Matthew 9: 35-10:23

PENTECOST 3 | JUNE 18, 2023 | Matthew 9: 35-10:23 (RCL) | David Zersen |

³⁵Then 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. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

10Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. ²These 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; ³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁴Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

⁵These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, ⁶but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ⁸Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. ⁹Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, ¹⁰no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. ¹¹Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. ¹²As you enter the house, greet it. ¹³If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. ¹⁵Truly 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. ¹⁷Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; ¹⁸and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹When 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; ²⁰for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. ²¹Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; ²²and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ²³When 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.

Dancing on the Edge of Craziness Sitting in our attractive appointed churches this morning, typically dressed somewhat casually as our American custom now appoints, we are comfortable in the presence of friends and long adhered-to customs. Many of us actually enjoy coming together as we have done for years, celebrating, singing, and listening to the lessons and the preaching. Most of the words are familiar to us, and characteristically affirmed by us. Now and again, the preacher says something that makes us uncomfortable, but rarely jars us. Today however, the long Gospel lesson is particularly challenging, so much so that we in a 21^st century Lutheran church in the U.S. don’t know what to make of it. Personally, I would much prefer to be exploring this text with you in a Bible Class that would allow for some discussion of the meanings that you want to take from words Matthew’s text proclaims.

Let me summarize for us some of the hard teachings in this text so that you can appreciate my own hesitancy to embrace the words. Matthew’s text affirms the time to begin celebrating the arrival of God’s kingdom, yet nothing much was happening It was time to commission some workers, namely the twelve disciples. They are sent out only to their own kind, not to any unfamiliar with their Jewish traditions. They are to take nothing with them but bare essentials and hope people will feed them along the way. And get ready to do the big things, they’re told, forget about just talking with people: Heal the sick, cure the lepers, raise the dead! And know it’s going to be tough because you’re going to split up families and get dragged into court and sometimes will be beaten. When you get persecuted in one place, run to the next, for the kingdom is coming and people need to know it.

Remembering the passion of our Christian ancestors

Now think about those words and ask yourself if they applied to the first disciples, should they—in some way—apply to 21^st century committed Christians as well? (This is now the discussion section of the Bible class– grins.) As we ponder this, we can appreciate the fact that after 2000 years have passed, we have become sophisticated, educated, technologically- equipped Christians who do our evangelizing with television programs and computer websites. Much of the entire world has received access to the good news of the approaching kingdom of God through such media and we have provided substantial monetary support for this outreach. So, are we not in a completely different place in time?

On the other hand, it’s worth noting that in many parts of the world that originally embraced Christian teaching, there is substantial questioning of what was once truth worth dying for and in Lutheran bodies in the United States, for example, not one District or Synod in the LCMS or ELCA has shown any membership growth in the past decade! Whereas in the earliest Christian communities where preachers stood on the street corners and in the villages and courted potential believers with great urgency, the church grew by leaps and bounds. There was such conviction on the part of the first evangelists that they gave the impression at times they were dancing on the edge of craziness. (1 Cor. 4:10) They were regarded as “babblers” and “fools”. And they were then hauled into courts and beaten and imprisoned. St. Paul tells the Corinthians (2 Cor. 11:16-33) in a later period how he was flogged and beaten with rods, and how he suffered from hunger and shipwrecks and was castigated by fellow Jews.

So how do we Christian respond to a decline among our own often content and secure fellow believers as we also remember those who with extreme passion and zeal added to their numbers every day?  (Acts. 2:47) This comparison between our own modest commitments and the zeal of those whose faith danced on the edge of craziness may make us smile, but surely it are worth serious reflection on our part. What are the issues that make up the difference between what was happening in the first century and what is happening now in the 21^st?

