student or have your character. In, fact, won’t you just excuse me while I get on with my life, and I’ll see you in heaven.” But can we really imagine that this is an approach that Jesus finds acceptable? 3 Writing sixty-nine years after Bonhoeffer, Willard does not credit us with any progress or could we be moving in the opposite direction?
1 Dallas Willard, The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings. San Francisco : Harper E-Books 2006 |