When I was a little kid and my dad would drop me off at school in the morning, he would always say the same thing. “I love you. Have a good day. And don’t take any wooden nickels.” I remember the whole “wooden nickels” thing would make me giggle. What in the world was a wooden nickel? Why would I take one? And what did that matter?
Of course, as the years passed and I got older, I started greeting my dad’s “Don’t take any wooden nickels” advice with an eye roll and groan, like we tend to do with all Dad jokes and very bad Dad puns.
Fathers giving their children advice before heading off to school is a rite of passage for all children, whether they are heading off to third grade or leaving home for college.
Perhaps the most famous literary example of fatherly advice comes to us in Shakespeare’s Hamlet when Polonius gives his son, Laertes, advice before Laertes leaves home for school. Polonius’ words are so well-known that people sometimes mistake them as coming from the Bible instead of Shakespeare.
Polonius says to Laertes for example, “Neither a borrower, nor a lender be.”
Words that I find myself repeating every time I give a book away to a friend. “I don’t lend books,” I tell people. “When I give you a book, I expect you to keep it or pass it on to someone else.”
Part of that is me being kind, but a big part of that is knowing that if I didn’t give my books away, you would find me in the newspaper under the headline, “Woman Found Crushed to Death Under Avalanche of Books.”
We don’t know how Laertes felt exactly about Polonius’ advice. It’s up to the actor’s interpretation to allow Laertes to give the dramatic eye-roll to his father even if his words to his father are polite and thoughtful.
Though Polonius probably didn’t anticipate dying before Laertes returned from school, Polonius most likely did see his words as one last chance to impart some sort of wisdom to his son. Polonius clearly loved his son and wanted the very best for him. While Polonius is a deeply flawed man, the original helicopter parent, sending Reynaldo to spy on Laertes while he is at school, the advice Polonius gives Laertes is good advice and perhaps Polonius’ only redeeming characteristic.
Today’s Gospel reading is from Matthew 10:5-15. But I want to look at this chapter as a whole, because it is all very important. It is the Jesus version of Polonius’ speech to Laertes. Matthew 10 details Jesus’ instructions to the disciples, his instructions to them before sending them out. The chapter begins with the naming of the disciples, followed by today’s reading where Jesus instructs the disciples as to their mission. It continues with Jesus’ warning that they will face hardship, that they will be persecuted, but they should not be afraid.
This chapter from Matthew is filled with so many well-known phrases. Jesus says in Matthew 10:7, “As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”
Later in verse 27, “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.”
In verse 39, “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
Jesus even echoes Polonius in verse 8—or perhaps it was Polonius echoing Jesus who says, “You received without payment; give without payment.”
In other words, give without expecting anything in return.
But Jesus isn’t just defining the disciples’ mission for them in today’s reading.
He is telling them who they are.
This is you, he seems to say.
In verse 8 again, Jesus says, “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.”
Expect nothing in return.
Take nothing with you. Take nothing in return.
This is who you are. You are a giver.
In verses 19 and 20, “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; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
Do not worry, do not be afraid.
This is who you are. Someone who carries with them the Spirit of God.
In verses 29-31, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from 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.”
This is who you are. You are of value. You are God’s beloved child.
In verse 38, “…. and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”
In Matthew 10, Jesus is talking to his twelve disciples specifically.
But though we are not the twelve, we should find meaning here too. Jesus’ words are not held captive here on the page. They speak to generations.
And what is he telling us—telling all of us here?
To recap.
Be a giver.
Speak the word of God.
Remember you are loved.
Do not be afraid.
Take up your cross and follow him.
Polonius ends his speech to Laertes with these words, “This above all: to thine own self be true.”
And what Jesus offers here in Matthew 10 is a glimpse of who that true self is.
Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment