Proper 6 -- Exodus 19: 2 – 8a, Psalm 100, Romans 5: 6 – 11, Matthew 9: 35 – 10: 15
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL on Sunday, June 15th, 2008
Ever think about some of the great events in history? Consider the founding of our great country, for example….perhaps a very timely exercise with July 4th on the way, as we consider the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War that followed.
Sometimes, when we look back at great events like these, we may tend to:
- Look back with nostalgia: Surely, those great people who led us through the great events of the past were different than people are today, we might think. They seem to be smarter, wiser, and tougher, somehow.
- Look back with detachment: When read in a history book, the events of the past tend to flatten out, don’t they? Somehow, declaring our independence from Great Britain (to use the event we started out with) seems like such an easy thing to do, doesn’t it? The human drama, the dangers and perils that were associated with the events of July 4th, 1776, seem to fade away, somehow. We seem very detached from the world of the 18th century.
As we look at today’s Gospel, we see that Matthew is also looking back. In fact, all the Gospel writers are looking back at the great events of Jesus’ life, ministry, teaching, death, and resurrection.
They’re all looking back at these great events, but they do not look back with a sense of nostalgia and detachment.
On the contrary, Matthew and the other Gospel writers look back, in order to bring the power of the “Christ event”[1] into the present.
For Matthew, Jesus’ teaching and Jesus’ presence is as real and as powerful as it was in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and work. There’s no detachment from Jesus’ power. There’s no detachment from Jesus’ presence, for it is in Matthew that we read, “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of you,”[2] and “I am with you always, to the close of the age.”[3]
Matthew’s understanding – which is critical to the Church’s understanding of itself, the ministry given to it by Christ, and the continuing power and presence of Christ among the gathered believers – is that our Lord is present with us always, whenever we are gathered together, and until the end of time. The Lord is present with us now, in this worship time when we gather together!
So, there’s no nostalgia and no detachment in Matthew, not at all.
What does Matthew see as he looks back at Jesus’ ministry and teaching? Let’s look at that first. Then, we’ll turn our attention to Jesus’ continuing presence and power for us today, recognizing that Jesus is present with us today in the same way He was with the original twelve disciples, and with Matthew’s church.
Notice, as we turn to the text, these key points:
- Jesus recognizes and responds to people’s needs: Jesus laments that the children of Israel are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”[4] Why was that? Because the leadership of Jesus’ day, the Chief Priest, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees and the Scribes, had their own self-interest at heart. But they did not have the peoples’ welfare in mind. Power, the acquisition of more power, and the preservation of their own privilege, these were the matters which occupied the minds of the ruling elite in Israel 2,000 years ago.
For Matthew’s infant church, perhaps meeting somewhere in modern day Syria, the contest with what remained of the ruling elite of Jesus’ day (the priestly caste had been largely wiped out in the Jewish – Roman War of 66 – 70 AD) continued unabated. These early Christians had to deal daily with hostile Jewish Pharisees and Scribes, who had survived the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and who now were the leaders of Judaism. - Jesus recognizes the need for workers, and then provides them: Notice Jesus’ prayer, “Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”[5] Having uttered this prayer, Jesus immediately answers it Himself, sending out the original twelve into the harvest.
The need for workers for the harvest (a term in Matthew which refers to the final, spiritual harvest when God the Father would gather in all those who had been called into the Kingdom at the end of time – Matthew had the “big picture” in mind!) continued in Matthew’s church….Workers were needed to care for the flock, workers who would work alongside the sheep, not as overlords or masters (Matthew has a very egalitarian view of leadership….see Matthew 23: 1- 12). - A focused ministry: Note that Jesus limits the twelve to the “lost sheep” of Israel. Perhaps this is in keeping with Jesus’ concern for those lost sheep, the harassed and helpless ones He encountered during His earthly ministry. Perhaps He seeks to meet the immediate needs He saw around Him.
By the late first century, Matthew’s church had come to be composed of Jews and Gentiles. By this time, too, the mission field had been widened considerably by our Lord Himself, when He said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”[6]
But it’s worth remembering that Jesus’ original focus was closely connected to the immediate needs He saw around Him. - Travel lightly: The instructions Jesus gave to those original followers seem strange today….”Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey…”[7] Boiled down to their modern day equivalent, they simply say, “travel lightly”, and “don’t misuse the Gospel for your personal enrichment”.
