What you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops

‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

‘So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

‘Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’

- Matthew 10:24-33,40-42

Just prior to this passage in Matthew, Jesus has been maligned for healings which the pharisees have said were done through the assistance of demons. Jesus has therefore been accused of practices that are outside the realm of God and are evil. Here he's instructing his disciples in response to the beginnings of persecution, and what will come to them. Because he is already being accused of evil practices, they too will follow him. "A disciple is not above the teacher, nor the slave above the master." But by the same token, Jesus puts responsibility on the shoulders of his followers that they are to be fearless in going forward and doing what he does as well. Whatever he faces in terms of the judgment of men, so will they. But whatever he does in the name of God, so must they do, and they must share in his lot on all levels.

So, Jesus turns the accusations of demonical assistance upside down: he instructs his disciples that they are to fearlessly preach the word of God - and not to fear those who malign them and wish to do them harm but rather to fear God instead. I read in commentary that the word for "hell" is Gehenna. In Jewish history Gehenna (or the Valley of Hinnom) became a place of forbidden religious practices because a throne was established there for Molech, to whom children were offered as sacrifices. King Josiah put an end to these practices. By Jesus' time the valley had become a garbage dump that smoldered ceaselessly. Because of these associations, Gehenna acquired the connotation of punishment in the afterlife. So, essentially Jesus has taken an image from demon worship and turned the arguments of his accusers back against them. It is they who must fear the consequences of behavior that denies God's truth, and it is his disciples who are responsible for behavior that is loyal to that truth. They can no more ignore such responsibility than he can: it is their duty not to fear evil but instead to boldly preach what he tells them.

To act in the name of something or someone is to bear representation of that person. To act in the name of Caesar is to bear representation of Caesar, and for Jesus his instructions to his disciples emphasize that they are to remember in whose name they are at work, and bear responsibility to that name, that person. So, because of persecution, Jesus responds by exhorting them not to be careless (the passage just before this one includes the admonition to be "as wise and serpents and as gentle as doves"), but to vigorously undertake their mission of preaching - not to fear men but rather to do what must be done for the kingdom, and to boldly undertake as the means of going forward the job that is at hand. The imagery is vivid: what he whispers to them they must proclaim from the housetops; what they is said to them in the dark they must tell in the light.

As the persecution and the responsibilities of the Master are also theirs, so is their reward. They will follow in every measure the one in whose name they are acting. And beyond that: anyone who so much as offers a cup of water to the least of them will be offering it to Christ and to the Father. As they act in the name of God, so they bear that image within themselves, they carry the name and the persona into the world through the work they agree to do and the responsibility that they carry.

Perhaps what I love most about this passage is its reflection of the boldness of Jesus as a fighter: the vivid imagery and phrases used here are multiple and are still common in our every day language (i.e. "proclaim from the housetops"). Jesus takes the arguments against him and boldly turns the tables on his accusers in his own argument and exhortation to his disciples. This is fighting the good fight and it's a testimony to the bravery we understand is encountered through this spiritual work. He is rallying his own troops, bucking them up for the difficult road ahead but with the faith they must have in their mission. They work for the One whose authority should be feared, not for those who wish to cause them fear. It is that Father in heaven who is aware of all things, even the numbers of the hairs of their heads and the fate of the sparrows. I have to ask myself what I fail to speak out that I should speak, and what I fear that I should not fear.