The Third Sunday after Trinity is June 25, 2023.

Readings for Year A can be found here.

The Gospel reading is as follows (emphases mine):

Matthew 10:24-39

10:24 “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master;

10:25 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!

10:26 “So have no Fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.

10:27 What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.

10:28 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.

10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

10:30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted.

10:31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

10:32 “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven;

10:33 but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

10:34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

10:35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

10:36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.

10:37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;

10:38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

10:39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

Commentary comes from Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.

Those who missed it can read my preceding exegeses on the end of Matthew 9 through to Matthew 10:23. Part 1 has the full reading and exposition for Matthew 9:35-9:38. Part 2 discusses Matthew 10:1-2, especially the Apostles Peter and Andrew, who were brothers as well as James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Part 3 covers the lives of Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James of Alphaeus and Jude Thaddaeus. Part 4 provides the stories of Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot then goes into the focus of our Lord’s commission — command — to the Apostles in their first step of ministry. Part 5 is about our Lord’s specific instructions to the Apostles. Part 6 has our Lord’s prophecy of the conflicts that will happen between believers and unbelievers until His Second Coming.

My heartfelt thanks to Karina Lam and CMinTN who read the series.

In 2015, I wrote an exegesis based on Matthew Henry’s commentary for Matthew 10: parts 1 and 2, which may also be of interest.

These are hard-hitting verses, but they do express the reality of the Christian life. This reality is seldom emphasised in Western Christianity anymore.

John MacArthur says:

The Lord here is giving us, as He gave the Twelve, a body of His favorite teaching on the matter of discipleship. And since discipleship is a matter that followed Him all through His life, and with which He had to deal with multiples of people in different situations, He repeats these truths over and over, sometimes changing the terms, the phrases, and the point that He’s making, but yet using some of the same concepts and the same words to express it.

So, you will find – and this is the point you need to get – that from Matthew 10 on, if you get this chapter, you are going to intersect with these same thoughts again and again as you read the rest of Matthew into Mark, into Luke, and although the terms are somewhat different, you’ll find the same principles in John also. Don’t deny the Lord that privilege. Th[ese are] some of His very favorite truths.

Jesus said that a disciple — learner — is not above his teacher, nor a slave — servant — above his master (verse 24). That means, what the teacher or the master undergoes, so will the disciple or slave. In this context He means persecution.

MacArthur explains:

He talks about every disciple He’ll ever have throughout all of that period, and gives the definition of their discipleship from verse 24 to 42. The scope is broad now, and the principles are for all time. The Lord then closes this discourse with general teaching referring to all disciples, in all missions, through all times.

And therefore, I have entitled this section “The Hallmarks of Discipleship” …

Now, just to let you know that this is indeed a general statement, notice verse 24, the term “the disciple”…

Then He also uses … the word “servant.” Again, a very general word. “The servant.” Whatever servant; anyone who serves Me …

And by the way, again we must note how honest Jesus is. Right up front. He doesn’t hold back anything. He tells them the cost. You don’t do anyone a favor by trying to get them to accept Christ without letting them know what is really involved in such acceptance. That’s how we get so many false believers. If they knew the truth, they wouldn’t come …

Listen, He tells them in 5 to 15, “Here’s how to minister.” He tells them in 16 to 23, “Here’s what’ll happen.” And having told them, “Here’s what’ll happen,” He says to them, in 24 to 42, “Are you willing to pay the price?” That’s it. It’s absolutely logical …

Now, the whole thing begins in verse 24. Let’s look at it. Now, here’s His general teaching on discipleship, and as I said, it’s among His favorite truths to teach. “The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant above his lord.” Now, stop there for a minute. That’s the basic premise.

… “Why should you expect to get any different treatment than I receive?” Did you hear that?

The first case, we assume the disciple chooses his teacher; the second case, the lord buys the servant. But in either case, there is the role of subservience. We are under Him. The disciple is a learner. The teacher is the one who knows; the learner doesn’t know. The one who doesn’t know isn’t above the one who knows. The lord is the master; the slave is the slave – doúlos. And by very definition, he is the one who does what the master tells him …

What does it mean to be a disciple then? It means to pursue being like whom? Christ. Very basic. That is the very basic element of discipleship. From the positive side, in Luke 6:40, the Lord is simply saying, “When you’re fully trained, you’re going to be like your Teacher.” And that’s true discipleship. You are a learner, learning to be like Christ. You are a learner growing toward Christlikeness.

