Matthew 9:35-10:8. 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.” 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: “Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town, 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 those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.
Jesus had seen it all.
- Just in this last chapter, he had seen a demon possessed man who was mute and couldn’t talk beg him to be released from his oppression.
- Two blind men on the side of the road cried out loud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David. Heal us.”
- A little girl had died and her father came and begged Jesus to just lay his hand on her and help her to live again, and on the way to their house a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years came up behind him and reached out to touch the fringe of his prayer shawl so that she could be healed.
- A paralyzed man had been lowered in front of him through the roof of the house where he had been teaching. This man’s sins were afflicting him even more than the paralysis in his legs.
- Two demon-possessed men ranted and raved and beat up on people as unsuspecting travelers passed by the cleft of rock where they hid in wait.
- A leper who was forced to live out in the country all by himself threw himself at Jesus’ feet and begged for healing.
- A Centurion had humbled himself to beg Jesus to heal his servant who was suffering terribly.
- A boatload of fishermen were about to drown in a sea that was being roiled by a storm that was out of control.
- Jesus had also experienced religious leaders who didn’t care for their people and wanted to kill him because he was helping people on the Sabbath.
- And ordinary people whose lives were empty looking for meaning and something significant to do.
- He saw people being judged and bullied because of their nationality or their job or their lifestyle.
- He saw people who were worried about where their food was going to come from, thousands of people who were hungry and didn’t have enough to eat.
- And others who had enough of everything who just wanted more and didn’t care about God or helping others.
Jesus saw it all and more. The whole country was coming out to him, gathering around him, pressing in on him, begging him for help. And then there were all of those who lived out of eyesight, all around the world, who he knew were there too, who were begging God everyday for something, for some help.
When he saw the crowds, Matthew tells us, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep with out a shepherd.
Look, he said to the disciples, “the harvest is plentiful, there is so much need, so many people needing help, begging for help, ready for help.”
The Son of God had come into the world in this man Jesus so that he could help. He had come to see all of this, to share all of this, even to share the death that plagues us all. So that by his resurrection and rising to life he could become the source of healing and mercy to everyone everywhere in every time and not just the people who were lucky enough to get close enough to touch the hem of his prayer shawl. He had come to bring the Kingdom of heaven, to fix the earth and its people so that it would be again the kingdom, the world, that God had originally intended.
And so he called to him 12 disciples – 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. (The need was so desperate that he even called someone who would eventually betray him to death).
He called these 12 and he sent them out to all these lost and hurting sheep to bring hope, first of all. Tell people, Jesus said, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. God has heard you. God loves you and cares about you. God is here and he is coming to help you.
And then use the power and the resources that I am giving you, Jesus continued, to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons, – to forgive people’s sins, make peace and help reconcile people, take care of the creation and the creatures in it.
And do it all freely, Jesus said. You have received freely without paying. Give without payment.
Jesus calls us today too to look around us and see the need that is still in the world. A world that still needs so much healing and hope and love.
We have received that hope, that forgiveness and love, freely without doing anything for it. Jesus has come to us through other people, through the experiences of our lives, he comes this morning through communion and this book and he has touched us.
And he asks us to do the same for others and for the world. “As you go,” he says, which means wherever you go, whether it’s to work, or to home, to your neighbors, or to the lake, look and see the need in the people and the creation, and do what you can to love and bring God’s kingdom, and make the world better, more of the place that God originally intended.
Two weeks ago we prayed for 24 of us who went to Canada on such a mission trip. Today we hear from them about what they did and how they served. So that we can look around us and consider the opportunities that we have right here and right now too to bring God’s compassion to bear in the world.