Christian Pathway

(Matthew 10:24–39)

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which you describe one thing as if it were another to show a meaning, connection, or idea.

Examples of this are
“Time is a thief.”
(Time doesn’t literally steal, but it feels like it takes things from us.)

“He has a heart of stone.”
(Not literal — it means he’s emotionally hard or unfeeling.)

“The world is a stage.”
(Life feels like a performance.)

A very famous theologian, Colin Gunton, was an associate minister in Brentwood for many years.  . He said Jesus used metaphors slightly differently. He said that for Jesus, a Metaphor is a way of knowing, not just a way of speaking, which is why we need to be so careful when speaking about our faith.  Rather than taking everything literally, we need to ask whether Jesus is using a metaphor and what he is trying to teach us through it.
 Jesus’ metaphors work a little like music. Music can help us understand an experience at a level deeper than ordinary words. It can express grief, joy, hope, or longing without needing to explain them directly. In the same way, Jesus’ metaphors do not simply give us information; they invite us into understanding. They help us feel the truth, not just think about it.

The reason this is relevant is that this reading is a series of lessons taught by using metaphors, aiming to teach us a simple truth

The first thing he says is that a student is not above a teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a student to be like his master. 

The metaphor here is that we are the students, and Jesus is the person we are supposed to be like.    He is our template, as it says in Ephesians: Follow God’s example; therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love.

Jesus then talks about what to do if you get called names.

If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!  
According to some sources, the word Beelzebul is related to the waste material piled up outside the city gates, with steam rising from it. Others think it’s about ” Lord of the flies/dung” being a later Jewish mockery.  So Jesus is possibly being a tad coarse here? But more than that, Jesus is saying they call me names, they are going to call you names, and anyone open with their faith will know a name is not far behind, especially on social media or if you have atheists for relatives, it’s going to happen. Whatever way delegitimises you, or invalidates you, is going to be used by people who really don’t want your voice or Jesus’ voice to be heard.

So what is Jesus asking us to learn from him here? If you follow me and do your best to copy me, you will get trouble heaped on you. It’s hard to follow this chap; however, when it happens, we are expected to grind our way through. When we get called names because of our faith, when we don’t get an easy life or prayers answered.  It’s going to be hard following Jesus.  Its easy to see why?

Because our faith speaks truth to power by saying the opposite of what angry people in this world say? That everyone has value, that everyone is precious, that it’s not about flags or countries, it’s about him. That’s not going to make you friends when you realise love is our superpower; vulnerability is what made our faith grow. That’s the opposite of orange people and Russian presidents who think they can make people cower, and that’s power.
We know Jesus’ message of humility and raising people means people follow him with their hearts. He himself knows this, and that’s why he sends his disciples out vulnerable, as in last week’s reading, he sends them out with just sandals and a belt and no money among wolves. Vulnerability is what gets us listened to. That’s what scares power about our faith; they don’t understand it, but they see the power it has to make people resist.

Then we get to another of Jesus’ learning metaphors that take us deep into the expectations of our faith.

38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Jesus said this long before his own crucifixion, so his listeners would not have heard it simply as a reference to what was about to happen to him. But they would have known exactly what a cross meant. In the Roman world, crucifixion was a familiar sight for a people oppressed by a brutal occupier. People had seen men and women condemned in this way. They had seen soldiers gather around someone and force them to carry the wooden beam. And everyone understood what that meant. Once a person took up their cross, they were not heading towards a difficult day or an awful one. They were walking towards death.

We may not have days that demand our lives, but we may have ones that demand a LOT, keeping going following him, where we have to be vulnerable and where our vulnerability asks a lot of us, and our lord asks us to trust him through awful times.

Then he says
39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

This sums up all that’s gone before

If you lose your life in me, you will find your life’s true meaning. I will ask everything from you and give you everything.  Cs Lewis says that Christianity, if true, is of infinite importance, and if false, is of no importance. The famous line (paraphrased): it’s the same argument where he says the only thing he can’t be is of moderate importance or just a wise teacher; he says Jesus is either “Liar, a Lunatic, or Lord”.  Jesus knows he is worth everything because he gave everything for you to have it.

However, losing your life for him isn’t the same as throwing it away —  he makes that clear when he says  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  So  don’t think sparrows are unimportant; they  are numbered, counted and cared for

But you are worth many sparrows.  The metaphor here is clear: your effort is noted, and he doesn’t want you to throw your lives away, but he does want all of you?

So we probably won’t be asked to literally give our lives for Jesus, but once we give our lives, he wants all of it.  Albeit there are a million ways to give your life to him, In every way doing as he would ask. Albeit we must never think anything we could ever do could earn eternity.  I often hear the phrase , he or she was a good person, as if it’s a transaction. It’s not it’s the action of grace, we were lost and he found us in the wastelands and brought us home from our broken state.  He saved us from ourselves. So no, it is not that we give God this, and he gives us that. It is not a bargain, and it is not a transaction. It is simply love rescuing us from our broken state. That is why, for me, love and salvation belong together — because salvation is not just about being forgiven; it is about being made whole.

 

Salvation is derived from the Old English word ” hael ” to be saved, so being made whole is being healed, restored.

This is going to cost you, Jesus-following, your time, your effort, your love, everything you have.  You do it because of love, and because of love, you choose to take up your cross and follow him, because of love, he took up his

But as the old advert goes, it’s because he’s worth it, and he knows you’re worth it.