Perhaps Matthew’s church had to deal with travelling preachers or prophets who came from the Holy Land north (and east-ward) to their church. Perhaps Jesus’ instructions served as a reminder that the body of the faithful were to be wary of those who would seek to fatten their own pockets by claiming to represent Jesus.[8] - You will face rejection: Jesus has no “rose-colored glasses” with which to see the world around Him. After all, He knew His message would eventually stoke the fires of opposition from the ruling elite. Such opposition was, in part, the reason for His passion and death. He also knew that those who carried His message out into the world would also face opposition.
Matthew’s church, no doubt, encountered continuing opposition from the form of Judaism that had survived the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. Perhaps the opposition came from the cultural descendents of the Pharisees and the Scribes who constituted the opposition Jesus encountered some years before. - “Your ministry is the same one that Jesus had”: Here, we paraphrase Jesus’ instructions to His disciples as He commissions them to go forth, carrying the Good News of the Kingdom. “He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity.”[9] Jesus sends his disciples out with the same message and the same work He himself had accomplished. For Jesus has been curing diseases and healing infirmities throughout chapters eight and nine of Matthew’s Gospel account, all the while proclaiming that the Kingdom had “come near”. Jesus now sends His disciples out with the same message, with the same mission, and in His power and His authority (which are connected - in my mind - to His continuing presence).
Some 60 to 70 years later, Matthew’s church is reminded that the works of Jesus will not only match their works, but those travelling prophets and preachers that they may well have been encountering will also have their authority and their fidelity to the Gospel authenticated by the message they preach and the works they do.
Now, in closing, what might we apply to our own Christian lives and walk today? We take our clue from today’s Gospel passage. Perhaps these points are worth considering:
- See the needs around us, and respond: We live in a world of “harassed and helpless” people, to whom we are called to minister, bringing the Good News of God in Jesus Christ. We are to tell them as the original disciples did, “The Kingdom has come near.”
- We are to be the workers today: Just as Jesus promised to be with us “until the close of the age”, we are to be Jesus’ hands to do and Jesus’ heart to love in this day, in this time, and in this place.
- Pray and work for good leadership: Times have not changed all that much….the flock of Christ is still required to deal with leaders who seem to have their own self-interest in mind. Remember Matthew’s egalitarian view of the Church, in which the leadership serves by example, fulfilling Christ’s model of servant-leadership.
- Some will reject: Essentially, all we are called to be is “seed planters” for the Kingdom, planting the seeds of the Good News. Some who receive the seeds we cast, like the rocky soil in Jesus’ parable,[10] will reject the message. We are still called to be bearers of the Good News, regardless of the response.
- Jesus’ works will be our works: Jesus proclaimed the Good News. He pushed back the frontiers of disease and infirmities that made people ritually unclean and rendered them to be outsiders, set apart outside the community. He confronted the powers of evil that were present in His day.
We, too, are called to bring people into communion with God through Jesus Christ, allowing healing to take place that enables relationship with God. We are to counter the forces of evil we encounter in the world today, and we are to tell out the Good News of God in Jesus Christ.
For Jesus’ power and presence are ours today. There’s no nostalgia in our recognition of His presence, and no detachment from His power.
AMEN.
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[1] The “Christ event” is a technical term used by scholars to refer to any and every facet of Jesus Christ’s birth, life, teachings, passion, death, resurrection and ascension.
[2] Matthew 18: 20
[3] Matthew 28: 20
[4] Matthew 9: 36
[5] Matthew 9: 38
[6] Matthew 28: 19
[7] Matthew 10: 9
[8] A second century Christian document called the Didache apparently tried to deal with the phenomenon of preachers and travelling evangelists who might be tempted to use the Gospel for their private enrichment. The Didache (11 – 13) states that a travelling preacher is to “be received as the Lord”. If the traveler stays one or two days, he is a genuine servant of the Lord, If, however, the person stays three days, they are to be regarded as a false prophet.
[9] Matthew 10: 1
[10] Matthew 13: 1 - 23
