Apocalypse Now?

I signed up for this program which sends you a daily email such that if you remain faithful, you can read the four Gospels in the course of one year. I kind of like it, even if I find the commentary at times puzzling. Today's reading would be an example in that it anticipates the persecutions to come, as if they needed to be prophesied and were not already part of the baptismal "package", if you will. Yes, Jesus' words are prophetic, not so much in the sense of predicting something to come, but in the sense of teaching a hard and for some unexpected truth about the here and now: Matthew 10:16-25:

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you up, do not be anxious about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes.

"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household."

Simply stated, to my mind the commentary title "Day 30 - The Coming Persecutions" is a misnomer or distraction. The Lord Jesus is describing the tribulations to be expected by a disciple; this is what sharing in the Cross of our Savior means.

Then again, maybe the email's approach is the right one, because we are all so into denial about the spectrum of consequences to being buried with Christ in Baptism. I cannot help but think of the stir which Cardinal George's "prophecy" about his successors in Chicago having to expect imprisonment and martyrdom. We need to understand just what all might come our way if we are faithful to the Gospel.

Nonetheless, I think Matthew's Gospel here in this passage is providing reality therapy for missionaries and preachers who will be rejected and even "flogged", for betrayals within one's own family. I know it comes to me hard: "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household."...

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