First Mennonite Church
October 19, 2025
The Pursuit of Being a Disciple
Text: Matthew 10:16-39
At the end of chapter nine of Matthew, we are told that Jesus was going through towns and villages preaching the gospel and healing the sick. As Jesus was going about, he saw the desperate crowds longing to hear him, be touched and healed by him. He then called his disciples and told them, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Interestingly, in the following chapter (10), we find Jesus sending his disciples to proclaim the good news and to heal the sick and to cast out demons. Chapter 10 is where Jesus commissions his disciples and gives them very specific instructions on what not to take along, where they should go and not go, and what they are to do.
Then Jesus warns them: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (16).
Jesus forewarns his disciples that sharing the gospel is not the idea or selfishness in some who want to impose their beliefs on others, but it is an integral part of God’s grand redemptive plan for the world. Sharing the good news is born out of the desire that others would also enjoy the goodness of God from those who have already tasted the goodness of God. However, the message will be rejected and the messengers opposed and even persecuted by kings and governors. But Jesus tells his disciples to not be afraid or should worry about what they are to say because the Holy Spirit will give them the words they should speak.
By this time when Jesus commissions his disciples, these (the disciples) had already witnessed how challenging the task was. Even when Jesus had been healing the sick, doing good to those he met, he and his message were being rejected, especially by those in power.
It is an interesting fact that you can be rejected even when doing good or trying to help another person.
One day, while we still lived here in Paso, I was out on the front yard when I saw a pick-up truck stall on the street in front of our house. After various attempts to start the engine, the truck it did go anywhere. The driver came out and wanted to push the truck down the street. She, however, could not even move it a bit. So, I started heading over to help her. At the very minute she noticed I was heading her way, she screamed at me. “No; don’t come. Go away! Go away!” So, I stopped and turned back home. Another driver passing by saw her and stopped. The two of them tried to push the truck but it was too heavy. A tow truck had to come to take it away.
This is just something to bear in mind, not everyone is open to be helped, even when they are in need. But let us not get discouraged if or when that happens.
That might have been the reason why the Apostle Paul wrote:
Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil (Romans 16:19).
So, as Jesus commissioned his disciples, he also warned them about the risks of sharing the message. He wanted them to remember of his very experience of rejection. Therefore, he tells them: “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!
Obviously, Jesus was referring to himself as the teacher and master and his disciples as the as the students and apprentices. This statement from the Lord set the foundational principle for Christian life. We are called to learn and follow the patterns of Jesus Christ. We want to learn from Jesus and strive to grow in his likeness, as Paul says in Ephesians 4. Discipleship is nothing else but the absolute commitment to learn from Jesus, the Teacher and Master. However, in light of what Jesus went through, regardless of his healing and ministering to the crowds, anyone who dares to become like him has an up-hill battle with the world and its powers. Therefore, Jesus reiterates by saying twice to his disciples, “Do not be afraid of them . . . Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”
What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.
Are we listening what the Lord says? How seriously do we take his words? What I tell you in the secrete of your heart, speak of it openly! What you hear in the ear of your soul, announce it in the open. So, let us not be afraid. Let us not be shy. The disciple only wants to be like his Teacher and Master.
Dear church, oftentimes we as Mennonites like to excuse our silence or reluctance to share the gospel on the fact that for long we have been called the “quiet/silent of the land.” That is not a valid excuse for not obeying Jesus’ command. The disciple of Jesus obeys his word, and Jesus’ command it that whatever he has spoken to us we must make it known openly.
We know very well that at the beginning of the Anabaptist Movement they had to be very cautious and discrete when celebrating their worship services. They were persecuted, arrested, and killed when found. Thus, they sang quietly. They hid in the forest to hold worship services. They shared messages of encouragement secretly. It is said that in one occasion the early Anabaptist community used the grocery store of one of its members. People go to stores, so there was nothing suspicious about people going in and out of this store, but what others did not know was that there, believers were handed out pamphlet with message of encouragement or with warning them about those looking for them.
If we think we have the freedom to speak out our minds, including about politics, then let us speak the words of Jesus instead. It may be troublesome to do so, Jesus warns. But then he says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
As Jesus contemplated his death approaching while he was in Gethsemane, he experienced abandonment, and the cold sting of death already piercing his body. But among the feelings he expressed having, fear was not one. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said. At his death, Jesus exemplified what it is not to fear those who can kill the body but cannot destroy the soul. Thus, twice he commands his disciples not to fear.
My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus’ words for us today are hard and indeed frightening. None of what he says about following him is pleasant. Much of what he says here is difficult. Fear is real and we know that anything we are afraid of is because it can be harmful and painful. We know fully that behind every modest excuse we have for keeping silent about our faith in the Lord is because we are afraid of something. Maybe, of simply being rejected, cut off, accused of being a religious fanatic, or insensitive to other people faith or feelings. But again, the Lord reminds us today, “Do not be afraid.”
As we go out today, let us remember that although there are powerful forces against the spirit and word of the Lord, it is only in him that love, kindness, true freedom, and salvation can be found. Therefore, even in the face of danger, we should remember that God has not abandoned us. If he cares for every sparrow and that not one falls to the ground without his knowledge, and that even each hair in our heads is accounted before his eyes, we are worth much more than sparrows and our lives are worth more that our hair. God cares and will always care for us.
So, let us strive to be committed apprentices of our Master, even we only become a sketchy approximation of who the Lord is. Let us dare to be like our Teacher, even if our grade never goes beyond a “C-”.
Let us remember that we are following the One who has shown us what it is to live without fear, even from those who can kill the body. If and when we do so, his promise is ours that “whoever loses their life for his sake will find it.”
Amen!