Sermon on Matthew 9:35-10:23 and Romans 5:1-8
By Revd Gordon Thomas
THE COMPASSION OF GOD
Matthew 9:35 - 10:23
35 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. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." NRS Matthew 10:1 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. 2 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; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' 8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. 9 Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 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. 15 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. 16 "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. 19 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; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; 22 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 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. [NRSV]
35 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. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." NRS Matthew 10:1 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. 2 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; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' 8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. 9 Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 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. 15 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. 16 "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. 19 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; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; 22 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 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. [NRSV]
Romans 5:1-8
1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person-- though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. [NRSV]
1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person-
WHO IS THIS MAN?
My favourite scene in the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" is where the two crooks are trying to escape from a group of men determined to catch them. The horse-chase goes on and on and on; the only words come every so often from Butch or the Kid, turning round, seeing their enemies still there and groaning who are these guys?
The four gospels continually ask the same question about Jesus, sometimes said, sometimes hinted, but still the same: who is this man?
It's a fair question: in Matthew's gospel the crowd has heard Jesus deliver an astonishing sermon. At the end Matthew writes they are astounded at his teaching: Jesus's authority was quite different from what they were used to. Who is this man?
Then Matthew brings together in the next three chapters great healing miracles by Jesus: a servant; other men: paralysed, blind, dumb, demon-possessed; a little girl, a woman; lots of others at Peter's house. Not only that: Jesus forgives sins and even calms the wild wind and sea. It's not surprising the people ask like they do today: who is this man? Sooner or later we have to decide if he was mad, bad or God. CS Lewis put it like this: he's either the Son of God or a madman or worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him your Lord and your God. But let us not come up with patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
THE MISSION STARTS
Matthew has spent nine chapters demonstrating to his readers that Jesus is none other than God: that's the only explanation for his miraculous birth; his extraordinary preaching, and the miracles which defy the laws of nature. Now he moves us on. Now it's time for Jesus's message and work to expand and the 12 disciples will do what Jesus himself has been. Now the church's mission starts. This is the beginning so it's a crucial moment in the life of the church. But we need to understand something first.
-GOD'S COMPASSION
Through Matthew's writing we've heard Jesus preaching; we've seen his healings: we recognise God in him. Now we see even more: we see something of Jesus's heart: full of compassion. Jesus sees the crowd, a crowd of poor, hungry, oppressed people and he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. What Jesus has been saying and doing isn't prime time spectaculars for global export on foolish television programmes: Jesus teaches and heals from his heart of compassion which also spills into fury at the hard hearted and the proud. And at the same time we see God's heart: it's God who has compassion for the harassed and helpless. His response is to preach, teach and heal. But he needs others to help.
-PRAYER
So Jesus tells his disciples to do the obvious: pray. He changes the image from sheep to harvest. He sees a plentiful harvest but labourers are needed. I don't know your experience of prayer but I find God has a very unkind knack of throwing my prayers right back at me: "Yes; I know millions are hungry: why do you spend so much money on yourself?" "Yes I know you find the Bible difficult: why don't you help each other to understand?" Yes I know the church is half empty: why don't you bring your neighbours?" And so on and so on. The more I ask God to solve problems the more he opens my eyes to the fact that I might be at least part of the problem and solution.
Which is what happens here. The disciples must ask God to send people to work with the crowds. And God does. He sends them! A word of warning: mind what you ask God for: He might agree and use you to help Him!
-THE JOB
And what's the job? Well, to tell folk - only Jews for now - the good news that in Jesus God has come; to bring healing to the suffering, and peace to those who are open to God. They must be willing too, to walk away from those who aren't. And they can expect to suffer even from those from whom they least expect it. And alongside this they have the great hope of salvation.
SO WHAT?
I know we can't take this passage and relate it exactly to our situation Of course Cove in 2008 is different to Palestine 2,000 years ago. But the model of mission is I think the same now as then: compassion; corporate prayer; speaking of God, bringing his healing and his peace; and being clear minded enough to move on from those who don't want to hear.
Mission is the heartbeat of a living church. Rowan Williams says it's when we see God at work and join in. We need to constantly look for opportunities and ask ourselves if they are from God. If we do this we will see everything differently. If worship, working parties, home groups, Christian Aid, Sunbeams, friendships, Contact Centre, Tuesday at v2, prayer, school work, community involvement is a lot of activity which we do if that's our sort of thing then it will all take its place in the rest of life's priorities. If we see them as part of the mission of the church: opportunities to share God's love and compassion with our neighbours then we shall long to be involved. The other stuff we do will find its place in our lives.
