And you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
All Commentaries on Matthew 10:18 Go To Matthew 10
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Some may object, saying, “How then will others come to faith, when they see on our account children being slain by their fathers, and brothers killing brothers, and all things filled with abominations?” How could this sort of warfare work out? Will not we be treated as though we were destructive demons? As though we were a plague and pests to be driven out from every quarter? Won’t they see that the earth is filled with the blood of kinsmen fighting kinsmen? Even so our sole purpose is to bring peace into their houses, even amid so much conflict. And this peace is beautiful. Suppose there had been some great number of us, not merely twelve! Suppose we had been wise and skilled in rhetoric, trained orators rather than “unlearned and ignorant.” What would have come of our proclamation? Suppose we had been kings, in possession of armies and an abundance of wealth? Would we have been thereby more persuasive in proclaiming this kingdom of peace? When we despise our own safety, why do they pay all the more attention to us? But they were not thinking or saying these things. They were not putting Jesus’ commands to some pragmatic test. Rather, they simply yielded and obeyed. And this obedience did not come from their own moral excellence as such but rather itself was a gift of grace from their teacher. Whatever fearful things they were to face, the more so would they be given grace to face them. He said, “Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.” And again he warned shortly after this, “And you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles.” This is no small exhortation, that we should both suffer these things because of Christ and serve as a reproof to humans. The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
