July 23rd, 2026
Matthew 10:24-25 — "“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.”
We are called to imitate Christ in every aspect of our lives, but what is so hard about that is that when we do this well, we may take more abuse from the world than when we do it poorly. The learned men of the synagogue charged Jesus by being possessed by Beelzebul and for casting out demons by the power of Satan, but Jesus responds that a house divided cannot stand. Infighting is destructive.
In Galatians and elsewhere in Paul’s writings, we see him call the churches that he planted to imitate him. This is a helpful example to place before us. Our ultimate goal in the Christian life is to imitate Christ, but in our journey of sanctification, in our journey to become holy and set apart from the world for God’s glory, it is appropriate to look to great men and women of God as examples to imitate as well. For me, I look to John Chrysostom, John Calvin, and Martin Luther as men and preachers whom I wish to imitate as I strive to imitate Christ.
The disciple is not above his teacher, and none of these men were above critique. Each of these men experienced persecution in their lives just as Christ did, but each held to the Word of God as his firm foundation through which he strove to become like Christ.
This idea is reflected in one of my favorite, albeit likely fictional, stories about Martin Luther. While hiding from persecution in Wartburg Castle, a popular legend is that an apparition of the devil appeared in Luther’s room while he was writing, and he threw an inkwell at the apparition and yelled, “Be gone, Satan!” Knowing how superstitious 16th century Germany was, I would not be surprised if Luther actually threw an inkwell at a fly or swarm of flies, connecting Beelzebul and flies to the presence of Satan. Yet this story is likely not historically accurate.
Apparently the legend grew out of an ink stain on the wall mixed with Luther’s actual words about driving the devil away with ink. Fittingly, what Luther was doing within the walls of Wartburg Castle was translating Scripture into German, so while he may not have thrown ink at the devil, he did throw ink onto the page in the form of God’s Word for the sake of chasing away the devil.
In the same manner, we should all strive to chase away the devil and his schemes with Scripture. We are truly blessed to be able to read the Word of God in our own language, and not only that, but we have many excellent translations to choose from and compare to one another. We must not neglect the Word of God in our lives but remember that a disciple is not above her teacher. If Christ meditated on the Word of God in the wilderness, we should meditate on the Word in our daily life. If Christ spent time in daily prayer, so should we. And if Christ is too high of a standard to begin with, there are many great examples in Church history of fallible men and women where we can begin in our pursuit of Christlikeness.
United in Christ,
Rev. Joshua Fried
We are called to imitate Christ in every aspect of our lives, but what is so hard about that is that when we do this well, we may take more abuse from the world than when we do it poorly. The learned men of the synagogue charged Jesus by being possessed by Beelzebul and for casting out demons by the power of Satan, but Jesus responds that a house divided cannot stand. Infighting is destructive.
In Galatians and elsewhere in Paul’s writings, we see him call the churches that he planted to imitate him. This is a helpful example to place before us. Our ultimate goal in the Christian life is to imitate Christ, but in our journey of sanctification, in our journey to become holy and set apart from the world for God’s glory, it is appropriate to look to great men and women of God as examples to imitate as well. For me, I look to John Chrysostom, John Calvin, and Martin Luther as men and preachers whom I wish to imitate as I strive to imitate Christ.
The disciple is not above his teacher, and none of these men were above critique. Each of these men experienced persecution in their lives just as Christ did, but each held to the Word of God as his firm foundation through which he strove to become like Christ.
This idea is reflected in one of my favorite, albeit likely fictional, stories about Martin Luther. While hiding from persecution in Wartburg Castle, a popular legend is that an apparition of the devil appeared in Luther’s room while he was writing, and he threw an inkwell at the apparition and yelled, “Be gone, Satan!” Knowing how superstitious 16th century Germany was, I would not be surprised if Luther actually threw an inkwell at a fly or swarm of flies, connecting Beelzebul and flies to the presence of Satan. Yet this story is likely not historically accurate.
Apparently the legend grew out of an ink stain on the wall mixed with Luther’s actual words about driving the devil away with ink. Fittingly, what Luther was doing within the walls of Wartburg Castle was translating Scripture into German, so while he may not have thrown ink at the devil, he did throw ink onto the page in the form of God’s Word for the sake of chasing away the devil.
In the same manner, we should all strive to chase away the devil and his schemes with Scripture. We are truly blessed to be able to read the Word of God in our own language, and not only that, but we have many excellent translations to choose from and compare to one another. We must not neglect the Word of God in our lives but remember that a disciple is not above her teacher. If Christ meditated on the Word of God in the wilderness, we should meditate on the Word in our daily life. If Christ spent time in daily prayer, so should we. And if Christ is too high of a standard to begin with, there are many great examples in Church history of fallible men and women where we can begin in our pursuit of Christlikeness.
United in Christ,
Rev. Joshua Fried
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