"A New Vision"
Sermon Presented June 12, 2005
Matthew 9:35 - 10:23
How can a sergeant look at a group of new recruits and picture them as a trained fighting unit? How can a kindergarten teacher view eager and apprehensive faces on the first day of school and imagine that they will learn what they need to know to successfully enter first grade? How can parents of a teenager look at their offspring and see a successful member of society? They can do it if they have faith in their ability to train and also faith in those being trained.
Now we all know that not all of those recruits or kindergartners or teenagers have the same ability or desire to become successful. Thus we place great trust in the process. As plans for teaching are enacted, we envision success, even though success doesn't always occur.
Jesus faced some of the same obstacles to success that we face. Even though he chose 12 mismatched disciples, he knew he needed them for the success of his mission. Let's look at our text to examine Jesus' vision and how he plans to accomplish it. (The "suggested" lectionary text ends with verse 8 of chapter 10, with verses 9-23 of that chapter being optional. I will read the extra verses even though they won't be the focus of the sermon. By the way, both Mark and Luke place the teachings at the end of our reading at the conclusion of Jesus' ministry rather than at the beginning as Matthew does. When Jesus began his ministry, he didn't have the opposition that he had toward the end. That's why Mark and Luke's presentation may be best chronologically.)
Matthew 9:35 - 10:23 (Read text.)
When we look at the men Jesus chooses to share his ministry with, we see a most diverse group. There's Matthew - a tax collector - who has been loyal to the Roman government, and along side of him is Simon the Cananaean, a member of the insurgent anti-Roman Zealot Party. We also find Judas Iscariot, the one who will betray Jesus, and Simon Peter, the hot head! This group doesn't offer much possibility of success outside of God's working. But Jesus teaches them and shares his ministry with them, so that they can help fulfill God's vision. And like the sergeant, the kindergarten teacher and the parent, he didn't achieve 100% success! But the vision was necessary for optimum results!
In order to prepare the disciples to carry on the ministry after he leaves, Jesus teaches them using basic instructions, parables, word pictures and compassionate actions. Even before the training is complete, Jesus sends them out, telling them to proclaim the good news that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and perform compassionate acts of healing, demon deliverance and raising the dead. They are to take nothing with them, so that they will be completely dependent upon God.
Jesus also tells them not to accept money from anyone. If I were healed of leprosy or blindness or whatever, I would want to lavish gifts on the one who made me whole. Jesus said: "Don't take any payment! Receive only food and shelter."
Another command is to go only to the Jews. The time for ministering to Gentiles will come later - after Jesus' death and resurrection.
Where do they stay? They are to find a worthy home and stay there. Since providing hospitality is a major tenant of every good Jewish household, this may not have been too difficult. But if they discover they made a mistake, then they should leave. Don't force your message on an unreceptive person or community, just leave town.
Until the disciples actually begin their ministry, they can't realize how important Jesus' prayer request was. Jesus told them: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore ask God to send out laborers into God's harvest." The needs are great and the workers are few - and they discover this as soon as they begin ministering.
With such great needs - both then and now - we need God's help to develop our personal and corporate visions. In our text, Jesus provided the vision and the means to attain it, and then sent the disciples out to accomplish it. This short-term vision changed in scope after Jesus left them. Visions change - often due to circumstances. We must be flexible and willing to change course when we sense that God has something else in mind. Here is where discernment and a willingness to follow that discernment come into play.
Please indulge me a personal example. When I was a teenager, I sensed God's call to be a missionary. (This was the only "call to ministry" I could ascertain in my background a half century ago.) Since I didn't marry a missionary, I didn't follow the dream. At the age of 49, I entered seminary. At that time I had never heard a woman preach. By the next year, I knew there was nothing more I would rather do than to become a pastor. My vision changed and so did my circumstances.
When Jesus uses the word picture of a harvest, this may not mean much to most young people today. But when I hear this story, I think of my father-in-law, a Platte County Missouri farmer. When he was dying of lung cancer, a neighbor promised to harvest his crops that were in the field. But in January, my father-in-law's soybeans were falling to the ground because when bad weather set in, the neighbor took care of his own crops and neglected my father-in-law's crops. The time to harvest his crop passed when his help failed to materialize.
Jesus brought the vision of the Kingdom of God into the present for his followers! It is and it will be! It is here now AND a future vision! The vision became "visible" to those who saw and heard and touched Jesus because Jesus acted compassionately toward them. He saw their needs and not their human flaws. He saw harassed and helpless people who were like sheep without a shepherd. (Doesn't this sound like today's world with all of its overwhelming stress?) God's laborers will help meet needs compassionately.
The 12 are sent to: find the needs, listen to the needy, touch the lepers, the dead and the demon possessed, and smell the rotting flesh and the urine soaked clothing. God sends us into nursing homes, the streets of the inner city, the juvenile court room, the dark abodes of the mentally ill, our own homes - and when we go, we are to do kindly acts. The good news that the "Kingdom of God has come near," came to the people as acts of compassion administered by Jesus' followers.
What is good news today? The good news message of Jesus is the same now as it was then and it is still communicated through acts of love and compassion. We will be equipped to proclaim the message when we follow the one who taught and trained the 12. The fields are ripe for the harvest. The world cries out to become whole. By the way, the word we translate as "salvation" means "to be made whole".
Maybe the verbal message that the Kingdom of God is present today is ignored because we no longer consistently proclaim it through our actions. The news is good when the messenger is loving and compassionate.
When it comes to TV, my repertoire is limited to the
evening news, football games, some basketball and The West Wing. In
the second season of The West Wing, there was a powerful episode that
sticks in my memory. The show is based on a fictitious president named
Jed Bartlett. This episode begins with our hearing that 100 escaped
refugees from Mainland China arrived on a boat in California, each sealed
in separate containers. Some of the escapees died en route, leaving
only 83. They seek asylum, claiming to be Christians escaping from persecution.
President Bartlett must decide whether their claim to discipleship,
and thus to asylum, is real.
The highlight of the show is an encounter in the oval office between
President Bartlett, a strong Christian, and Jen Wei, a chemistry professor
and one of the refugees. The president asks how Wei became a Christian
and he says that he and his wife began attending a house church and
then were baptized. When asked how he practices his faith, Wei responds
that they share Bibles, sing hymns, hear sermons, recite the Lord's
Prayer and do charitable acts.
Then the president asks him to name the head of his church. Wei responds: "The head of the parish is an 84 year old man by the name of Won Ling. He has been beaten and imprisoned many times. The head of the church is Jesus Christ." When Bartlett asks him name the 12 disciples, Wei names them and then says: "Mr. President, Christianity is not demonstrated through a recitation of facts. You are seeking evidence of faith, a whole-hearted acceptance of God's promise of a better world. We believe that man is justified by faith alone." The group received asylum.
These persecuted Chinese Christians risked their lives to escape to the United States as they would have risked their lives by remaining. The vision came first and then the plan. But much was left in God's hands. The message for the television audience was that Christianity isn't dogma but faith in God's promise of a better world.
Who needs to hear the good news of the Kingdom of God from you? Maybe the verb "hear" is ill-chosen. A better phrasing might be: "Who needs to experience the compassionate love of God through you?" Where is our field that is ripe for harvest? We each know many who need to be made whole by Jesus' touch. Our Vision Team is working on these questions from the perspective of our church.
Our call is to follow Jesus by sharing the good news
through word and deed. When we do this, we will sense the particulars
of our vision and will help make the vision become reality.
