June 21, 2020

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” Matthew 10:28a (ESV)

Do we have difficulty understanding or identifying with the words and inference of Jesus in the above Scripture quote? And do the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer strike us as harsh: “If we refuse to take up our cross and submit to suffering and rejection at the hands of men, we forfeit our fellowship with Christ and have ceased to follow Him.”

The prophet Jeremiah appears to bounce back and forth between complaints and praise in our Old Testament lesson. He honestly proclaims his gripes. He was depressed and discouraged. He felt at times that God had given up on him. Yet he knew, deep within his heart, that God’s love for him never stopped. God is ever faithful. The last words of the O.T. Lesson from Jeremiah are instructive to us: “Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For God has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.”

In our Gospel Lesson for Sunday, the words of Christ are words of encouragement. It is quite possible that we could lose our lives if we follow Jesus. Jesus speaks words of warning because there is an enemy that we must contend with. He may be saying to us, “the apathy and neglect, the selfishness and self-centeredness we contend with can damage our souls and rob us of true joy.” We contend with good and evil, but we don’t need to be afraid.

We remain the children of God because God is a loving, forgiving God. We pray that God will graciously and patiently lead us into a relationship with God that will honor and glorify Him by demonstrating His love to the world about us. 

May God grant us the courage to face up to the demands of discipleship, and the grace to meet and deal with them. May we begin today to relate as God's child and servant to someone whose path we cross and whose life we might influence.