How much is there?
Photo by Prince Patel on Unsplash
Matthew 10:32 is another of those verses that, because we don’t know what else to do with it, we pluck it out of the middle of chaos and set it in a peaceful place where we can tame it and try to put it to use.
It becomes a verse on our refrigerator to remind us to do our Christian duty and tell the cashier at the grocery store, “Jesus loves you,” or to include a tract with the cash we hand to the homeless lady.
The other forty-one verses we leave alone.
And, I’ll admit, there are times that “we” includes me.
So, what to do?
A good start is to read it. Read it right where it is. Read what’s all around it. And imagine you are there.
Jesus has just called you to stand before him. You are there with your brothers. He told you it was coming and now He says it’s time.
Time to step out into a world of sick and demon-possessed have-nots living in the middle of a crowd of naysayers — those who will laugh, and mock, and call you “one of those.”
“Lay hands on them.” He instructs you. “Drive the demons out!”
Your heart is pounding. You glance at the others; they look no more confident than you. Those with boast and swagger now look stricken and fearful. Because He is not going with you.
They’d been with Him when He healed the leper, drove the demons into a herd of pigs. It had seemed so easy with Him, out there on the fringes. But here, in the middle of the religious? Such things are not allowed. Those who had cried out for a Deliverer, who said they were waiting for the Messiah to come? It is those who mock and scorn.
They weren’t ready for the mess that it made.
You have no idea who will accept you and who will not. Anyone can talk a good talk, say they believe what the Scriptures say about the One who came and is to come, but to say that He meant everything He said? That His healing and deliverance is for now and by your hands?
That will take some explaining.
Proclaim you’ve come to heal and deliver and raise the dead as He’s commanded you to do and lines are drawn. Assignments change. Verses are cherry-picked.
That was for them. This is for you. That was for then. This is for now.
“Do not be afraid,” He says. “Everything is coming out. It’s time to tell the truth.”
The truth is: the truth is scary.
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32, NIV)
Books will be written. Churches will split. Dispensations will be defined and the world will laugh.
“Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” (Matthew 10:41–42)
Acknowledging Him. At times, so easy. At others, so hard.
And yet, He said it all.