KAALAGAD Gospel Reflection – Matthew 10: 16-33
16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant[f] above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his household.
26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And 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?[i] And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Who Would Want To Be A Disciple?
It makes good sense to read the entire Chapter 10 of Matthew’s Gospel to gain full understanding of the eight verses nominated for today’s gospel.
The chapter is foreboding reading. It carries warnings of persecution, of being dragged before the Sanhedrin and scourged in their synagogues; of brother against brother, father against children, children against parents with death resulting; of being hated by all. There are warnings of persecution and cautions of not being afraid of those who kill the body.
Out of all this, today’s gospel reading is the summons for the disciples to open and fearless speech, for Jesus has come to bring not peace but the sword.
Who would want to be a disciple in such a context?
The context is a divided Israel. Written some 50 to 60 years after the death of Jesus, Matthew’s gospel is addressed to the people of Israel. Its concern is to validate Jesus as the Messiah, the one in line of the prophets who came to fulfill the law of Moses and the words of the prophets, to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God.
Following the death and resurrection of Jesus, the growing Christian communities truly unsettled the Jewish nation. Pharisees like Saul were intent upon the destruction of this “foreign invasion” and we can be sure Stephen, while being the first martyr, was certainly not the last.
That context is so totally different from our context in 2020. Yet, fundamentally, it is so totally the same.
Our context is also division. We live in a divided world, a more fractured and broken world we could hardly imagine. There are wars and armed conflicts across the face of the earth. Many countries, such as The United States while not at war, are deeply divided internally. The Philippines is not exempt from such internal division and is close observer to the ongoing conflict in Hong Kong.
Our context is all the more muddled and muddied by the pandemic that has swept the world. With lockdowns we are all the more shut off, separated from those in our own street and town, our own province and nation and our world. Uncertainty brings anxiety and fear, lack of work brings hunger and desperation, we know not when this will last and what our future will be. The Covid-19 virus is a shadow across our lives and provides a space for darkness wherein rulers, tyrants and despots can introduce new laws to enforce subservience while not providing food for the eating and medicine for the healing.
This then is the context for the summons to us as Christians to open and fearless speech. We are called to validate Jesus as the Messiah who has initiated us into the Kingdom of his Father.
Who then would want to be a Disciple? And if you were to be a Disciple, what would you say?
Recently we have witnessed vivid examples of peoples standing together, expressing open and fearless speech. They marched, they sat, they knelt. They were met with teargas, pepper spray, batons, shields and flash grenades. Across the world the campaign Black Lives Matter gained traction. While not overtly speaking out as Disciples of Jesus, they were demanding justice and equity in their society. Justice and equity are integral to the Kingdom of God.
We can pray. Indeed, we must pray without ceasing. The prayer then becomes the voice of our action, for the prayer of the disciple is a call to action. Jesus said: “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast our devils.” He did not say, “Pray that the sick be cured, the dead be raised, the lepers be cleansed, devils be cast out”.
I recall a prayer I read in another time, a previous age, but the same context, in the Philippines. I record this prayer here and in parenthesis, I will indicate a small change the writer could have made in the prayer.
Restore Your People Lord (With your strength may we restore your people, Lord)
Who from the beginning of time have nourished
The seed of peace in their dreams
Lift from their bleeding hearts
The dead weight of suffering and allow
The spirit of interminable longing to break loose
And shatter years of pain like the morning sun
Of the Cordilleras breaking open the darkness
Of the valleys
Restore our families Father (With your strength may we restore our families, Father)
So that children can laugh and learn
Not beg and die so young
So that the wife be not anxious for her loved one’s
Safe return
So that the husband can rejoice in his work and relax
With his family without fear in the cooling twilight.
Restore your land Creator, your irreplaceable gift (With your strength may we restore your land )
And allow it to return to your people
Free it from its torturers
From the ravishing of machine and money
That your poor can live from it in harmony with
The forests and rivers the mountains and plains
Let your peace flow as the rivers of the Bicol Basin (In your Spirit may peace flow …)
So that each morning is received as a new gift
And the evening can be faced without dread
So that the worker can toil with dignity
Not as a slave under the yoke
And that all people share equally the fruits
Of abundant mother earth
Restore in us Spirit of Life
The wisdom of our ancestors and the
Courage of our martyrs
That our selflessness be absolute
Our responsibility without limit
And that we be resolute yes even unto death
In creating with you the Kingdom of Jesus
An everlasting spring of peace welling up
From the unshakeable rock of justice
Perhaps then this prayer could become a call to action, a call to open and fearless speech for the restoration of peoples, the restoration of families, the restoration of the land itself.
