Pentecost V, Year A, Proper 7

Jeremiah 20:7-13
Romans 5:15b-19
Matthew 10:16-33

+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In today's gospel, Jesus says, "A father will deliver up his child to death, and a child will rise against his parents and have them put to death." (Mt 10:21) Happy Father's Day! The Church's year, its cycle of feasts and readings, is beautiful, subtle, profound, witty, but rarely is it so perverse. The gospel can be divisive, so much so that a son will kill his father. I don't think that this is what is meant by Christian family values.

Probably the most amusing thing I've read recently about parenting is a chapter in Freakonomics, a book near the top of the bestseller list for the last couple of months. It's an occasionally insightful social analysis, the tone a little cute and the arguments a bit facile, but redeemed by its butchering of sacred cows on the left and right, by its revelations of the blindness of ideology.

The authors, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, point out that fear is one of the chief motivations in the act of parenting, and not a particularly helpful one. But there's a lot to worry about. Should the baby drink formula or breast milk? Should the baby be allowed to cry itself to sleep? Should the baby receive more stimulation or less? The shrill, confusing noise of conflicting experts further stokes the self-doubt and anxiety. Levitt and Dubner write, "A parent, after all, is the steward of another's creatures life, a creature who in the beginning is more helpless than the newborn of nearly any other species. This leads a lot of parents to spend a lot of their parenting energy simply being scared." ⁽¹⁾

The authors have a bit of fun casting doubt on the value of all of the Baby Mozart tapes, the bedtime stories, the French lessons, the museum trips - all of the parental worrying and obsessiveness. They tell the stories of two children. ⁽²⁾ One grows up in the suburbs with involved, caring parents who put a premium on education, even having literary salons in their home. The child is happy and highly gifted. The second child's mother abandons him at two, and his father drinks heavily, beats the boy, and eventually winds up in jail. The child makes no effort in school and begins selling drugs, toting a gun, and mugging suburbanites. We, of course, think the first boy has it made, and the second boy's life will be a disaster, a menace to society. Well, the second boy, Roland Fryer, now 27, is a Harvard economist studying black underachievement, and the first boy, another Harvard boy, is Ted Kaczynski - the Unabomber.

I expect that these are extreme cases, probably a rare upset of the odds, but it does lend some credence to the argument that parents don't matter as much as they think they do. Indeed, Levitt and Dubner cite studies arguing that parents are less important than peers. And surely experiential evidence suggests children are less interested in their parents than in their peers. But who knows? That's not the point. I am not saying that people are foolish to love and to teach and to nurture our children, to give them every opportunity we can. Not at all! I am saying that the results, as it were, are beyond our control. Parents may have some influence, but ultimately, parents are not in control of their children and are only partially responsible for the 'results.' Most, if not all, of parental fear and obsessiveness comes from not being in control. We fear things that we can't control.

Think about how we freak out about mad cow disease when far, far more common food-borne pathogens reside in the average kitchen, and these common pathogens do far, far more harm. Mad cow disease is beyond our control, but cleaning the kitchen isn't, so we don't worry about it. Getting in a car is as dangerous as flying an airplane, but what causes far greater agitation? We can't control the pilot. Far, far more people die of heart disease than of terrorism, but we become almost hysterical about the thing we can't much control while munching freedom fries and watching 4.2 hours of television every day. ⁽³⁾ Who said human beings are rational creatures?

Each of us is at least a little insane. One of the primary ways to distinguish a sane person from an insane person is by asking the question: "Does a person worry more about things beyond their control or things within their control?" I'm a Christian not only because it's true, but because it fosters sanity. We deal with things that are within our control, and that mostly involves only ourselves. We try to control ourselves. That's hard enough. We know that other things are mostly out of our control. In our saner moments, we know not to worry about them. How do we deal with things beyond our control? We try to have faith. We pray and trust God.

Today's gospel comes just after Jesus has chosen his twelve apostles. Jesus doesn't do it all alone. Rather, he builds up new leaders from his unimpressive, rag-tag group of followers. Jesus shares his power and authority with them so that they will to take his ministry to all people. In baptism each of us agrees to join in this work. Jesus uses us for his work.

In today's gospel, Jesus tells his followers, "You should expect opposition, even fierce opposition by loved ones. It's not going to be easy, but don't be fearful." One of the ways we know Jesus' love for us, one of the ways we know Jesus has changed us, is that he conquers fear. Jesus can liberate us from fear. Trusting God casts out fear. Being a Christian gives us courage. In today's gospel Jesus gave us many reasons to have courage. ⁽⁴⁾

First, Jesus said, "it is enough that a disciple be as his master," that a disciple imitates his master. So if we are going about Jesus' ministry, being faithful to his call to us, we should expect some opposition and suffering. We shouldn't expect better treatment by the world than Jesus received. It's arguable that a little persecution makes us better disciples. Today the Church is most vibrant in Africa and Asia, often in societies where there's persecution of Christians. There being a follower of Christ demands deep, deep commitment, not a casual, comfortable discipleship. The Church in Africa is powerful today because they take God's presence seriously. In their adversity, they know his power; they know he works miracles, and they expect it; they know he changes lives.

Second, Jesus said, "Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed." We have reason to welcome the future, to have confidence in the future, to have hope for the future. We know that ultimately God sets all things right, and his victory will not be concealed. Jesus has conquered death and the devil. Injustice, malice, suffering - these are not the last word. They don't win. They are passing away. Eventually the world will see that. In the meantime, we know that God wins, and therefore we can be like Jesus and love our enemies, love those who treat us badly. We can have mercy and compassion for those who work evil. We can rise above revenge and retribution.

Third, Jesus said, "fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." The most anyone can do to us is kill us. That's the worst anything in the world can do to us, but physical death doesn't destroy us; it's not our end; it doesn't separate us from God. There's a greater reality than our physical existence.

Fourth, Jesus said that a sparrow doesn't fall to the round without the Father. God knows about, cares about, even the death of a sparrow, and how much more he cares for us, how much more he is involved in our lives, caring for us. God is always with us, and ultimately God is in control. There's no reason to be afraid; there's no reason not to have hope.

In a few moments, we are going to baptize Henry, and then we pray that Henry will "not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil." In other words, "Go, get to work in Jesus' ministry. People are going to oppose you and hate you for it, but don't be a wimp about it. Have confidence in your purpose. Base your life on it. Trust God." It's a prayer each of us should make for ourselves.

1. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics, HarperCollins (2005), pp. 149.

2. Ibid., pp. 155-56, 207.

3. These examples are from Levitt and Dubner.

4. This list is derived from David E. Holwerda, The Lectionary Commentary:The Gospels, Eerdmans (2001), pp. 57-58.