First John 2:6 sums it up, “He that saith he abides in Him ought so to walk even as He walked.” If you go around saying you abide in Christ, and Christ is your master, and you are His student, He is your Teacher, and you are His pupil, then you ought to manifest His life.

Jesus went on to say that it is enough for the student to be as the teacher and for the slave to be as the master; if they call the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those in the household (verse 25).

That is what the Pharisees called Jesus after He performed merciful healing miracles, including one of a man with demons (Matthew 9:32-34):

³² While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. ³³ And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.’

³⁴ But the Pharisees said, ‘It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.’

MacArthur tells us:

In other words, “You don’t expect to have any different than I do, do you? I mean if they’ve treated Me the way they’ve treated Me, why should they treat you any different?” Now listen to me, “And the more like Me you are, the more they’ll treat you like they treated Me.”

You can kind of gauge your own Christian life that way, can’t you? The more like Christ you are, the more the world will treat you like the treated Christ. Maybe you don’t get much persecution because there’s not much similarity.

The context is persecution, hostility, and death. And we have to be ready to accept that. Now, this is an amazing call to discipleship. “I want you to come and be My disciples and be like Me and get ready to pay the supreme price.” That’s what He’s saying. And if you aren’t willing to come on those terms, then you’re not going to come.

Then Jesus told the Apostles — and is telling us — not to be afraid of such people, because nothing is concealed that will not be revealed and nothing secret that will not become known (verse 26).

Fear of man is what is holding back Christianity in the West.

MacArthur says:

Don’t be afraid. Even the Old Testament says, “The fear of man bringeth” – a what? – “a snare.” I think the fear of man strangles effective witnesses. It strangles evangelism. We don’t want to get into something we fear might become psychologically difficult for us. We don’t want to create a problem. We don’t want to be thought little of. We don’t want to be persecuted. Last of all, we certainly don’t want to be killed for our faith. We want to preserve ourselves.

And in this overemphasis on self-preservation, we tend to bail out of a confrontive ministry. But the Lord is saying here, “They’re going to do it to you, but don’t be afraid.” Face it; be bold; don’t be afraid.

Now, if you’re afraid, and you bail out, and you’re not interested in witnessing for Christ, you’re not going to pay the price. No matter what you say, you’re probably not a Christian. Because if you love the world and you’re of the world, then you’re not of God. First John says, “If you love the world and the things that are in the world, you’re not of the Father.” And if you bail out, “They went out from us, because they were not of us.” And it was made manifest they were not of us when they left.

But the folks who stay, and they’re willing to follow through and be courageous, are the ones who give evidence of being truly the disciples of Christ.

So, first of all, we’re going to be like Christ. And being like Christ means we’re going to be treated like Christ. And as we’re treated like Christ, there’s going to be a temptation to be afraid and pull back your testimony and shut your mouth and not be confrontive, and not say what ought to be said. And so, He says, don’t be afraid. Fear has absolutely strangled testimony. People are afraid to say the truth; they’re afraid to be confrontive.

And all of us have had illustrations of that, times when we just couldn’t get it out for fear we’d be thought to be silly, or rude, or obtrusive, or uneducated, or stupid, or whatever. Or we didn’t want to get into a fight with somebody. So, He says, “Don’t be afraid.”

We are not to fear because there are no secrets and nothing hidden that will not someday be revealed.

MacArthur posits that we are to think in terms of eternity, that God will set things right, even if we cannot find that solace now:

It simply means this: that someday God is going to take the lid off everything and all things will be made right. Just. It’s not the way it is now. Christians are looked on looked on as anti-intellectual. We’re looked on as the outcast that Paul called the offscouring of the world. The world is successful. The wicked prosper. Christians are persecuted. Christians are put down. The more you stand for the right, the more the system hates you and the less you’re rewarded.

But someday it’s all going to change, and the truth will be made known. That’s what that statement means. God is going to show who the real heroes are. God’s going to cover – uncover the real heroes. God’s going to reward and vindicate His own. And when the lid comes off, the evil people are going to find out that all they have left for them is vengeance.

Your enemies cannot prevent your vindication. That’s what He’s saying. Look, people. Look. You’ve got to live with an eternal perspective. You see? That’s what He’s saying. If you’re stuck on worrying about what the world is going to say, you’re looking at the wrong thing. What you want to be looking at is what God’s going to say in the end. Right?

Jesus said that what He said to the Apostles in the dark — during the evening — they were to proclaim in the light, during the day; and what they heard whispered they should proclaim from the housetops (verse 27), which is where major announcements were made during that era. Because of the heat, people spent a lot of time on their rooftops, which were their equivalent of our patios.

