HOLY WORSHIP: GOING TO THE LOST | Third Sunday after Pentecost | 14.06.2026 | Matthew 9:35-10:8 | Samuel David Zumwalt |

³⁵ Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. ³⁶ But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. ³⁷ Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ³⁸ Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” 10 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. ² Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; ⁴ Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. ⁶ But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷ And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved

HOLY WORSHIP: GOING TO THE LOST

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Not Much Has Changed

Is there sickness and disease among us? Silly pastor, of course there is! Look at the prayer list in the bulletin each week. Look at the prayer list in the weekly email. Only the worst of these or the most chronically ill are named in the weekend prayers. Is there sickness and disease among us? Now, add in the people who don’t want any public attention. Now, add in family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. Now, add in the people in the news and on social media. Is there sickness and disease among us? Yes, pastor.

Does Jesus, His Father, and the Holy Spirit know about this sickness and disease? And if the Holy Trinity knows, is the Lord Jesus the King still moved with compassion? Does Jesus still see how flayed and thrown away the crowds are, like sheep without a shepherd? Yes, the King still comes into the midst of sin, death, and the evil one to declare that the reign of sin, death, and evil is done for. The King is still moved with compassion, and He will not give up, give in, or give out until He has made all things new at the last. He tells the larger group of disciples to pray for laborers who will harvest. He sends twelve apostles (the only time Matthew uses apostle), which applies specifically to the twelve and no one since. The twelve are the patriarchs of the New Israel.

It’s Actually Worse Than You Think

Last week, we heard that sin is not merely what we do and don’t do. It is our default condition. When our fellow Christians are confused about what sin is, they have an exaggerated estimation of human ability and a profoundly inadequate understanding of evil. We are not born innocent and, then, only at a so-called age of accountability become responsible. The truth about us is far worse.

David declares: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). Paul writes to the Ephesians: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (2:1). John writes: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” 1 John 1:8). It is actually worse than we think, because sin and evil are so pervasive that neither therapy nor do-it-yourself religion can bring about our salvation. The Kingdom of God (Matthew says “of heaven”) has to break into a hostile world and culture for us to be saved from sin, death, and the old evil one.

And the Bad News Is So Offensive Because It Lays the Old Creation Bare

The unbaptized, wherever they are and whoever they are including people we cherish most, are the lost who need to be found. The de-churched baptized, who have forgotten Whose they are, including often people we have raised or to whom we are closely connected, these are the lost sheep of the New Israel. If, like Demas in 2 Timothy 4:10, the baptized have fallen in love with the world of sin, death, and Satan, they have indeed forsaken King Jesus and need to be brought back into the kingdom before it is too late. There is only biological life in that old creation, which with all its other stories, other loyalties, and Satan’s other lords, will be destroyed. Only King Jesus can deliver us!

So, Our Hope in King Jesus Is Not for This Life Only

When King Jesus appears and sends this unique group of twelve apostles out to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He gives them His unique authority to heal the sick, cleanse lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. Like the signs in John’s Gospel, these mighty works point to the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom into the reign of sin, death, and Satan. These mighty works point to the restoration that will occur when the King returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. As with the raising of Lazarus in John 11, these mighty works are not the end of the reign of biological death. King Jesus is on His way to the cross, where He will shed His Precious Blood for every sinner, His life for ours.

Pastors are not apostles nor are the most devout baptized church workers and lay persons. The ordained are given unique authority to preach the Word of God and to administer the sacraments. We declare the Lord’s forgiveness but also the withholding of forgiveness to the unrepentant. We visit the sick and pray for them. We declare the hope that is ours in Christ Jesus and point to the restoration of God’s creation when Christ makes all things new at the last (Revelation 21). But, like the apostles in today’s reading, we cannot promise the baptized restoration of all things on this side of Christ’s return in glory.

Should we pray for penultimate healing, that is, for healing in this life, for more time to love and serve our neighbors in this life? Most certainly, and the Father often gives more years through His Son Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. But, as Paul reminds us in his chapter on the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable” (15:19 NKJV). Do not lose heart or hope!

Therefore … Because Christ Has Died for All the Ungodly

At that particular moment in time and at that particular place, King Jesus sent out the twelve apostles as His advance team. They were sent to announce in word and deed to the lost sheep of the house of Israel that the Messiah is in their land. The twelve do His mighty works to demonstrate the actual in-breaking of the Kingdom of God in Jesus. But when the Lord Jesus dies on the cross it is not only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, it is for all the ungodly including the Samaritans and Gentiles to whom the twelve were not sent at that time. Once the Lord Jesus has died and is risen, then, at the end of Matthew’s gospel as we heard two weekends ago, He commissioned them to make disciples of all ethnicities by baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and, then, teaching these new disciples. That is now His commission not just to pastors and church workers but to all the baptized to whom His Kingdom has come.

All the unbaptized need to be baptized, because it is only through baptism into the Lord Jesus’ saving death and glorious resurrection that we can be brought into the Kingdom of God. The Blood of the Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, must be spread over the doorpost of the lives of those yet in bondage to sin, death, and Satan. And the baptized, who like Demas have fallen in love with the world and forgotten who and Whose they are, must be restored to God’s Kingdom precisely because there is no hope apart from Jesus Christ!

Will You Go to the Lost with King Jesus’ Compassion?

In the daily life and work of every Christian, you show God’s providential care to those you touch. This is what we mean by the word “vocation” (calling). It is not that your life and work is somehow more providential in this life than that of the unbaptized neighbor. Rather, when the baptized know who and Whose we are, we understand that the King comes to others through us. Which means that good works are for this life only, but the life and love of the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit are forever. Your prayers for and your invitation to the unbaptized neighbor or to the struggling baptized can and will make a difference for all eternity. Do good works, yes. But point the neighbor to Jesus!

The love and mercy of God in Christ Jesus was poured out for you, me, and all the world as the greatest gift ever given. Because God’s love in Christ Jesus has freely been given to you and me, we will give it freely, too. The goal of evangelism is not to make money for God’s Kingdom. The goal is to seek the lost, find the lost, and bring back the lost with the compassionate heart of King Jesus. Let us never forget why we seek the lost. And let us never confuse the responsibilities of church membership with the mission to the lost!

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

©Samuel David Zumwalt
szumwalt54@gmail.com
St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (AALC)
Wilmington, North Carolina USA