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.”
Matthew 9:35—10:23 (NRSVue)
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: “Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town, 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 those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.
My sermon from the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost Sunday (June 18, 2023) on Matthew 9:35—10:23.
If you were putting together a group of people to make God’s love real on earth, who would be on that team? If it’s helpful, imagine we’re God’s version of the Marvel comicbook hero Nick Fury and we’ve been tasked with putting together a divine version of the Avengers. I, personally, wouldn’t call this new group the Avengers since God’s work is a lot bigger than simply avenging. But if we were putting together a holy team of real human beings, I wonder who we’d pick to be a part of it. I imagine we’d want folks who have a real connection with the God who is capable of casting out the demons that tear us apart. Yet they’d also know what it’s like to be in the presence of the God who bursts into tears when they do. They would be the faithful few who have graduated from the doubt and faithlessness we feel by truly believing God is here.
In today’s reading from the gospel according to Matthew, we discovered what Jesus did after he finally assembled his version of a super-team we know as the Apostles. Jesus was, for quite awhile, the primary teacher, healer, and manifestation of the kingdom of God coming near. And after looking around and noticing the need that was all around him, Jesus officially invited others into this same kind of work too. The group he pulled together was to show what His community was going to be about. Yet when we closely examine the people who Jesus called to follow him, I’m not sure if we would have done the same thing. Jesus, who literally had a star hover over the place where he was born, brought people together who were not the stars of their own lives. He invited fishermen, tax collectors, the faithful, the doubters, and even the one who would betray him to become the people who would bring healing and wholeness to others. That honestly feels a bit too much since they, like us, are often the ones who need that healing too. Those who follow Jesus and who live in this world often need a refuge from it – a place or an experience where, for a moment, our pain and suffering is no more. We long to know we are loved, valued, and living a life that actually matters. And so that’s why we, and these apostles I think, come to Jesus – to grab hold of God’s grace so that we, in some way, might graduate from this basic life into something more. We want to be on our way into something new. And yet before the heavenly diploma comes, Jesus sends those who follow him out – to show others what the kingdom of God is all about.
That, I think, is one of the things that makes the life of a disciple hard. Within this identity we all share, we’re each given a lot of responsibilities. On one level, we’re called to return to Jesus over and over again. When we feel as if we’re not worthy of God’s love or when we feel as if we’re already good enough, that’s a sign we need to pause and sit at Jesus’ feet. We, by integrating Jesus’ story into our own story through the intentional practice of prayer, worship, Bible reading, service, and spending time with all of God’s people – we lean into the part of discipleship that makes us into students of God’s love. This is a type of education that does not end because it helps us become aware of what Jesus is leading us to. We are asked, as students, to also lean into the part of discipleship that’s all about following Jesus. Because when we follow Jesus, we end up in the places where God’s work of love, reconciliation, hope, and mercy can be found. A disciple seeks refuge in Jesus; is taught by Jesus; and goes wherever Jesus goes. And yet members of this super-team have one additional responsibility too. Jesus sends them out so that others can discover for themselves what it’s like for the kingdom of God to come near.
Now the word “Apostles” is more than a title for the super team Jesus put together. The word really means: “one who is sent off.” An apostle is an emissary, a messenger, and an ambassador – and this term was used in our Bible for other people beyond who were named in our reading today. When we follow Jesus, we are sent out by Jesus to be like Jesus wherever God calls us to be. That language of sending and being sent might bring to our own minds a superteam full of missionaries, pastors, chaplains, nurses, doctors, non-profit workers, and all those who excite our spiritual imagination by giving hope to those who are often left behind. Yet that image in our head usually doesn’t include us since we think that work is supposed to be done by someone else. Matthew, though, didn’t believe that these words from Jesus’ words were only meant for the twelve. He included this entire scene so that those we’d never pick for our faithful super-team heard these words too. The original twelve Apostles was a group full of folks who challenged Jesus, questioned Jesus, talked back to Jesus, and fled from Jesus at the time of his greatest need. And they were the ones Jesus sent out to build new relationships with people they didn’t fully know. Their task was to do the hard work of making wholeness a reality for others by not assuming they already knew the pain and suffering they were going through. By relying on the hospitality of others, they were immediately brought inside so they could listen and witness the lives people actually lived. Those who were sent by Jesus could then participate in God’s work of breaking through what keeps all of us separated from a life full of hope and love. It’s a way of being in the world that keeps us connected to God and each other by admitting how vulnerable we all are. And it’s through this work we create places filled with a divine peace that extends beyond simply the comfort level of a select few. Being a disciple isn’t easy because being vulnerable, asking for help, and admitting the ways we do not love like God loves is a truth we aren’t always ready to bear. Yet this work – of being one of the ways God’s kingdom comes near in the lives of others – isn’t work we do alone because we can’t be sent to something unless we were already part of something first.
And what we’re part of is Jesus himself. Through the gift of faith and the power of baptism, you are already part of this body of Christ. The team Jesus put together to make God’s love real in the lives of others includes more than just other people; it includes you too. You, as you are, are necessary for what God is up to in the world. Now there are times when this feels right – especially when our life is moving forward and we’re graduating from one thing to pursue another. But as our situations change, as our lives ebb and flow, and during those times when our moving forward feels like we’re, instead, going backwards – we can’t possibly imagine Jesus’ team truly includes us. Yet Jesus, as we see in today’s story, has a habit of not letting individuals get in the way of where God wants them to be. Jesus calls those who make mistakes, those who have doubts, and those are fuzzy in their faith – to be the ones who cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. It’s Jesus who sends those who struggle to see the image of God in their neighbors to be the ones who share how God’s love is real. It’s Jesus who, over and over again, calls imperfect people to reflect His perfect love into the world. It seems pretty improbable that among the faithful people we look up to, Jesus would make us part of that team too. But you were made for this kind of Holy work because the love of God in you is meant for God’s world too.
Amen.