MacArthur explains:

The houses would have a little flat roof with a little short wall around the edge, and that was the patio. People slept up there, ate up there, had their social events up there, sat under the stars up there. And if you wanted to make an announcement, you just stood on the edge of your roof and hollered. And if you could find a high roof, you could even accomplish more. And there were no cars making noise everywhere like today, and people weren’t locked in little boxes; they were out in the streets. And there were no windows and no TVs and no stereos. And you could just yell whatever message you wanted to yell …

And by the way, the housetop was a typical Jewish way to do this. The rabbi sometimes would teach there. The Talmud tells how religions officials would climb up on a housetop with a trumpet at the approach of any religious holiday. The remnant of that today is the minaret used in the Muslim world, where the guy goes way up in that tower and calls everybody to prayer. Only now they do it with a tape recorder.

MacArthur says that Christianity has no secrets, and this is what our Lord was emphasising. This is also why Christianity disapproves of secret knowledge — gnosis, a heresy — and secret organisations, e.g. the Masons:

The whole idea is this: the Lord says, “I’ve been telling you the secrets in your ear, and I want you to tell the whole world.” There are no secrets in Christianity. Did you get that? That’s it. I don’t like that term in a sense, the Christian’s secret of a happy life. I don’t like that. This is no secret. Whenever there’s a group that comes along like the Royal Order of the Goats or the lodge of this or that, and they say, “We have secret rites,” there are no secrets in Christianity. That’s not a Christian perspective. Nothing in Christianity smacks at all of anything secret. “What I tell you,” He says, “in the darkness, you speak in the light; and what you hear in your ear, you shout it from the housetop.” There are no secrets.

There is also a rabbinical tradition of which Jesus spoke here:

… there was a custom in the time when our Lord was teaching this. The rabbis would train their pupils to speak and teach by standing beside them, and they would speak in their ear, and then the young man learning would speak what the rabbi told him. And so, they taught them by rote to speak. And the Lord is sort of identifying that simple technique and saying, “I’ve been training you to preach and teach and speak. And I’ve been telling you, whispering in your ear, speaking to you in the darkness. And now I’m telling you, you say it in the light.”

MacArthur sums up the meaning of the verse:

Now, there’s two things here that you’re to note, and I want you to note the carefully. Number one, what I tell you in darkness, speak in light; and what you hear in the ear, proclaim. No restrictions. Whatever I tell you, whatever you hear, you say. That’s the first thing you need to remember is we are to hold back nothing. There are no secrets …

Second point, “Say only what you hear from Me.” Now, you know what the sum of the verse is? “You tell them what I told you; nothing less and nothing” – what? – “more.” Very simple to define the ministry, people.

Jesus had another message about fear: fear not those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear the One who can destroy both body and soul in hell (verse 28).

MacArthur says:

Don’t fear men; fear God. That’s the issue. And He’s only using the idea of killing the body, and He compares it with destroying the soul to show that God has so much more power. He is – it’s a comparison. He’s not saying that if you don’t live the right kind of Christian life, God’ll send you to hell. That isn’t the point. The point here is we are to fear the one who can determine the destiny of souls, not the ones who can only determine the destinies of bodies. You see? It is a comparison between men and God. Don’t fear men; fear God …

As a footnote, some people think that the verse at the end where it says “destroy and body in hell” means that hell is where you get totally annihilated. That is not what the word “destroy” there means. And if you compare it with 2 Thessalonians 1:9, it says, “You are punished with everlasting destruction.” It is not a destruction of annihilation; it is an interminable, everlasting destruction in hell. And hell is Gehenna, which was the name of the city dump in Jerusalem, where the worms were, and the fire never went out as all the garbage and refuse was burned. And that is the imagery; you will be in hell.

And notice also, “soul and body.” The unsaved will be resurrected, given eternal bodies which will dwell in that fire. So, they will have actual bodies. People always say, “Is it an actual fire?” Well, it’s some kind of a fire, because it’s an actual body. I don’t know what kind, but body and soul.