I think it boils down to this: Jesus promises us that if we come to him life will be different. That's what Paul describes in his letter today as he spells out a great Christian characteristic: hope, born out of God's love freely given to us and proved above all in the death of Jesus for us, not while we were good, but while we were sinners. But if hope is born out of love it is shaped by suffering (those words again!) which is why it's profoundly different from superficial optimism. When God's love grabs us, we mustn't try to fight it: we must let it bowl us over, change us forever, and take us where it will. And, as I read the New Testament I'm pretty confident that one of the places it will take us is right here to our neighbourhood to share God's love and hope with those around us.
You and I are Jesus's disciples today. A disciple is a learner who not only learns about the master, but learns to do his work. Our master's work is to bring people to God through him: to bring peace and healing. Not from a heart of coercion, but compassion. This is our work too: not with fancy words and extravagant actions but by speaking simply of Jesus, and by ourselves being people of gentle and calm peace and healing. People of compassion. People who know the reality of God's love in our lives and who want to do nothing so much as to share it with those around us.
AMEN
My favourite scene in the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" is where the two crooks are trying to escape from a group of men determined to catch them. The horse-
The four gospels continually ask the same question about Jesus, sometimes said, sometimes hinted, but still the same: who is this man?
It's a fair question: in Matthew's gospel the crowd has heard Jesus deliver an astonishing sermon. At the end Matthew writes they are astounded at his teaching: Jesus's authority was quite different from what they were used to. Who is this man?
Then Matthew brings together in the next three chapters great healing miracles by Jesus: a servant; other men: paralysed, blind, dumb, demon-
THE MISSION STARTS
Matthew has spent nine chapters demonstrating to his readers that Jesus is none other than God: that's the only explanation for his miraculous birth; his extraordinary preaching, and the miracles which defy the laws of nature. Now he moves us on. Now it's time for Jesus's message and work to expand and the 12 disciples will do what Jesus himself has been. Now the church's mission starts. This is the beginning so it's a crucial moment in the life of the church. But we need to understand something first.
-
Through Matthew's writing we've heard Jesus preaching; we've seen his healings: we recognise God in him. Now we see even more: we see something of Jesus's heart: full of compassion. Jesus sees the crowd, a crowd of poor, hungry, oppressed people and
-
So Jesus tells his disciples to do the obvious: pray. He changes the image from sheep to harvest. He sees a plentiful harvest but labourers are needed. I don't know your experience of prayer but I find God has a very unkind knack of throwing my prayers right back at me: "Yes; I know millions are hungry: why do you spend so much money on yourself?" "Yes I know you find the Bible difficult: why don't you help each other to understand?" Yes I know the church is half empty: why don't you bring your neighbours?" And so on and so on. The more I ask God to solve problems the more he opens my eyes to the fact that I might be at least part of the problem and solution.
Which is what happens here. The disciples must ask God to send people to work with the crowds. And God does. He sends
-
And what's the job? Well, to tell folk -
SO WHAT?
I know we can't take this passage and relate it exactly to our situation Of course Cove in 2008 is different to Palestine 2,000 years ago. But the model of mission is I think the same now as then: compassion; corporate prayer; speaking of God, bringing his healing and his peace; and being clear minded enough to move on from those who don't want to hear.
Mission is the heartbeat of a living church. Rowan Williams says it's when we see God at work and join in. We need to constantly look for opportunities and ask ourselves if they are from God. If we do this we will see everything differently. If worship, working parties, home groups, Christian Aid, Sunbeams, friendships, Contact Centre, Tuesday at v2, prayer, school work, community involvement is a lot of activity which we do if that's our sort of thing then it will all take its place in the rest of life's priorities. If we see them as part of the mission of the church: opportunities to share God's love and compassion with our neighbours then we shall long to be involved. The other stuff we do will find its place in our lives.
I think it boils down to this: Jesus promises us that if we come to him life will be different. That's what Paul describes in his letter today as he spells out a great Christian characteristic: hope, born out of God's love freely given to us and proved above all in the death of Jesus for us, not while we were good, but while we were sinners. But if hope is born out of love it is shaped by suffering (those words again!) which is why it's profoundly different from superficial optimism. When God's love grabs us, we mustn't try to fight it: we must let it bowl us over, change us forever, and take us where it will. And, as I read the New Testament I'm pretty confident that one of the places it will take us is right here to our neighbourhood to share God's love and hope with those around us.
You and I are Jesus's disciples today. A disciple is a learner who not only learns
AMEN
Rev Gordon Thomas © 2008