Imitating the actual strategies of our Christian ancestors

I’m certain that there were ancient Christian preachers who lost their focus and got into

arguments about issues that had little to do with proclaiming the arrival of the kingdom of God. Specifically, the kingdom dawns when the love of God in Christ has found a place in your mind and heart. Arguments among people, and even among Christians can take place when minor issues divide us because we insist on our points of view. A person where I live, for that matter a very committed Christian, often confronts me with a bizarre notion. We share the same given names and although mine is “David” I prefer that people call me by the less formal “Dave.” Recently, however, he told me that he never wanted to be called “Dave” because “David” was his baptismal name and it was “written in heaven.” Therefore, he felt I should not be using a diminutive form of my give name. That is a peculiar example of how Christians might disagree about peculiarities and discover that such trivia can lead to arguments, even major disagreements that can separate people for significant time periods. I call it “majoring in minors”, taking a cue from my academic background. But it’s a good phrase to help us understand that Christians need to be cautious about what their focus is, that they’re dealing with essentials, not with non-essentials. No matter what the issue, it’s good to ask, before we get into a big argument, whether this matter is something that we really want to allow to become a battleground. It’s a good reminder for modern Christians who would like to share the Gospel in their own way, but also hope to avoid confrontation.

That’s a good reflection as we think about the degree to which we might be able to serve as preachers and teachers in our families and communities. On the one hand, it’s worth understanding that our Western culture has changed a great deal in the last decades, both in Europe as well as in the U.S. and Canada. Our cultures are more fast moving, they are required to address social and economic challenges at a faster rate than ever before. They are provided with new forms of entertainment and constant exposure to events taking place elsewhere through rapid forms of communication. The educational levels for some are highly advanced, but for significant numbers do not approach the levels necessary to function meaningfully given the rapid changes taking place in our Western societies. Increasingly people who can’t fit in have turned to various forms of anxiety, depression, anger, and often aggression leading to attacks and murders. There are wonderfully positive things about the rapidly advancing opportunities available to us through technology and medical science. Yet many worry about our inability to solve problems resulting from war, climate change, artificial intelligence, famine and disease. Is there a place in this great and wonderful world for Christians to share good news about God’s love in Christ without being called obscurantist, devious, argumentative and archaic.  Can we share the Gospel without confrontation?

Clearly there are aspects of the Christian belief system that can be challenging for others to understand and would be inappropriate to use as conversation starters. If you aren’t comfortable with another’s view or language, it’s not helpful to share what the Bible says about deceit or misogyny or taking God’s name in vain. On the other hand, your own language about others, the way you affirm people or share compassion for someone who is disabled can go a long way to helping another find the love that has been lost in his/her own lives. And as love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), so it also helps us to reconsider the way we treat people, how we construe our world, how we reassess political and economic views, and how we envision a society that begins to look more and more like the kingdom of God.

In our contemporary world, while we may not find it necessary to run around half-naked, begging for support, and being the basis for conflicts that put us in prison, we can certainly seek to embrace more temperate ways of life. We can ask whether the violence and killing in our TV and cinemas really support the notion of a healthier and wholistic society. We can insist that our support for our veterans does not mean that we also support the degree to which our country and others resort too quickly to military solutions to national and international conflicts. We can ask how our tax money might better be spent on caring solutions to world famine than to preparing ourselves for wars we don’t really need to fight. And we can discuss in our families how a determined and even “crazy” kind of love might be as much fun as it is a serious solution to conflict that makes mountains of long-lasting anger out of molehills of misunderstanding.

Our text is a complicated portrayal of first-century disciples seeking to proclaim the same message that we are called to proclaim, namely that God loves everyone and that we are called to bring his reign to earth by loving one another. Everything else that we get conflicted about in our religious wars is not as important. It all starts with something as simple as asking ourselves how we can find a way to love someone who annoys us or makes us angry. From that one person then, we can structure our challenge to do the same with one more—and then another– and another. In terms of a solution to the world’s problems, some may think we’re just dancing on the edge of craziness. And yet, despite the differences between us and the first disciples—we’re doing the same thing. We may not be dressings in rags and getting ready for prison, but we’re preparing to let the kingdom come to us and through us.

Love never fails. It perseveres. (1 Cor. 13)  No matter the process.

The Rev. David Zersen, D.Min., Ed.D., FRHistS

President Emeritus, Concordia University Texas

zersendj@gmail.com