But what He’s – He’s not saying to Christian disciples, boy, if you goof up, you’re going to go to hell. No, no, no. He’s saying, “Get your fear right. Fear the one who is really powerful. Fear the one who determines the destiny of souls. Don’t fear the ones who can only fool with the body” …

The soul here, in verse 28, means the real part of the – the real immaterial part, the substance. This is the dichotomous perspective. Man is body outside; he is soul inside. This is the real person. They can’t touch that. They can’t touch it. And if going to heaven bothers you, and you’re not – you don’t want to go, it’s simply because you’re too earthbound. If you really … had a heavenly perspective, you’d be so concerned about that ultimate vindication in God’s presence that you wouldn’t have any fear. You’d so worship God that you could care less what men might do. And I say that to myself, too, because I hold to this world also. But we ought to fear God, and worship God so that we don’t fear men.

I must add that I think verse 28 also may have been directed at Judas. And there will always be, in the Church, and in the group of disciples, the phonies and the fakes. And oh what a warning this would be, to remind him that God is the one who destroys forever soul and body in hell. All the Judases of all time need to hear that.

Jesus asked if two sparrows — valueless birds — were not sold for a penny; yet, as much as they lacked value, none of them fell to the ground — died — without God’s doing (verse 29).

Matthew Henry’s commentary explains:

These little animals are of so small account, that one of them is not valued; there must go two to be worth a farthing (nay, you shall have five for a halfpenny, Luke 12 6), and yet they are not shut out of the divine care; One of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father: That is, 1. They do not light on the ground for food, to pick up a grain of corn, but your heavenly Father, by his providence, laid it ready for them. In the parallel place, Luke 12 6, it is thus expressed, Not one of them is forgotten before God, forgotten to be provided for; he feedeth them, ch. 6 26. Now he that feeds the sparrows, will not starve the saints. 2. They do not fall to the ground by death, either a natural or a violent death, without the notice of God: though they are so small a part of the creation, yet even their death comes within the notice of the divine providence; much more does the death of his disciples. Observe, The birds that soar above, when they die, fall to the ground; death brings the highest to the earth. Some think that Christ here alludes to the two sparrows that were used in cleansing the leper (Lev 14 4-6); the two birds in the margin are called sparrows; of these one was killed, and so fell to the ground, the other was let go. Now it seemed a casual thing which of the two was killed; the persons employed took which they pleased, but God’s providence designed, and determined which.

Jesus then said that the hairs on our heads are all counted (verse 30), which means that God is aware of each and every hair we have.

MacArthur tells us:

Do you know that the average is 140,000 hairs per head? … it doesn’t say that God counts them; He numbers them. Each one has its own number. Oop, there goes 394. Oh, there goes 28. I mean He actually identifies every hair on your head. For some of you, it’s not that big of a problem. As one guy said, “Earth is receding, and heaven is opening up before me.” But God knows the numbers of the hair.

Jesus said that, based on that knowledge, we should not be afraid, because we are of more value than sparrows (verse 31).

MacArthur continues:

The point is this. If God is concerned about little birds, and God is concerned about numbering and knowing the hairs of your head, “don’t be afraid” – verse 31 – “you’re of more value than many little birds” – and than a whole lot of hair. That’s added by MacArthur. But that’s the idea.

Do you know why you cannot be afraid? You don’t have a thing to fear. If God takes care of little birds, and God numbers the hair of people’s head to take care of that, and that’s in the framework of his care, don’t you think you fall into His care also? And you’re never going to get in a situation where God can’t sustain you in that situation.

Jesus moved back to matters divine and eternal; He said that He will acknowledge everyone who acknowledges Him before His Father in heaven (verse 32).

MacArthur says this means we must be prepared to be bold in the face of hostility against us and our testimony:

The real heart of discipleship is to be committed to being like Jesus Christ, and to being like Jesus Christ means to be being treated as He was treated. And that means having to face a hostile world and to face it fearlessly and, in the midst of it, to be willing to confess before men Jesus as your Lord and have the confidence that He’ll do the same before the Father.

Now, verse 32. Confess. What does that mean? That means to affirm, to acknowledge, to agree. The idea is a verbal statement of identification, faith, confidence, trust, belief in Jesus as your Lord and subsequent life that follows that confession. You confess before men. You can confess with your mouth, as Romans 10, and you confess with your life as you live out that confession …

Now, look at verse 32; here’s the key. “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me” – here it comes – “before men” –in front of men literally it says. Standing up in front of men. This emphasizes the public character of the confession. And it cannot be reduced in any way. You cannot be saved genuinely unless you are one who does this. If someone is not willing to do this, if you think you’re some secret Christian and nobody knows, you’ve missed it, folks …

The Bible says it’s all of God, and the Bible says you must confess with your mouth; therefore confessing with your mouth must be the work of God. And so, it’s going to cost us something to be a Christian. It must be public. It must be genuine. And it’s genuineness is marked by our willingness to confess, to affirm and acknowledge that we belong to Christ no matter how hostile the elements around us …

This is a good place for us to examine ourselves. You know, we say to ourselves, “Boy, I find myself ashamed often to speak of Christ in my family or here and there. I wonder what I do in the middle of a persecution.”

