Matthew 10:24-39 Commentary

We continue this week with Jesus speaking to his disciples as he commissions them to go out and to heal, cure, and generally spread the good news. But these words have such a ring to them that it’s also pretty clear that there’s something bigger, more universally true, being said here than some warnings for their current expedition.

Anna Case-Winters sees direct parallels to Matthew’s audience here. The original community for whom Matthew wrote, for instance, met in the evening to discuss and discern together. So when Jesus says to the disciples, “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light…” it is likely Matthew is embedding the community’s story into the narrative.

Which is what we do too as we read—because what Jesus says feels so very universal to life with Christ and what he himself experienced in so many ways. As our opening verses remind us, none of us are above our master, even when it comes to hardship and experiences we’d prefer to take a pass on.

So let these words encourage you even as they challenge you. We already know from last week that Jesus is warning while guiding his disciples on how they are to be as they go about their calling. And if you chose to use the extended passage, then you’ve likely already highlighted the hardships Jesus says are coming (remember how all those verbs were in the indicative, not the subjunctive). And yet, even though he is still describing hardship with the indicative, Jesus is reminding them to keep their minds right as they hold the tension of real-life hardship and fear with their calling and the God who called them.

It is an awe-filled, whoa! kind of thought to remember that the God who cares about cheap, throw away sparrows, knows the exact amount of hair that’s growing out of your head right now—a constantly changing statistic.

Each of the commands to not be afraid or to have no fear come with a reason. The first is that we do not need to fear those who speak ill of us because the truth will come out (what sort of truth is not made clear—it could be about your character, their purposes, or that it really doesn’t matter); Jesus says keep on sharing. The next one raises the stakes: do not be afraid of those who can physically harm your body or kill you. Instead, fear the one God who has the power of life and death for all souls and bodies.

The final do not be afraid’s reason, I think, is not what follows it, but is all that has come before. Jesus says, “So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” It sums up all the fears already named and includes the same imagery. Reading it this way, as our eyes are continually lifted out of the clear and present dangers to the awesome God above, it feels to me like we’ve been brought to God’s presence and being told to not fear that we are loved and cherished by our awesome God. There is definitely a vulnerability that comes with such intimacy, and when we live a long time in the deficit of love, we can be afraid of it when we realize it surrounds us.

And I think that this is a better way of understanding what Jesus says next about mutual acknowledgment. True love is shown in partnership, being together, not being embarrassed to be with the other. Not hiding from the love but wanting to give it in return. True love doesn’t force someone to be something they cannot be—even as it keeps encouraging towards the good it seeks.

John’s the one who wrote “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear… We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4.18-19) And that’s what we see over and over in Jesus. It’s what we hear here: Jesus’s assurance that in this world we will have trouble for his name’s sake, but we also have his love. God’s love is all the security we need. As Case-Winters writes, “In a sense this is a deeper security. It secures against the need to be secure. This deeper security is what gives us courage in a broken and fearful world.” Love makes us courageous enough to be scared and to do it anyway.

Textual Point

The repetition serves its purpose in affect as well as structure. The same word for “fear” (phobeō) is used in verses 26, twice in 28, and in 31. Real fear causing scenarios are paired with two statements that focus on our Heavenly Father: that he knows and loves and cares and that Jesus will be talking about us with the Father. So watch out Fear, here comes our Father!

Illustration Idea

As someone who no longer lives in geographical proximity to my own family of origin—and hasn’t for nearly 25 years—the way Jesus is subtly building a different sense of family is familiar to me. Not because of pure division related to my faith have I been separated from mother and father, but I have still needed to look to others as my chosen family. And I’ve definitely needed to look to God as Jesus does here, remembering the “Father in heaven.”

Others, though, know the sting all too well of the sword of Christ and allegiance to the truth found in him. Others know all too well what it feels like to have someone deny their value and worth. Next week’s lectionary passage is the overt comfort to this pain, but the implied comfort is also here: God knows, God loves, God cares.