Matthew 10: 27-39

One day at a local college a professor began her class by telling her students, “Just to establish some parameters for today’s discussion, Mr. Brown, what is the opposite of joy?” “Sadness,” said the student. She turned to another student, “And the opposite of depression, Mr. Helms?” “Elation,” Mr. Helms replied. “And you, Mr. Fields,” she said to a third student, “how about the opposite of woe?” Mr. Fields looked over the top of his reading glasses and said, “I believe that would be giddy up!” One can say Jesus is telling his friends from Matthew 10 this morning that it’s time to giddy up.

Jesus told his friends they had nothing to fear, but they had to stay focused, focused on why they were out there. They were going out into the wilds of demonic strongholds and hopeless collectives of communities and families struggling to find sources of life and joy. They had to stay focused on the one they encountered and the one who changed everything in their lives. They knew life and life abundant by virtue of the words and actions of grace, power and truth of their Lord and Savior. It was on him they needed to stay focused. They were not to share his words of grace and truth and replicate his actions of love and power and not say his name. HE WAS THE ONE they’d encountered. HE WAS THE ONE they’d seen die. HE WAS THE ONE they’d seen enter their locked doors and showed them his scares and promised them the breath and fire of the Holy Spirit to fill them with confidence and empowerment to declare the truth of his kingdom. THEY HAD TO STAY FOCUSED ON WHY THEY WERE DOING THIS. Without a focus, they were bound to deny his name and everything about him.

Regarding keeping your focus, a man was getting out of his car in a grocery store parking lot. Close by, a truck driver was stepping down from the cab of his truck. They both headed to the front door of the store. The man said to the truck driver, “I’d love to drive a big rig, but I’d worry about falling asleep at the wheel.” “Here’s a tip to stay awake,” the truck driver offered. “Put a $100 bill in your left hand and HOLD IT OUT THE WINDOW as you drive along.” That’s staying focused.

What did Jesus tell them he brought? He brought a sword – not peace but a sword. He was not a soldier, and he didn’t train an army to bring forth a revolution to storm the gates of earthly kingdoms and kill the earthly authorities in order to take over earthly institutions and mountains of influence. He possessed a sword to SEVER RELATIONSHIPS and forge new ones. No family or earthly bound relations were more meaningful to his followers than a relationship between him and any follower and any community where that follower was sent. He didn’t bring peace but a sword.

“Well,” we might say, “I’m not called,” or “I’m not sent,” or “I’m not significant nor important – there are others who are called or important or sent; not me.” Jesus was walking along one day when he came upon a man crying, and he said, “My friend, what’s wrong?” The man replied, “I’m blind. Can you help me?” Jesus healed the man and went on his way. Soon he came upon a woman sitting and crying. “Good friend, what’s wrong?” The woman answered, “I’m lame and can’t walk. Can you please help me?” Jesus healed the woman, and they both went down the road. As they continued, they came upon another man crying. Jesus said, “Good friend, what’s wrong?” He said, “I’m a minister.” And Jesus sat down AND CRIED WITH HIM.

“They were sent,” but we may say, “We are not.” “We who stay at home and not go out with orders, we have less to worry about.” If we go out with orders, we’re under the same conditions as if we stayed home. If we stay home, we’re under the same conditions as if we went out with orders. We can stay at home and lose our life for his sake. It’s best to lose your life for his sake be it at home or on the road.

The classic question for any preacher to ask or for any listener to such a sermon may ask is, “Where’s the good news in this?” Those who are going out to the beset and troubled and hopeless, you can go fearlessly because “you are of more value than many sparrows.” So go, focused on saying His name as you bring good news of his mercy, grace, power and love to all you meet. To those who stay home, BECAUSE OF JESUS, a man will be set against his father and a woman against her mother. BECAUSE OF JESUS, it’s hard to maintain relationships that demand everything you have when Jesus is really all you have. It’s not about living a balanced life of affirming the name of Jesus AND affirming other names in the same manner and degree.

The followers and believers in Jesus have a new family. They/We have new relationships that bind us together with cords that cannot be broken. This is good news, and this is what a faithful relationship with God in Christ brings about. We are bound to live new lives in him AND IN RELATIONSHIP WITH ALL WHOM HE LOVES. Unashamed of his name, WE HAVE A NEW LIFE AND NEW RELATIONSHIPS IN HIM.  We can be ashamed of him at home or in the mission field. We can be fearless in saying his name and sharing the good news on the road or at home. Regardless, when his name and faith in him grows in us, EVERYTHING CHANGES. AND THAT’S GOOD NEWS.

I’m finishing with an old Tony Campolo story. Years ago, he organized a missionary effort in Haiti to establish small schools to teach the children who cut sugar cane to read and write. When he would go there, he’d stay at a Holiday Inn in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Once, when he was walking to the entrance of the hotel, he was intercepted by three girls, girls he surmised to be 14 or 15 years old. The girl in the middle said, “Mister, for ten dollars you can have me all night long.” That stunned him. Tony asked the other two girls, “Can I have you too for ten dollars each?” They both nodded. In the writing of this story, Tony recorded the two other girls tried to hide their contempt for him with smiles, but it’s hard to look sexy when you’re very poor and your family is hungry. Tony told them he had $30, he was in room 210, and he’ll expect all three of them in half an hour. He rushed upstairs. He called the concierge desk and asked for all the Disney movies they had to be delivered to his room immediately. He then called room service to deliver four banana splits with all the trimmings. Within a half an hour, the movies arrived, the banana splits arrived, and the girls arrived. He sat the girls on the bed. They watched movies. They ate the banana splits with all the trimmings. They had a party until about one in the morning. The girls were asleep on the bed, and Tony sat in the recliner watching them sleep, and he thought to himself, “Nothing’s changed! Tomorrow they’ll be back on the streets selling their bodies for ten dollars a throw. Nothing’s changed.” Then he believed the Holy Spirit spoke to him and said, “But, for one night, Tony, you let them be little girls again. For one night, they got back their childhoods.” Years and years ago, everything changed for Tony. That was why he taught, lectured, preached, wrote, and initiated mission outreaches in and for the name of Jesus. Everything had changed for him. Years ago, everything changed for you too.

Unashamed of his name, we have a new life and new relationships in and through him. Everything changes, and that’s good news.

(Preached at St Mark United Methodist Church, Anniston, AL, 6-21-26)