Well, that’s a good point. Maybe you better examine your heart, see if you’re really genuine. Now, may I hasten to add that there are lapses in all of our lives as Christians where we fail to live up to the standard, right? I mean that’s what forgiveness is all about. If the Lord said, “All right, if you’re a genuine disciple, this is how it’ll be,” and you were always that way, you’d be perfect. There will be lapses …

But you need to ask yourself the question, and it’s a fair question, as Paul said to the Corinthians, “Let a man examine himself.” Take inventory. Are you willing to stand up and confess Jesus Christ? If you will, look at the end of verse 32, He will confess you before the Father who’s in heaven.

What does that mean? That means He will say to God, on the day of judgment, “This one belongs to Me.” He will affirm His loyalty to you, as you have affirmed your loyalty to Him. Now, this is the way our Lord is looking at true discipleship. And I really think in many ways this itself was the first of many pointed message – messages that should have pierced deeply into the heart of one named Judas Iscariot, for he was the false among the true.

But the Lord says, “That’s the one I will confess before My Father in heaven.” You can tell a true Christian because they’re willing to confess Christ. Oh, there’ll be lapses, times when they fail, but the pattern of their life will be a willingness and a desire to be more like Christ, and if need be, to be treated even as He was treated. And that kind of a person the Lord will confess before the Father.

I just – I mean I can hardly imagine the wonder of someday standing before God and having the Lord Jesus Christ say, “This one belongs to Me.” What an incredible thought. What a marvelous promise. It’s kind of a double loyalty. When we are loyal enough to Jesus Christ to speak His name in the midst of any situation, He will speak our name in the Father’s presence.

Jesus then said that whoever denies Him, He will also deny before His Father in heaven (verse 33).

MacArthur says this denial covers several possibilities:

Now, this could speak of open rejecters, people who deny Christ flagrantly, openly, who have nothing to do with Him, who don’t identify with Him, who despise Him, who hate Him; people who blaspheme His name …

But I don’t think they’re really the primary issue in verse 33 …

… verse 33 is talking about someone in the sphere of Christianity, someone in the surroundings of discipleship, someone who follows outwardly, who goes along, but when it comes to the test, he denies the Lord. You can deny the Lord by silence. Did you know that? You could deny the Lord by just not saying anything. You know, the secret Christian.

People sometimes say to me, “You know, I’m a Christian.”

Well, isn’t that wonderful. Are you reaching the folks around you?

“Oh, they don’t know” …

If they don’t know, then maybe you’re not a Christian at all. You could deny them by absolute silence; just don’t say anything. You could also deny them by your actions. Just live the way everybody else lives and you’re denying Christ. You can deny Him by your words. You can just sort of, “Oh, no. Well, I’m, you know…” Saying the things they say, talking the way they talk. You can deny Christ a lot of ways short of someday facing a firing squad and denying Him.

But that kind of a denial, it says in verse 33, will be repaid by a denial on an eternal level when the Lord denies before the Father in heaven.

Notice in verse 32, “I will confess,” and verse 33, “I will deny.” And the future tense verb points to the final judgment. And I think maybe what you’re going to see here are people who are going to come up and say, “Lord, it’s us. We did this in Your name; we did that in Your name, and this other thing in Your name.”

And He’ll say, “Depart from Me; I never” – what? – “I never knew you.” He will deny that He even knows them. Why? Because their life was a denial of Him. What is it you say, and what is it you do that affirms your confession of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Very important.

Now, as I’ve said before, you know, the gnawing anxiety of the heart of the pastor, the shepherd, is that there is someone in the midst of the sheep who isn’t real and wakes up in eternal damnation. Fearful thought. And the Lord had that in His heart all the time.

I think every day of the Lord’s sojourn with His disciples He was deeply drawn to the situation of Judas. And I think Judas is the classic of this. He was going along, pretending to belong. But when it got tough, he got out and got some money, and in effect said, “He’s not the Messiah. I got to buy my way out of this deal.” He didn’t just run; he tried to take as much as he could with him. But on judgment day, oh, what a day. Fearful, fearful thing.

I will stop here, as the next set of verses has to do with our family relationships and Christ.

Tomorrow’s post will conclude the exegesis.