Matthew
10:24-39
Beel’zebul.
Ancient deity of the pagan Philistines. Prince of demons. Lord of the flies.
That’s what they are calling Jesus: Beel’zebul. Seriously. This passage today
comes from the tenth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, so what has happened so far in the story? Jesus has
been baptized, he has called Simon, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew to be his
disciples. He has healed people: a leper, two paralyzed men, two blind men,
Simon’s mother-in-law, and countless others in villages throughout Galilee and
Judea. He has cast out demons. And he has delivered his sermon on the mount.
Now, some of his sayings are certainly tough to understand and to follow: turn
the other cheek, cut off your hand if it causes you to sin, do good to your
enemies, don’t worry. But the thrust of Jesus’ life and teaching is perfectly
clear: he loves people, and teaches them to love God and to love others as
well. That's what he does, and so far, he hasn’t even gotten into a single
argument with a Pharisees or anyone else.
And yet they are calling him Satan, Beel’zebul. What the hell is that
about? Literally: how could someone living and proclaiming the kingdom of
heaven be called an emissary of hell?
I
think Jesus gives us the answer to that in this passage: nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret
that will not become known. Everywhere Jesus goes, he exposes a system of
cruelty and oppression. In that system, there are a few people with power and
money, and many others who suffer under their tyranny. Some are deemed clean
and respectable; many others are written off as dirty and untouchable. There
are a few good Jews pleasing to God, and there are multitudes of bad Jews and
sinful Gentiles who stand forever condemned. It’s a world rife with the abuse
of power. And Jesus will have none of it. He will heal a Roman centurion’s
slave; he’ll touch a leper; he’ll call a tax collector to be his friend and
disciple. He will welcome anyone and everyone to share in the Good News he
proclaims. And every healing he performs, every meal he shares, every word he
utters shows that the status quo is not acceptable, that God has something so
much better to offer. The hurting and the hopeless flock to Jesus. But those
who are invested in the system, those who profit off of the pain of others,
those who don't want anything to change — they hate him. His message of
universal love and mercy threatens everything. For those people, Jesus is hell.
And,
you know, uncomfortable though it may be, we can see this same dynamic
painfully displayed in our world right now. A raging pandemic has exposed the
terrible inequities in our own nation: if you are poor or black, you are much
more likely to die of COVID-19 than if you are affluent or white. There are
some who have health insurance and adequate resources to weather the storm, but
there are many who do not. And in the same way, we are seeing the systemic and
brutal racism in our society laid bare as black men continue to die while in
custody, and white men in power continue to resist taking down monuments that
have long symbolized racial hatred and white supremacy.
How
we view all this as people of faith really depends on how we view Jesus. If we
see Jesus as the ultimate establishment figure, the chief law enforcer and the
guardian of tradition, we may be horrified by what’s happening and feel
threatened by the prospect of significant change in our society. But, truly, it
is impossible to read the Gospels and see Jesus as an establishment figure at
all. The Gospel stories show us over and over again that Jesus has not come to
maintain the status quo but to overturn it. He is the Great Disrupter: even as
he preaches and practices the way of self-giving love, he knows how violently
people will resist it. Too many would rather hate and exclude and build walls
than love and include and tear down walls. Which is why he says that he has not
come to bring peace but the sword, and that even family members will turn
against each other as some cling to the way things are and fight against any
change at all.
I
urge all of us to see what is happening around us through the eyes of Christ,
and to choose to follow Jesus as the ultimate change agent he is. When we say
the prayer he taught us and pray “Your kingdom come,” we are asking that God’s
reign of goodness will overcome with love everything that stands against it.
And that’s true on every level. As individuals, we want our words and actions
to help and to heal others, not to hurt them. As a nation we want our policies
and laws to promote justice and not limit it. At every level, Jesus invites
those with power to use their power not just for themselves but for the good of
others. Christ has come to usher in a way of being that sets all people free
from the abuse of power. All people. As the civil rights activist Fannie Lou
Hamer once said, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” Those who resist that
might, tragically, see Jesus as a devil, but for all of us who embrace his
message of freedom and Good News, Jesus is and will forever be Our Savior.
So
with his words, let us pray:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your Name.
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin
against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
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