Do not fear, you are God’s beloved, and though there is cost to living with God’s heart, it is the life you always have wanted to know and live, with God’s help.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Lect. 12 A
Texts: Matthew 10:24-39; Jeremiah 20:7-13; Psalm 69:7-18; Romans 6:1b-11
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Jeremiah couldn’t keep it inside. It hurt too much.
He shared God’s heart, the guts of God we learned of last week, and he couldn’t keep quiet. He had to to do what Jesus said to the disciples today, proclaim what he heard God whisper into his heart out on the rooftops.
But he really didn’t want to. He never wanted the calling of prophet. Because when he did speak out in the light what was hidden in the dark, as Jesus referenced, he suffered for it. He was beaten and put in stocks, thrown into a cistern, abandoned by friends, accused of treason, and made a public laughingstock.
So he tried to shut up the heart of God inside him. Avoid the call. And God’s Word inside burned in him like a fire in his bones. It hurt worse to keep it in.
He wanted to be a normal person. But he found he couldn’t reject this heart of God within and stay whole. To speak brought spiritual grief, and despair. But there was no other way for him.
Remember this when you consider the new heart we spoke of last week, God’s heart beating in time with yours, you sharing the guts, the the compassion of Christ. There will be a cost for that.
Now, the costs in our readings today seem severe and a little removed from us.
Jeremiah’s do for sure. But the psalmist suffered reproach for the sake of God, estrangement from their family, mockery from neighbors. Jesus says following his way might lead to painful separation in your closest relationships, even parents and children. He says he didn’t come to bring peace. He means that following him, sharing his heart, being his disciple, is going to lead to conflict, suffering, even pain. Not because he wants it. Because it just will.
Maybe not many of us have experienced even part of what these readings suggest could happen. But it’s not too far away in our day, either. Renee Good on that day in January decided to stand in front of neighbors who were threatened with unjust arrest and disappearing. Her last words to the man who killed her were, “It’s OK, I’m not mad at you,” with a smile on her face. She acted on the heart of compassion within her, and it cost her life.
Alex Pretti likewise acted on his heart of compassion and decided, like Renee, to get out and protest what was happening to his neighbors. He saw a woman being manhandled by an agent and decided that had to stop. He intervened, and he was killed.
Neither meant to die that day. But both did decide to forgo convenience and whatever else they could have done that day and go be a presence for good on behalf of someone else. Both paid the ultimate price.
But thousands in those weeks did the same without dying. That’s the thing. Thousands acted on their heart of compassion and said, “not here, not with these loved ones.” Remember that most of all.
See, the costs are high even without being killed for loving as Christ.
Jesus said today not to fear those who can only kill your body. And that’s really just saying, don’t fear what might happen, even if you think it’s the worst thing. Go and do your calling.
And there will be costs. The heart of Christ burning within you shows you the pain and suffering of your neighbors, of this city, this world. You see it, you feel it. And you think, “this isn’t right.”
And if you decide that the person you want to be is someone whose heart beats as one with God’s, you will do something. You will forgo convenience and what you might have done in a day and do something. Whether it’s packing groceries or helping our neighborhood ministry here or in your own neighborhood, or calling political leaders or walking across the street to be Christ to someone, that’s a cost. You could just live your life for you instead.
But the costs, Jesus says, can be higher. If you decide to speak when someone is being cruel or hurtful, or saying hateful things, and say “not here, not to this beloved one,” you risk problems. If it’s at a family gathering and the heart of God within you says, “no more, you can’t be quiet,” the divisions Jesus promises today are very possible. You might be mocked, you might cause a rift. Speaking out for the heart of God within you is not the popular thing. Even if you’re not beaten or thrown in a pit or killed, you can make things really uncomfortable by speaking when you could stay silent. By acting when you could easily do nothing.
So Jesus’ words today are for you: don’t be afraid. Secrets are meant to be uncovered, words God whispers in your heart are meant to be said, things done in the dark need to be brought to the light. It might feel like you’re losing part of your life, but you are acting the only way you can, according to the heart of Christ beating inside you.
And make no mistake: there is no cost-free option for any of us.
If you stay silent when you could speak, if you do nothing when you see some way you could act, there is a great cost.
First, as Jeremiah learned, that heart of God is still going to be beating inside you and it will be very painful to ignore. But even more, you will become diminished. You will be less than you are. Your life will get smaller and smaller, your heart will get colder and colder, and at some point you won’t even feel the heart of God anymore. You will lose your life, Jesus says, in the very act of trying to keep it for yourself.
And you know this, because you’ve seen it happen to others. Maybe you even have sensed moments of it when it happens in you.
There is always a cost. The question is, what kind of person do you want to be? And when you ask that, ask this: can you ignore the fire of God burning inside you?
But keep hearing Jesus’ good news in all this: don’t be afraid – you are beloved.
You are more precious to God than the tiniest sparrow, Jesus says. And God loves every sparrow dearly, knows when each one dies. A God who tracks the smallest of creatures with love and care can be trusted to hold you and love you, Jesus says. God even knows how many hairs you have on your head, you’re that precious.
And the life of following Christ’s heart is the true abundant life Jesus wants you to know. Paul says that being baptized into Christ is like dying with Jesus – we lose things, there is a cost, as we’ve heard. But he says it’s also being born into “newness of life.” That the life in Christ, heart beating in time with God’s, speaking when God’s voice urges you to speak, acting as God’s heart calls you to act, is the only life worth living.
You know what life you truly want. You know it in your bones, where God’s fire burns. In your heart, where God’s heart beats. So beloved, precious sparrow of God, trust that you have God’s strength and love, choose the costs that will lead to a life worth living, and find that life in Christ that will be part of God’s healing of all things.
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
