Matthew 9:35 – 10:23
June 18, 2023
The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor
Rush United Methodist Church
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
| Centering Prayer |
Our Gospel for today
Is the only occurrence in Matthew
Where the disciples of Jesus are named
And given the title of “Apostle”.
The word “Apostle” comes from the Greek “Apostolos”
Meaning “person sent.”
In today’s Gospel,
Disciples of Jesus
Are tasked with additional responsibilities.
Disciples not only follow Jesus;
– Learn his teachings and follow in his example –
Disciples are now sent,
Transformed into Apostles,
Sent,
First to Jews of the house of Israel,
(as we will explore here today) and
Later, to Samaria, and to the world.
(Acts 1:8)
Every nation.
Every race.
Every language.
Jews, Gentiles, and every other religion under the sun.
Sinners and saints alike.
The contrast is important.
Discipleship is about being filled with Jesus.
Apostleship is being sent to bring the world to Jesus.
Jesus mixes his metaphors today,
Referring to the crowd as sheep,
And to the world as abundant crops ready to be harvested.
Animal farming v. cash cropping.
It isn’t clean,
But Jesus gets the job done.
…
Sheeplike.
Reality check, with a large dose of humility:
Apostles of Jesus are like sheep.
1. Without the Good Shepherd we are prone to wander.
Take the eye off Jesus
and become easily distracted.
There is much to distract
Partisan politics, building wealth, amassing pride and power.
The fallen nature of life
Will go to the ends of the earth
To distract you and me from Jesus,
Our ultimate concern.
2. When we, like sheep,
Draw a deaf ear to the guidance and directives of Jesus,
The world becomes a tempting cacophony of competing calls;
Undisciplined pride,
Unrestrained anger,
Mindless Envy,
Objectified Lust,
Limitless Gluttony,
Poisonous Sloth.
3. Without the protection and guidance of our Good Shepherd
We are in constant, chronic mortal danger.
Without Christ, we risk body and soul.
Be not naïve,
Apostolic work
Is dangerous, life-threatening work.
Apostles are like sheep in the midst of wolves.
Vulnerable.
Being forewarned
demands apostles to be prepared.
I’d love to pepper my message
With heartwarming antidotes and stories
Of growth, success, and clean living.
Of little David slaying the mighty Goliath.
Nothing to be seen here.
Jesus is no vaccine that prevents pain, suffering, or death.
Apostles are betrayed.
Hated;
Rejected by blood,
Well-meaning family members.
Apostles who carry Jesus to the world are
Persecuted by good Christian neighbors-about-town
Who dress up to go to church on Sundays.
Apostles, beware wolves.
Wolves hunt, and don’t give up.
Wolves kill, not like the regeneration of a video game.
Wolves kill dead.
Wolves feast with an unsatiable appetite.
Apostles can be expected to be arrested, charged, and prosecuted
As enemies of the people
As heretics of the Church.
Like a good Boy Scout, be prepared.
Put on Christ,
Shelter in his protective love.
Be filled with his power and strength of the Spirit.
Allow the Spirit of the Father speak in you and through you.
Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
…
Servant Laborers.
Apostles are disciples sent.
Sent by Jesus to do what?
1. First, take notice:
Here-to-for, Jesus has been a one-man-traveling-salvation-show.
It’s time to delegate,
To multiply.
Elementary level mathematics is a helpful metaphor.
One Jesus
commissions and sends
twelve disciples.
It would be great if the net would hold millions,
Thousands even,
Instead of just twelve.
Good laborers are hard to come by.
Yet. Twelve were enough to start with.
Twelve are enough.
Apostles of Jesus are sent to multiply.
One becomes twelve.
Twelve becomes 144.
One forty-four becomes …
In a similar, but opposing way,
Apostles of Jesus are not in the subtraction or division business.
If you’re not building,
At best, you are maintaining the status quo,
Setting the table
For another generation to drive a stake through the heart.
At worst, if
you are not building Church,
The Body of Christ,
You’re destroying.
Build.
Multiply.
Compound.
Light the afterburners.
Take supersonic your role
In building the Church of Jesus Christ.
2. Apostles of Jesus are sent to harvest.
Often, scripture uses harvest as a metaphor for the end times,
The return of Christ, and a final judgment.
No sign of that here.
Different sermon.
Different topic.
Another place.
Harvest:
Plentiful.
Abundant.
Full-to-overflowing is the harvest God provides.
Harvest isn’t just about
Swinging a scythe, gathering, separating, processing fruit, and burning the chaff.
Harvest demands compassionate Apostles
Who are willing to be servant laborers
Called and sent by Jesus.
Be the servant who
Proclaims the Good News.
This is the message to communicate through everything you think, say, and do:
God created you.
God loves you.
God forgives your sins.
God saves you into eternal life!
Pass it on!
…
Life happens in-between.
Illness, demons, and death.
So what?
God’s got you.
Be the servant who
Cures the sick, raises the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons.
We are in the fix-and-repair business.
Scavenge the junkyards of life.
The well have no need of a physician.
Seek out the lost, the left behind, the discarded and left for dead.
Fix the broken.
Heal.
Cleanse.
Purify the world with unblemished righteousness.
…
Be the servant laborer
Who places complete dependence upon God
And God alone.
One only needs bread daily.
Yesterday’s bread is today’s waste;
Tomorrow’s bread is wholly dependent on the grace of God.
Today’s bread is God’s intentional act to sustain and strengthen you.
God hasn’t failed once in the history of the world.
Grace won’t fail today.
Tomorrow? Nope.
As certain as tomorrow’s sunrise,
God provides, sustains, protects, loves.
Bank it.
…
Be the servant laborer
Who isn’t afraid to move on
if returns are not worthy of our heavenly Father and King.
Shake off the dust and leave.
In other words,
Leave the past behind.
Walk away from toxic circumstances and people
Who remain unmoved, unchanged,
Despite our every prayer and all our effort.
Pay attention to “return-on-investment”
More carefully than a corporate accountant.
“Shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.” (10:14)
Shake it. Leave it.
No apologies.
No regrets.
Let God judge.
Move on.
…
Servant laborers who cut losses and move on
discover a newfound serenity.
Peace becomes
the divine replacement
for anxiety, frustration, and failure.
“God; grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
To change the things I can change,
And the wisdom to know the difference.”
(Reinhold Niebuhr, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer)
Self-flagellation ceases.
No dead horses are left to beat.
Moving on opens the door.
Peace once held, returns.
Peace returns to you.
…
Disciples learn and follow.
Apostles go and serve.
Be both / and.
Service is harvest focused.
Sick? Be healed.
Let me introduce you to the one who heals.
Follow him.
Dead? Bring life.
Let me introduce you to the Lord of life and resurrection.
He knows the way.
Jesus knows the tomb, but he also knows eternal life.
Follow him.
Filled with the devil? Satan! Be gone!
The Light has come to replace the darkness.
His name is Jesus.
Come and meet him.
Beloved, modern-day Apostles of Jesus;
It’s all about the harvest.
There is no time to wait.
No time for distractions.
The kingdom draws near, oh, so near.
…
Praise God
For the Apostolic authority,
Given and passed,
From generation to generation
To this age and time and place.
Simon Peter, the first among equals, and Andrew.
Adult sons of Zebedee, James and John.
Philip and Bartholomew.
Thomas, who demanded proof, and Matthew, the tax collector,
The son of Alphaeus, James,
And Thaddaeus,
Simon the Cananaean, and
Judas.
Even Judas.
Take thou authority.
Take the Good News.
Share the Good News.
The Lord of the Harvest is drawing his kingdom near.
Amen.
Breaking Yokes 