Don't outshine the boss!

Mat 10:24-33

24 "A student doesn't get a better desk than her teacher. A laborer doesn't make more money than his boss. 25 Be content-- pleased, even-- when you, my students, my harvest hands, get the same treatment I get. If they call me, the Master, 'Beelzebul,' what can the workers expect? 26" Don't be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. 27 So don't hesitate to go public now. 28 "Don't be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There's nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life-- body and soul-- in his hands. 29" What's the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. 30 He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail-- even numbering the hairs on your head! 31 So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries. 32 "Stand up for me against world opinion and I'll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. 33 If you turn tail and run, do you think I'll cover for you?

Food for the soul!

Jesus is a realist. And he is frank with us. This week he has taught us eternal principles of life and living. Consider this one, for instance: a student doesn't get a better desk than her teacher; an employee doesn't make more money than his employer. Jesus is teaching us what we have heard elsewhere that "Never outshine your master."

What this means is that there can only be one sun at a time. So don't ever obscure the sunlight, or rival the sun's brilliance; rather, content yourself to being a star shining in the dark, not in the day because no one will see you. If your ideas are more brilliant than your Master's, ascribe them to him, in as public a manner as possible. Make it clear that your advice is merely an echo of his advice.

But Jesus is also saying that he expects us to be as good as he is, as loved as he is, as hated as he is. We cannot expect anything different. What happened to Jesus will happen to us. We will be misunderstood, we will be misrepresented just as Jesus was. A Christian is Christ living again. This is our honour and burden.

For that reason, we do not fear because we are protected as Jesus was by his Father. A Christian is not unknown by God. On the contrary, he is known in every way. Jesus uses the image of sparrows. That two sparrows are sold for a penny and yet not one of them falls to the ground without the knowledge of God. Luke gives us that saying of Jesus in a slightly different form: "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God?" (Lk.12:6).

The point is this, two sparrows were sold for one penny. But if the purchaser was prepared to spend two pennies, he got, not four sparrows, but five. The extra one was thrown into the bargain as having no value at all. God cares even for the sparrow which is thrown into the bargain, and which on man's counting has no value at all. If the forgotten sparrow is dear to God, what will be the man that God made in his image and likeness?

Whatever happens to us, we cannot drift beyond the love of God. We should know that our times are for ever in God's hands; that God will not leave us or forsake us because we are surrounded for ever by God's care.