NOTES for Mat 10:23-31

Christ's words, foretelling imminent persecutions and encouraging believers, may at first glance call to mind the way adherents are "pumped up" in totalitarian sects: "We alone are right, and everyone else is foolish. Therefore they will beat us, but we will stand firm because we are right, and for this we will receive a reward. And we cannot be wrong, because that can never happen." Or something in the same spirit...

There is, however, one essential difference between what Jesus says and what people may say. It lies precisely in who is speaking, because only Christ's words are backed by genuine truth. Only God Himself can truly promise anything, because only His promises are unshakable.

Although our reward is invisible, our patience is all the more precious, for "if someone sees, why does he still hope?" (Rom 8:24). And if Christ says that nothing will happen to us apart from the will of our Father, then we can be sure it is so. For everyone understands, and many of us know from our own experience, that God truly cares for us: even if we are walking down the street and no brick falls on us, there is every reason to see in that a gift from God...

People are characterized by fear of the unknown, the hidden. One can try to prepare in advance for something known; in any case, it is clear what to expect from it. Hidden danger is always sudden and unpredictable; it is impossible to "lay down straw" and somehow soften undesirable consequences. And this is natural. Only this naturalness does not mean rightness before God; it comes from human nature distorted by the fall, from the habit of living in distrust and, consequently, in fear. Fear is the basic state of the fallen human soul, and a person fears not only real dangers but imaginary ones as well. At the same time imaginary dangers are always more frightening, because they are inevitably "hidden," since only realities can be known.

It is no accident that God, in practically every contact with people, says: "Do not be afraid." He calls us to trust, because there is no fear in trust. After all, the most incomprehensible One for a person is God Himself. If anyone is to be feared, then only Him, not some of His creatures and their "secret conspiracies." But in Christ God reveals Himself as true love; therefore even He should not be feared, but loved, and with reverence and trembling one should seek the meeting.

At first the words that a disciple cannot become greater than his teacher can appear to limit his possibilities. But if we take into account that to become like the teacher is already no small thing, and that not everyone is able to become equal to him, then here we can see a call to growth. If the matter is discipleship to Christ, then the call to become like the Teacher reveals to us His special attitude toward those who follow Him. For the matter concerns the high level to which Christ intends to raise fallen humanity - He wants to deify us.

And even in the stern words of warning that Christ will deny the one who denies Him, we can see how highly He has placed the human person. For relationships are implied here that almost make one think of equality...

Of course, it would be enormous insolence on such a basis to forget reverence before His majesty and to introduce familiarity into relations with Him. He did not become one of human beings so that we would bring into spiritual life what is "human, all too human," that is, in the words of one author, "always something animal." But what draws us near to God is a gift that imposes responsibility.

Many times, when God addresses people, He begins with the words "Do not be afraid!" And now Jesus encourages His disciples in the same way. They are to preach "from the housetops" and bear witness to their Teacher. Is it frightening? It is! But fear departs when love comes, because "there is no fear in love" (1 Jn 4:18). Love the Father, who cares for you so deeply, and everything will become possible.

Living on earth can be frightening enough as it is, and if we apply to ourselves Christ's words addressed to the apostles, it becomes deeply unsettling. That is why the words "do not be afraid" are repeated so often and so seriously in the instruction. Fear is one of the strongest human experiences, which means it can be overcome only by something even stronger. The Lord points the disciples to these "powerful remedies": trust and, strangely enough, fear.

The trust in question is not simply faith that "God will always help," but the deepest, most fundamental confidence that everything is in His hands, from the little birds sold in the market for copper coins to every human life and death. And the second is the fear of God: not fear of punishment, not even fear of sin, but precisely "fear" before God, reverence and awe that make God immeasurably more real and significant for us than any other fears.

Today the Lord speaks to His disciples about coming disasters and trials. Betrayal, rejection, exile, and martyrdom await them. What, then, does He call them, and us, to do in this difficult hour? In such situations the world needs the intervention of God Himself, and Jesus calls His disciples to become instruments of this intervention. Let kings and rulers hear the word of salvation through them; let the suffering receive comfort and encouragement through them. They themselves will need nothing, for the heavenly Father Himself will care for them. They need only learn to trust Him. Then their bond with Heaven will become stronger than all earthly bonds, and God will be a greater reality for them than family, property, even life itself.

In the face of trials, the Lord calls us to surrender ourselves entirely to His will and to become His healing presence on earth.

The words that the disciples are sent out as sheep among wolves may recall the popular worldly principle, "When you live with wolves, howl like a wolf." But no, we have not been given a commandment to turn into wolves. And yet how can we avoid becoming wolves without also becoming eaten?

Like much of what the Lord has revealed to us, these words of Christ are paradoxical. But behind this paradox stands a reality confirmed by the experience of spiritual life: if we want to rely on human strength alone and intend to become equal to the wolves, we risk rejecting the help of the Heavenly Father. This may give us some temporary advantages, but degradation will inevitably follow. And conversely, what people are used to considering a manifestation of weakness may turn out to be not only a manifestation, but also a source of strength.

Christ warns of the inevitability of persecution, and it will come not only from obvious enemies; many of the dearest and closest will also become enemies. In such circumstances it is hard to preserve love for one's neighbor, but this is precisely what the Lord wants from us, calling us not to become like the persecutors. All the more so because in a number of cases love for neighbors and love for enemies mean love for the same people...

Among the things Christ promised, especially astonishing is the promise that the Spirit of the Father will speak in us in difficult moments. Meanwhile, many Christians who have gone through trials confirm the truth of these words. And this is practical confirmation of the truth of the Gospel.

The distinguishing mark of Christ's disciples is that they are open to God and to the world. They carry the news of God's Kingdom, and at the same time they go to people; they hope only in God, yet they receive help from people; they address rulers and kings, yet they speak the words of the Spirit. Both are not simple: being open to God can be difficult and frightening; being open to people is always difficult and sometimes dangerous. The disciples will have to combine in themselves qualities that are hard to combine: to be lambs, wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Nevertheless, this is the task of the disciples, each of whom is in some sense an apostle, that is, a representative, an ambassador of Christ in the world. For a messenger must in some way resemble his lord. So the disciples imitate the mission of the God-man Christ: belonging to God, they are turned toward the world and toward people, losing their connection neither with Heaven nor with earth.