Matthew 10:16-22 Devotional (Will You Be a Martyr?)
First published in The Living Church Daily Devotional
A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew 10:16-22
16 “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. 19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time, 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Sibling will betray sibling to death and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Devotional
On this feast day of St. James of Jerusalem (a brother of Jesus) we’re challenged to count the cost of following the Messiah. In the case of St. James, Christ’s warning in Matthew’s gospel is uncanny. James was dragged before a council that had been hastily assembled by the high priest. According to Eusebius, James was commanded to renounce Jesus but instead testified to Christ’s ascension and return. James was later charged and convicted for breaking Jewish law, despite being widely known as a law-keeper and morally upright. He was thrown from the top of the Temple and then stoned to death. His last words were said to have been a prayer for God to forgive his murderers. James’s wrongful murder was considered so unjust that it was later blamed for the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Yet, Christ’s warning isn’t just for his immediate disciples. Jesus warns his followers down the ages that some will be killed for following him. Others will suffer less painful persecution. But all will be tempted to give up the faith. Many western Christians today are more subtly tempted by the brokenness of the world to slowly, incrementally renounce our baptism. Shameful, public actions by fellow Christians tempt us to deny Christ. We hesitate to embrace God’s call for social justice and righteous living. As the world seems to fall apart too quickly, it’s easier to doubt whether God even exists. But Jesus says that if we endure, it’ll be worth it. We will be saved! But not by our works, but because of Christ’s gift of salvation that we have held close, to the end.
Are you willing to be martyred either quickly or slowly, to the end? Either in public or private? Either in glory or obscurity? Either in extraordinary or ordinary ways? How can you lean further into habits of enduring faith today?
