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Second Sunday after Pentecost, 06/18/2017
Sermon on Matthäus 9:35-10:8(9-23), by David H. Brooks
We have some friends that are completing a home renovation. Having done two such projects ourselves, we are more than sympathetic to their current situation—they can see the finish line, but the very nearness of being done only highlights how hard the task has been. They are weary of contractors, of change orders, of missing fixtures, of dust; they are afraid of failing inspections, of workers walking off the job, of finally being done and yet not finding satisfaction with what they have created; and, they find themselves growing used to the incomplete nature of their home and losing focus on completing the task.
I think that of these three—weariness, fear and indifference—it is indifference that is the most problematic, the most deadly. After enough time, we grow used to what we see, we accept it; it becomes our status quo, our baseline for what is possible. What we have or what we know is good enough; why change? This fact about each of us is why savvy real estate agents will walk through your home – some now will even pay a home inspector—and identify needed repairs and potential issues which the homeowner no longer sees or has actively ignored. It takes someone coming in from outside to help us see and understand the changes we need.
Jesus also accomplishes this—he comes from outside of our lives to call us to lives of change. In the Scripture we heard today, Matthew’s story of Jesus transitions from Jesus as Teacher, as a Law Giver (in the fashion of Moses) to Jesus as Shepherd and Harvester. He is the possessor of a mission to set free those who are harassed and helpless, to proclaim good news that will reveal the hearts and therefore the motivations of those who hear the message. And notice the progression—Jesus takes up this mission, and he calls upon his disciples to follow him and take up the mission. He gives them instructions on where to go, what to do, and how to interpret what they will encounter. Even though their lives started changing from the moment they joined Jesus, it is now that we can firmly say that they will never be the same.
And now this call from Jesus comes to you. There has been so very many words written and spoken about the changes that are being forced on the Church, that are happening to the Church, but we are still resisting the call of our Lord, whether out of weariness, out of fear, or out of indifference, to go where our Lord leads. So I say again, this call from Jesus to enter the fields ripe for harvest is to you. One of the problems we have in this house we call the Church is that we assume that the call to the twelve is an exclusive call, that only a few are meant to answer the call to shepherd and harvest, and therefore the rest of us that are a part of the church are those to whom this mission is directed. Indeed, many say that there is a distinction between disciples and apostles! But apostles (as I recently heard) are not special people found in ordinary moments, but ordinary people sent for special moments. You are the disciples, you are the ones being instructed to go into the fields, you are the ones meant to identify and help those who are like sheep without a shepherd, you are the ones being sent by Jesus because there are special moments breaking out all over the world! The ones who are in need are out there in the fields you walk over every day—your neighborhood, your work, your hobbies, your classroom, your life! Those who are harassed and helpless and who need to hear good news are the people you encounter every day. The mission is out there, and yes, it will mean that you and I will change when we accept the mission Jesus gives to us. Change comes from a decision to follow, to recognize that you and I are students, still learning, still growing to be like the master Jesus who has conquered death and is still on the move out there.
So let’s be honest: often we do not follow because weary: it’s been so long; or because we are afraid: what if I can’t; or because we are indifferent: what’s wrong with the status quo? And now I hope you begin to see how indifference is the most dangerous of these three. For if it is weariness, if the effort and the striving have seemed too long, then, says Matthew (chapter 11), know that Jesus is our promised rest. If we are afraid, frightened of the storms we face then, says Matthew (chapter 14), know that Jesus is master over all storms. But to be indifferent, to be satisfied...part of the tension in this story of the mission of the disciples is that there is a revealing of who is passionate about the Lord and who is not. In truth, indifference or apathy is can only be cured by passion for something, to find a purpose in life, and to be passionate means to lay aside other things to pursue that one thing that is of surpassing worth. In other words, it means death and resurrection, of letting go of the status quo to embrace the promise of what might be. And right now, the world is desperately in need of people who will, in daily life, set aside the status quo in order to lift up and live in God’s Kingdom. We who have been baptized have been claimed by Christ for his particular and peculiar kingdom; and his endless life ensures that our challenges and struggles, as we are being shaped into the image of the Lord Jesus, are part of the blessing the Kingdom brings.
The task is there, ready for us; let us not be weary, let us not be anxious, and let us not be indifferent. Jesus, who calls us to his side, is now sending us to share who we are and what we know with those who need good news. There is someone who needs you to walk alongside them, to be that one who helps them see what is possible, to invite them to know Jesus better, and discover the power of the Resurrection to change everything. Amen.