Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be 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 this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities 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 a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:21–33)

A student is not above his teacher nor a servant above his master. Knowledge of imminent events greatly helps us to endure, especially if our will is anticipated by a model of patience. Our Lord, Eternal Light, Leader of believers, and Parent of immortality, sent encouragement to His disciples in advance for their coming suffering, so that no disciple should imagine that he is better than his teacher, and no slave that he is above his master. For if they call the master of the house by the surname of a demon because of their jealousy, how much more will they commit all kinds of injury and outrage toward the household servants? But they do not at all frighten us with these insults if we, rather than grabbing a position of glory, place ourselves on the same level with our Savior when it comes to suffering.

There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed. He is referring to the day of judgment, which will reveal the hidden conscience of our will. Those things that they thought were covered up, he will uncover in the light of open acknowledgment. He tells us, therefore, that we should not be afraid of threats, schemes, or the power of our persecutors, because the day of judgment will reveal that those things were really of no account and unfounded.

And what I tell you in the dark, speak it in the light; and what you hear in your ear, proclaim on the rooftops. We read that the Lord was not accustomed to making pronouncements at night or teaching in the dark. In fact, every word of His is darkness to carnal persons, and His word is night to unbelievers. Whatever He has said must be spoken with a freedom of faith and confession by each one. For this reason, He commands that those words spoken in darkness should be proclaimed in the light. Whatever the Lord entrusted to their hearing in secret, let it be heard on the rooftops, and the speaker’s declamation may be heard from on high. For the knowledge of God must be faith fully announced, and the teaching of the Gospel’s hidden depths must be revealed in the light of the apostolic preaching. We do not fear those who, though they possess bodily abilities, have no law over the soul. Rather, we fear God who has power of destroying both soul and body in Gehenna.

Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew 10.15–17