Matthew 10:16-31
“Notice what you notice.” Two days ago we interrupted Matthew’s very long account of Jesus’ sending out the twelve apostles so that we could read the more parallel passages in Mark and Luke. Today we continue Matthew’s account of Jesus’ instructions to His disciples. Although we might have imagined our own version of a “pep talk” that Jesus might have delivered, His actual words do not offer much encouragement except in two places: (1) But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (v. 22b) and (2) Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (v. 31) Around those two verses Jesus cautions His disciples that they will face many tests in the world when they speak of Him. In fact, as I read the first half of today’s reading the apostle Paul came to mind. He was delivered over to the courts and flogged; dragged before governors and kings to bear witness before them and the Gentiles; hated by all for Jesus’ name’s sake; and persecuted in one town and forced to flee to the next. Jesus’ words came true in Paul’s life; I suspect that many of those twelve disciples came to many of the same outcomes.
The other item that came to mind today was in verse 27: What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. Carol and I and two of our children lived in Nitra, Slovakia during the academic year 2004-2005. There we became familiar with Ján Cardinal Korec, a Catholic Cardinal who also lived in Nitra. He had written a book, Night of the Barbarians, (1996) in which he described the 1950 Communist takeover of all the churches and religious schools and institutions in Czechoslovakia and the ensuing repression of faith throughout the country. Korec was studying for the priesthood during this time and had already written a number of theological articles while studying and was already well known for his writing. As a result he was immediately secretly ordained a priest. One year later he was ordained a bishop, at that time the youngest Catholic bishop in the world. In his book Korec described his continuing to secretly teach and ordain young men to the priesthood. What I remember vividly is his talking about whispering into a megaphone into these young men’s ears so that his words (and theirs) could not be heard by the Communist authorities. (See Jesus’ quote at the beginning of this paragraph.) His activities were eventually uncovered and he spent eight years in jail (1960-1968). His time in jail was the shortest chapter in his book. Please forgive my Wikipedia source for the preceding information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1n_Chryzostom_Korec
Slava Bohu!